See also
Husband: | Godfrey III + (1142-1190) | |
Wife: | Imagina of LOOZ (1152- ) | |
Children: | Godfrey of LOUVAIN (1173-1266) | |
William of LOUVAIN (c. 1175- ) | ||
Marriage | 1172 |
Name: | Godfrey III +1,2 | |
Sex: | Male | |
Father: | Godfrey II + (1107-1142) | |
Mother: | Luitgarde + of MOHA AND SULTZBACH (1109-1162) | |
Birth | 1142 | Brabant, Lower Lorraine, France |
Occupation | Duke of Lower Lorraine | |
Title | frm 1142 to 1190 (age 0-48) | Duke of Lower Lorraine |
Title | Landgrace of Brabant | |
Title | Count of Leuven and Brussels | |
Death | 21 Aug 1190 (age 47-48) |
Name: | Imagina of LOOZ | |
Sex: | Female | |
Father: | Louis I + (1120- ) | |
Mother: | Agnes of METZ (1120-1175) | |
Birth | 1152 | Looz, Limberg, Belgium |
Name: | Godfrey of LOUVAIN | |
Sex: | Male | |
Spouse: | Alice + of HASTINGS (1173- ) | |
Birth | 1173 | Eye, Suffolk, England |
Death | 26 Apr 1266 (age 92-93) | Eye, Suffolk, England |
Name: | William of LOUVAIN | |
Sex: | Male | |
Spouse: | Marie of ORBAIS (c. 1180- ) | |
Birth | 1175 (est) | |
Occupation | Lord of Perwz and Ruysbroek |
Godfrey III (1142 - died August 21 1190) was count of Leuven (or Louvain), landgrave of Brabant, margrave of Antwerp, and duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VIII) from 1142 to his death.
He was the son of Godfrey II and Lutgarde of Sulzbach. He was still an infant at his succession (therefore called dux in cunis) of which a few Brabantian vassals sought to take advantage to get independent from the duke (Wars of Grimbergen, 1141–1159). On 30 March 1147, Godfrey was present at the coronation of Henry Berengar, son of Conrad III of Germany, in Aachen. When Conrad left on Crusade, war began anew in 1148. Peace was elusive until the election of Conrad's successor, Frederick Barbarossa. By marriage to Margaret, daughter of Henry II of Limburg, Godfrey united two powerful and antagonistic houses in the region. Their son was Henry I, Duke of Brabant
In 1159 Godfrey ended the war with the Berthout, lords of Grimbergen, by burning their impressive motte at Grimbergen. In 1171, Godfrey was at war with Hainaut, but was defeated. In 1179, he gave his son Henry in marriage to a niece of Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders.
Between 1182 and 1184 Godfrey went on a Jerusalem campaign. In the interim, Barbarossa granted Henry the title "Duke of Brabant". Godfrey died in 1190, on 10 or 21 August. He left an increased territory and built the fortress of Nedelaer (near Vilvoorde). The ducal title was transmitted to his son at the Diet of Schwäbisch Hall (September 1190).
1 | "Brabant and Louvain at Medieval Lands". |
2 | "The Election and Assassignation of Albert of Louvain, Bishop of Leige". |