Ada ( – 1234/37) was Countess of

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

between 1203 and 1207, ruling jointly with her husband,

Louis II of Loon Louis II was count of Loon between the end of the 12th century to 1218. He was the son of Gerard, Count of Looz, and Adelaide of Gelderland, daughter of Henry I, Count of Guelders, and Agnes of Arnstein, daughter of Louis III of Arnstein. He a ...

. She was deposed and exiled by her paternal uncle,

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

.Marion van Bussel,
Ada van Holland
in

Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland ''1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis'' is a compilation of 1001 biographies of famous women of the Netherlands spanning roughly 1700 years. Project The book is the result of a research project called the Digital Women's lexicon of the N ...

, 13/01/2014 (in Dutch)

Family

Ada was the only surviving daughter of Count

Dirk VII of Holland Dirk VII (died 4 November 1203, in Dordrecht) was the count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was the elder son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Life Due to a civil war in the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Henry VI had to find ways to make frie ...

and his wife Adelaide of Cleves. Huwelijk Ada van Holland met Lodewijk II met stervende Dirk VII van Holland

She succeeded her father but immediately had to deal with her uncle

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, who claimed Holland for his own. Ada married Count

to strengthen her position. She was in such a hurry, that she married even before her father was buried, which caused a scandal.Ada van Holland
in Inghist (English) These events led to the outbreak of the

Loon War The Loon War (Dutch: ''Loonse Oorlog'') was a war of succession over the County of Holland (and its dependency Zeeland) from 1203 until 1206, brought on by the death of count Dirk VII. The war was waged between Dirk's brother William of Frisia ...

(1203–1206).

Succession struggle

Ada was quickly captured by the supporters of William and taken prisoner in the citadel of

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

. She was first imprisoned on the island of

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

and afterwards she was taken to John Lackland in the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On ...

. William had to accept Louis and Ada as count and countess at a treaty of

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

in 1206. Louis managed to free Ada in 1206, and the couple returned to Loon in 1207. Their reign was short-lived, since Emperor Otto IV regarded William to have more right to the title Count of Holland in 1208. She did not accept the loss of her county, and Ada and Louis continued the fight. Ada remained childless. Louis died in 1218, leaving Ada to live out the rest of her life in obscurity. She was buried next to her husband in Herkenrode Abbey. The civil war in Holland became part of a major international war between on one side

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynas ...

dynasty and on the other side England and the Welfs. William could get Holland through good maneuvering between both sides. Louis and Ada had to give up their claims. Many period histories up to the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

do not include her in the list of rulers of Holland.

Family

Succession struggle

References

Further reading