Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg

Wenceslaus I
Wenceslaus I of Luxembourg
Count of Luxembourg, Arlon and Durbuy
Reign	1353-13 March 1354
Predecessor	Emperor Charles IV
Duke of Luxembourg
Reign	13 March 1354-7 December 1383
Successor	Wenceslaus IV
Duke of Brabant and Limburg
Reign	1355-1383 with Joanna
Predecessor	John III
Successor	Joanna
Born	25 February 1337 Prague
Died	7 December 1383 (aged 46) Luxembourg
Burial	Abbaye d'Orval, Belgium
Spouse	Joanna, Duchess of Brabant
House	Luxembourg
Father	John of Bohemia
Mother	Beatrice of Bourbon

Wenceslaus I (also Wenceslas, Venceslas, Wenzel, or Václav, often called Wenceslaus of Bohemia in chronicles) (Prague, 25 February 1337 – Luxembourg, 7 December 1383) was the first Duke of Luxembourg from 1354. He was the son of John the Blind, King of Bohemia, and Beatrice of Bourbon.

Life

Beatrice of Bourbon, gave birth to her only child, Duke Wenceslaus I, on Feb. 25, 1337. He was born by way of Caesarian section. According to Dr. Antonin Parizek of Charles University in Prague, Beatrice is perhaps the earliest known case of a woman surviving a Caesarian section birth.^[1] In 1353 Charles IV King of Bohemia, Count of Luxembourg and elected Holy Roman King, entrusted the county, their father's inheritance, to his half-brother Wenceslaus. In 1352, Wenceslaus married Joanna (1322 – 1406), daughter of John III, Duke of Brabant and Limburg, and Marie d'Évreux. In 1354 Charles raised Luxembourg to the status of a duchy. In 1355, Joanna inherited Brabant and Limburg. In order to guarantee the indivisibility of Brabant, Wenceslaus signed the Joyous Entry, but had to fight against his brother-in-law Louis II of Flanders, who asserted his share of the duchy. He failed to prevent the seizure of Brussels by the Flemings, but a certain Everard 't Serclaes succeeded by an audacious coup in driving them out of the city. Thereafter, Wenceslaus had to face primarily internal disorders. In 1371, he overestimated his military capacities and waged war with William II, Duke of Jülich, resulting in humiliating defeat at the Baesweiler, losing a part of his army, and several noblemen.^[2] He was captured and suffered 11 months of captivity.^[3]

Burial Place in Abbaye d'Orval, Belgium

Wenceslaus died in Luxembourg, leaving Joanna as sole ruler of Brabant, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus II as duke of Luxembourg. There are speculations that he might have died of leprosy. His last wish was his heart to be displaced from his dead body and sent to his wife (Joanna stayed in Brussels). He is buried in a crypt at the now-ruined Abbaye d'Orval in Belgium.

Wenceslaus I of Luxembourg wrote the lyric poetry interpolated in Jean Froissart's Méliador, which was identified as his by Auguste Longnon in the 1890s (Wenceslas was a patron of this chronicler). His lyric output comprises 79 poems (11 ballades, 16 virelais, 52 rondeaux).

Ancestors

Ancestors of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg

16. Henry V, Count of Luxembourg               8. Henry VI, Count of Luxembourg                       17. Margaret of Bar               4. Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor                             18. Baldwin of Avesnes               9. Beatrice d'Avesnes                       19. Félicité of Coucy               2. John of Bohemia                                   20. Henry III, Duke of Brabant               10. John I, Duke of Brabant                       21. Adelaide of Burgundy               5. Margaret of Brabant                             22. Guy of Dampierre               11. Margaret of Flanders                       23. Matilda of Bethune               1. Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg                                         24. Louis IX of France               12. Robert, Count of Clermont                       25. Marguerite of Provence               6. Louis I, Duke of Bourbon                             26. John of Burgundy               13. Beatrix of Bourbon                       27. Agnes of Dampierre               3. Beatrice of Bourbon                                   28. John I of Avesnes               14. John II, Count of Holland                       29. Adelaide of Holland               7. Mary of Avesnes                             30. Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (= 16.)               15. Philippa of Luxembourg                       31. Margaret of Bar (= 17.)

References

1. De GOEIJ, H. (2016, November 23). A Breakthrough in C-Section History: Beatrice of Bourbon’s Survival in 1337. The New York Times.
2. Richard Vaughan, Philip the Bold, (The Boydell Press, 2009), 80.
3. Richard Vaughan, Philip the Bold, 80.