Edward (12 March 1336 – 24 August 1371) was the duke of Guelders and count of Zutphen from 1361 until 1371. He was the youngest son of Duke

Reginald II of Guelders Reginald II of Guelders ( nl, Reinoud), called "the Black" (c. 1295 – 12 October 1343), was Count of Guelders, and from 1339 onwards Duke of Guelders, and Zutphen, in the Low Countries, from 1326 to 1343. He was the son of Reginald I of Guelders ...

and his second wife,

Eleanor of Woodstock Eleanor of Woodstock (18 June 1318 – 22 April 1355) was an English princess and the duchess of Guelders by marriage to Reginald II of Guelders. She was regent as the guardian of their minor son Reginald III from 1343 until 1344. She was ...

, daughter of King

Edward II of England Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

. In 1350, with encouragement from his mother, Edward began a devastating civil war against his brother Reginald III for control of the

Duchy 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 ...

. Edward led the Bronkhorster (civil) faction which in 1361 in a battle at Tiel defeated the Heekeren (aristocratic) faction, led by Edward's incapable brother who was captured and imprisoned. Edward governed well and powerfully, despite the conditions against him. He allied himself with the bishops of Lüttich and with Jülich and Kleve. In 1371, his brother-in-law and supporter, Duke William II of Jülich, got into a dispute with Duke Wenceslaus I of Luxembourg. The dispute culminated in the Battle of Baesweiler in which William defeated Wenceslaus, but Edward was mortally wounded in the battle and died on 24 August 1371. He is buried in the Kloster Graefenthal. Upon Edward's death, his brother Reginald III regained the Duchy of Guelders but died shortly afterwards, on 4 December 1371. As neither Edward nor Reginald had children, another war of succession for Guelders began, with the Bronkhorster faction supporting Edward and Reginald's half-sister Maria, wife of William II of Jülich, and the Heerkeren faction supporting their half-sister Mathilde, wife of Count John II of Blois. In 1377,

Emperor Charles IV Charles IV ( cs, Karel IV.; german: Karl IV.; la, Carolus IV; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378''Karl IV''. In: (1960): ''Geschichte in Gestalten'' (''History in figures''), vol. 2: ''F–K''. 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294), also known as Charle ...

awarded the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen to Maria's son

William of Jülich William of Jülich, called the Younger (Dutch: ''Willem van Gulik de Jongere''; died August 18, 1304), was one of the Flemish noblemen that opposed the annexation policies of the French king Philip IV, together with Pieter de Coninck. He was al ...

. After her total defeat in the Battle of Hönnepel on 24 March 1379, Mathilde renounced her claim to Guelders and Zutphen. Edward was betrothed in 1368 to Katherine of Bavaria (30 May 1361 – 10 November 1400, buried Kloster Monkhuizen), daughter of

Albert I, Duke of Bavaria Albert I, Duke of Lower Bavaria (german: Albrecht; 25 July 1336 – 13 December 1404), was a feudal ruler of the counties of Holland, Hainaut, and Zeeland in the Low Countries. Additionally, he held a portion of the Bavarian province of Straub ...

and Margaret of Brieg. Edward died when she was only 10 years old and Katherine subsequently married in 1379 to Edward's nephew,

External links

Genealogie-Mittelalter.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edward of Guelders Dukes of Guelders Counts of Zutphen 1336 births 1371 deaths House of Wassenberg