Anna van Egmont the Elder (1504–1574) was the mother of executed counts

Horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various a ...

and Montigny.

Biography

She was born in

IJsselstein IJsselstein () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. IJsselstein received city rights in 1331. IJsselstein owes its name to the river Hollandse IJssel which flows through the city. It is a major commuting s ...

as the daughter of the Dutch stadtholder of

Guelders The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. Geography The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in p ...

, Count

Floris van Egmont Floris van Egmond (ca. 1470 – 25 October 1539) was count of Buren and Leerdam and Lord of IJsselstein and Sint Maartensdijk. He was stadtholder of Guelders (1507–1511) and Friesland (1515–1518) Floris was the son of Frederik van Egmond an ...

, and Margaretha van Bergen (ca. 1481-ca. 1551). Anna van Egmont married the first time on 26-8-1523 to Joseph baron van Montmorency (ca. 1500-ca. 1530), and they had 4 children. After his death she married the second time on 6-12-1530 in

Weert Weert (; li, Wieërt ) is a municipality and city in the southeastern Netherlands located in the western part of the province of Limburg. It lies on the Eindhoven–Maastricht railway line, and is also astride the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal. P ...

to Count Jan van Horne (1470/75-1540), who had been in line to become Prince-Bishop of Liege, but quit religion in order to secure an heir for his family after the death of his brother. Unfortunately, this marriage remained childless, but he received permission to make his oldest stepson Philip de Montmorency become Count of Horn upon his death on the condition he marry Walburgis van Nieuwenaer, which he did. Anna's daughter Maria married in 1562 in Weert with Peter Ernst van Mansfeld, who later served the

Duke of Parma The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy, which existed between 1545 and 1802, and again from 1814 to 1859. The Duke of Parma was also Duke of Piacenza, except ...

, and daughter Eleonora married

Antoine II de Lalaing Antoine II of Lalaing (1533–1568), 3rd count of Hoogstraten, was a patron and nobleman of the Southern Netherlands. He was the son of the second count Philip de Lalaing and his wife Anna of Rennenberg. At the age of 22 he took possession of t ...

, Count of Hoogstraten, who died 11 December 1568 as the result of a battle injury suffered while serving the army of William of Orange. Anna's namesake, her niece Anna van Egmont the Younger, had been William of Orange's first wife who bore him three children. According to her biographer

Maria Luyten Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, a nun of the Catholic ''Witte Nonnen'' located on the Maasstraat in Weert, both Anna van Egmont and her daughter-in-law were instrumental in promoting the Lutheran faith in the area around Weert. From 1566 they were to be seen in the company of a ''geuzen-paap'' or "beggar pope". When the

Duke of Alva Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

arrived in the North to defend the interests of the Inquisition, Anna's son Philip was seized along with Lamoral and they were beheaded 5 June 1568 in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Soon after this Anna and Walburgis fled to Cologne, where they began proceedings to recover their seized goods and also secure the release of Anna's son Floris of Montmorency who was in prison in

Simancas Simancas is a town and municipality of central Spain, located in the province of Valladolid, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated approximately 10 km southwest of the provincial capital Valladolid, on the ro ...

. In 1570 Floris was strangled and little is known of Anna after that, but it is assumed that she died in 1574.

References

1504 births 1574 deaths People from IJsselstein Anna 16th-century Dutch people {{Nobility-stub