Dirk VI, Count of Holland

Dirk VI(c. 1114 – 5 August 1157) wasCount of Hollandbetween 1121 and 1157, at first, during his minority, under the regency of his motherPetronilla.He was the son ofCount Floris II.After his death he was succeeded by his eldest sonFloris III.He married Sofie ofSalm,Countess of Rheineck andBentheim.She was heiress of Bentheim, which she ruled together with her husband and which was inherited by the couple's second son Otto after his parents' death.

Dirk VI
Count of Holland
Reign	2 March 1121 – 5 August 1157
Predecessor	Floris II
Successor	Floris III
Born	c. 1114
Died	(1157-08-05)August 5, 1157
Burial	Rijnsburg Abbey
Spouse	Sophia of Rheineck
Issue and others...	Floris III, Count of Holland
House	Holland
Father	Floris II, Count of Holland
Mother	Petronilla of Lorraine

Petronilla's regency

When his father died in 1122, Dirk was only 7 years old and his mother, Petronilla, governed the county as regent. In 1123 she supported the uprising of her half-brother,Lothair of Süpplingenburg, Duke of SaxonyagainstEmperor Henry V.After Lothair had been elected king of Germany himself in 1125 he returnedLeidenandRijnlandto Holland, which had both been awarded to theBishop of Utrechtin 1064 (Later on during Dirk's reign the wooden fortifications at Leiden would be replaced by a stone castle). Because Petronilla saw little ability or ambition in Dirk as he grew up, she stalled letting go of the regency when he reached adulthood (fifteen years old), until her favourite son Floris could attempt to take over the county.

Floristhe Black

This Floris, called "the Black" (Dutch:de Zwarte) did possess those qualities which his older brother seemed to lack. He openly revolted against him and was from 1129 to 1131 recognised as Count of Holland by, amongst others, King Lothair and Andreas of Kuyk,Bishop of Utrecht.After March 1131 Dirk again appears as count of Holland alongside him, the brothers apparently having reached an agreement. Only a few months later, however, in August 1131 Floris accepted an offer from theWest-Frisiansto become lord of their entire territory, which reignited the conflict with his brother. After this the people fromKennemerlandjoined the revolt as well. A year later, in August 1132 King Lothair intervened and managed to reconcile the brothers. This did not pacify the Frisians however, who continued their revolt, which was nonetheless eventually suppressed. Later that year, on 26 October Floris was ambushed nearUtrechtand murdered by Herman and Godfried of Kuyk, leaving Dirk to rule the county on his own. King Lothair punished this act by having Herman and Godfried's castle razed and banishing the two. Floris was buried atRijnsburg Abbey.

Holland,pennystruck circa 1140 by Dirk VI,Count of Holland.

Imperial affairs

Count Dirk had supported his relativeLothair of SaxonyagainstHenry Vand with his assistance parts of Holland were regained that had been awarded to and occupied by theBishopric of Utrechtin 1064. Furthermore, with help fromKing Conrad IIIand support of the counts ofClevesandGueldersand his brother-in-law Otto II, Count of Rheineck, he was able to get a candidate of his own (Herman of Horne) recognised as bishop of Utrecht.

Ecclesiastical affairs and pilgrimage

Dirk and his mother supported the abbeys ofEgmondandRijnsburg,which flourished in this period. The nunnery at Rijnsburg was established by Petronilla in 1133. Two of her granddaughters, Sophie and Hedwig later joined it, one of them as abbess.

Dirk andSophiewent on apilgrimageto theHoly Landin 1138 and it was on this pilgrimage that their first son Dirk, calledPeregrinus( "Pilgrim" ), was born, but he died when he was only 12 years old. On the return journey, in 1139, Dirk visitedPope Innocent IIand asked for the abbeys of Egmond and Rijnsburg to be placed under direct papal authority and this request was granted. In this way Dirk removed the Bishop of Utrecht's influence over those abbeys. Dirk's mother, Petronilla, died in 1144 and was buried at Rijnsburg.

In 1155 the Frisians revolted again and plundered the area ofSantpoortnearbyHaarlem,but they were beaten back by the knights of Haarlem andOsdorp.

In 1156 Count Dirk VI resolved the protracted conflict between the abbeys of Egmond andEchternach,which had been ongoing ever since the establishment of Egmond in 923 by Count Dirk I. At the time of the establishment the Count had granted Egmond the rights over all the churches in the area, which had previously belonged to Echternach. Repeated attempts were made to regain these lost rights, initially with little result, but in 1063William I, Bishop of Utrecht,decided to split the rights between the two abbeys. This division was unacceptable to Egmond however, and its abbots pressed the counts for compensation. Finally, in 1156, Dirk VI resolved to give all the rights over the churches to Egmond again, compensating Echternach with the rights over the proceeds of the church inVlaardingenand lands on the island ofSchouwen.Although the abbot of Egmond was a witness at the agreement, it seems he may have attended under pressure, as only a little while later heexcommunicatedboth Count Dirk and his sonFloris.This perhaps is the reason that Dirk, unlike his forefathers, was not buried at Egmond, but at Rijnsburg.

Family

Count Dirk VI marriedSophie of Salm,Countess of Bentheim some time before 1137. She was a daughter of Otto of Salm, Count of Rheineck and Bentheim, son ofHermann of Salm, King of Germany.Dirk and Sophie had (at least) nine children:

1. Dirk, known as Pilgrim (Peregrinus), born 1138/1139 – died 1151.
2. Floris,born ca. 1140 – died 1 August 1190 atAntioch(succeeded his father as Floris III, Count of Holland, in 1157).
3. Otto, born 1140/1145 – died 1208 or after (inherited his mother's county and becameCount of Bentheim).
4. Baldwin,born ca. 1149 – died 30 April 1196 (firstly, Provost at St Maria in Utrecht; secondly,Bishop of Utrechtfrom 1178 until his death).
5. Dirk,born ca. 1152 – died 28 August 1197 inPavia(also became Bishop of Utrecht, in 1197, but died the same year).
6. Sophie (in 1186 she became abbess of Rijnsburg Abbey, established by her grandmother).
7. Hedwig, died 28 August 1167 (a nun at Rijnsburg).
8. Gertrud (died in infancy).
9. Petronilla.

Also, it was alleged that Count Dirk had fathered an illegitimate son, whose name was Robert.

Sources

• De Boer, Dick; Cordfunke, Erik (1995),Graven van Holland: portretten in woord en beeld (880-1580),Zwolle:Walburg Pers, pp. 29–30,ISBN978-90-6011-915-0
• Dijkstra, B.K.S. (1991),Een stamboom in been,Amsterdam{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Dirk VI of Holland at www.genealogie-mittelalter.de