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Aleid of Poelgeest (
Aleid of Poelgeest (Koudekerk aan den Rijn
Koudekerk aan den Rijn (English: ''Cold Church upon Rhine'') is a village located in the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. It is located about 4 km west of the urban centre, in the province of South Holland.
History
Koudeker ...
, c. 1370 - The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, September 22, 1392) was the mistress
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a female lover of a married man
** Royal mistress
* Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...
of the Count of Holland
The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.
The Frisian origins
While the Frisian kingdom had comprised most of the present day Netherlands, the later province of Friesland ...
, Albert I of Bavaria.DVN, een project van Huygens ING en OGC (UU). Bronvermelding: Dimphéna Groffen, Poelgeest, Aleid van, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Poelgeest, Aleid van 3/01/2014/ref>
Life
Aleid van Poelgeest was the daughter of the court official Jan van Poelgeest and Aleid van Beest Gerbrandsdr. She is traditionally assumed to have served as a maid-of-honour to the spouse of Albert,Margaret of Brieg
Margaret of Brieg (1342–1386) was a daughter of Ludwik I the Fair and his wife, Agnes of Sagan. She was Duchess consort of Bavaria by her marriage to Albert I, Duke of Bavaria.
Family
Margaret was the eldest of six siblings. Her brother was ...
, prior to becoming his mistress. She never married.
Van Poelgeest is noted to have been present at court at least since 1386. In June 1388, Albert gave her an allowance, her own house and maids and installed her as his official mistress. It was noted that she followed him around on his journeys in his domains. She was reputed to have had great influence over Albert, but whether this was true is unconfirmed.
On the night of 22–23 September 1392, she was murdered along with the "Meesterknaap" (a high court dignitary), William Cuser in The Hague by Hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...
nobles. Why exactly Aleid was killed, is not certain.
Albert saw the murder as a personal attack on his authority and used this event to settle scores with a number of political opponents.
References