Noble family House of Nassau Died 1289 Name Otto Count | Mother Matilda of Guelders Father Henry II of Nassau Grandchildren Otto II of Nassau | |
Spouse Agnes of Leiningen (m. 1260–1289) Children Henry, Count of Nassau in Siegen Parents Mechtild of Guelders, Henry II, Count of Nassau Cousins Floris IV, Count of Holland, Otto II, Count of Guelders, Otto III van Holland | ||
Otto I of Nassau (c. 1247–1290), Count of Nassau was the younger son of Count Henry II of Nassau and Matilda of Guelders.
Otto I became the count of Dillenburg, Hadamar, Siegen, Herborn and Beilstein after many years of quarrel with his brother Count Walram II. In the division of 17 December 1255 he received possessions north to the Lahn. And thus began the geographical and political separation of the House of Nassau. He became the founder of the Ottonian line of the house. He stood against the local aristocracy, particularly the counts of Greifenstein and of Dernbach and was for many years banished, since he withheld lands of Teutonic Knights, which his uncle had left to him. Among his opponents were the archbishops of Cologne and Trier, who presented the territorial claims. He lost also the lordships in Emsland and Koblenz.
Family and children
He married Agnes of Leiningen, a daughter of Count Emich IV of Leiningen and had following children:
- Henry, Count of Nassau in Siegen (d. 1343), Count in Nassau-Siegen, Ginsburg, Haiger and in Westerwald since 1303, in Dillenburg, Herborn and Beilstein in 1328–43.
- Emicho I, Count of Nassau-Hadamar (d. 7 June 1334) in Driedorf, Esterau and Hadamar.
- John (d. 1328), Count in Beilstein and Herborn since 1303, in Katzenelnbogen since 1320.
- Mechtild (d. 28 October 1319), married ca. 1289 to Gerhard von Schönecken.
- Gertrud (d. 19 September 1359), Abbess of Altenberg.
He also had an illegitimate son Henry, who was a monk in Arnstein and a priest in Nassau.