Battle of Worringen - Prelude

Prelude

The conflict arose after the last Waleran IV, Duke of Limburg, had died without male heirs in 1279, and his duchy was inherited by his daughter Ermengarde, who had married Reginald I, Count of Guelders. When she died childless one year later, her husband claimed the Duchy of Limburg and in 1282 had his demand recognized by the German king Rudolph of Habsburg.

However, Waleran's nephew Adolf VIII, Count of Berg, son of his elder brother Adolf VII, also claimed the duchy after Ermengarde's death. Unable to assert his claims, he sold them in 1283 to the mighty John I, Duke of Brabant. Duke John intended to enlarge his territory and reunite the former Duchy of Lower Lorraine, while Limburg was also economically important as it stretched along the major trade route to the Rhine. Though Brabant held the title of a Duke of Lothier since 1190, it had been solely honorific and did not imply any inheritance claims. The Limburg nobles therefore refused to accept John's overlordship.

Between 1283 and 1288, the conflict was delayed by several smaller confrontations between both sides, none of them decisive. Meanwhile, most of the other local powers chose sides. Foremost Siegfried II of Westerburg, the Archishop of Cologne, suspiciously eyed John's gain in power. In view of their common interests he and Reginald I forged an alliance, joined by Henry VI, Count of Luxembourg, and his brother Waleran I, Count of Ligny, as well as by Adolf, Count of Nassau. On the other side the Counts of Mark took the chance to affirm their independence from the Archbishop of Cologne and together with the Counts of Loon, Tecklenburg and Waldeck allied with Brabant and Berg.