Engelbert II of Nassau, ''Engelbrecht'' in Dutch (17 May 1451 – 31 May 1504), was count of Nassau and Vianden and lord of

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

, Lek,

Diest Diest () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated around ...

, Roosendaal, Nispen and Wouw. He was a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

and

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

, for some time leader of the Privy council of the

Duchy of Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy (; ; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It was a duchy, ruled by dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy belonged to the Kingdom of France, and was initially bordering th ...

and a significant patron of the arts.

Biography

Engelbert was born in

on 17 May 1451, the son of John IV of Nassau-Siegen and his wife Mary of Looz-Heinsberg.George Chastelain and the Shaping of Valois Burgundy: Political and Historical Culture at Court in the Fifteenth Century
by Graeme Small (

Boydell & Brewer Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Martlesham, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editio ...

, 1997)

On 19 December 1468 in

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

he married Cimburga van Baden, daughter of

Charles I, Margrave of Baden-Baden Charles I of Baden (1427 – 24 February 1475, Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its je ...

. Engelbert was lord of Breda between 1475 and 1504. In 1472 he concluded a treaty with his brother John V of Nassau-Siegen in which he received the possessions West of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

Charles the Bold Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...

made him a knight in the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

, at the age of 22, in 1473. After the death of Charles the Bold, Engelbert entered in the service of

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519) was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death in 1519. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed hi ...

, who had married Charles's daughter

Mary of Burgundy Mary of Burgundy (; ; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands, comprising the Duchy of Burgundy, Duchy and Free County of Burgundy, County of Burgundy a ...

. In 1479, he commanded troops during the Battle of Guinegate and during the suppression of a rebellion at

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

.''The Life and Times of William the Third, King of England, and Stadtholder of Holland: In Two Volumes (Volume 1)''
by Arthur Hill Trevor (1835) In 1487, he was captured by the French during the Battle of Béthune, and released for an "enormous" ransom 2 years later. In 1496 he was appointed

stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

of Flanders and by 1498 he had been named President of the

Grand Conseil The term Grand Conseil () or Great Council refers two different institutions during the Ancien Régime in France. It also is the name of parliaments in several Swiss cantons. Ancien Régime France Part of the King's Council Starting in the 13th ...

. In 1501, Maximilian named him Lieutenant-General of the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

. From that point forward (until his death in 1504) Engelbert was the principal representative of the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

to the region.

Death

Engelbert died on 31 May 1504 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and is buried in the ''Grote kerk'' in

. He had no legitimate children and appointed his nephew Henry III of Nassau-Breda as his successor. Engelbert had two illegitimate children: Engelbrecht and Barbara.

Engelbert II of Nassau in art

Engelbert's portrait by the ''Master of the Portraits of Princes'', can be found in the

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museumplein, Museum Square in the stadsdeel, borough of Amsterdam-Zuid, Amsterdam South, ...

. He was one of the last important patrons of Flemish

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

s, and commissioned perhaps the most sumptuous manuscript of the ''

Roman de la Rose ''Le Roman de la Rose'' (''The Romance of the Rose'') is a medieval poem written in Old French and presented as an allegory">allegorical romantic love is disclosed. Its two authors conceived it as a psychological allegory; throughout the Lover' ...

'',

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Harley MS 4425, which has 92 large and high quality miniatures, despite a date around 1500; the text was copied by hand from a printed edition. These are by the artist known as the

Master of the Prayer Books of around 1500 The Master of the Prayer Books of around 1500 was a Flemish painter of illuminated manuscripts and miniatures active in Bruges from about 1485 until around 1520. His name is derived from a collection of devotional manuscripts from the same arti ...

. The Book of Hours of Engelbert of Nassau ( Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Douce 219–220), of the 1470s or 1480s is another well-known manuscript. It has been suggested that he commissioned ''

The Garden of Earthly Delights ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' () is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panels painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. Bos ...

'' by

Hieronymous Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (; ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter from Duchy of Brabant, Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, gene ...

References

External links

Engelbrecht II (in Dutch)
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Engelbert 02 of Nassau 1451 births 1504 deaths Counts of Nassau House of Nassau Knights of the Golden Fleece Dutch art collectors Lords of Breda People from Breda 15th-century governors Stadtholders of Artois Stadtholders of Flanders