Floris V, Count of Holland

Floris V(24 June 1254 – 27 June 1296) reigned asCount of HollandandZeelandfrom 1256 until 1296. His life was documented in detail in theRijmkroniekbyMelis Stoke,his chronicler.He is credited with a mostly peaceful reign, modernizing administration, policies beneficial to trade, generally acting in the interests of his peasants at the expense of nobility, and reclaiming land from the sea. His dramatic murder, said by some to have been arranged by KingEdward I of EnglandandGuy, Count of Flanders,made him a hero in Holland.

Floris V
Effigy of Floris V on his seal
Count of HollandandZeeland
Reign	1256–1296
Predecessor	William II
Successor	John I
Born	24 June 1254 Leiden
Died	27 June 1296(1296-06-27)(aged 42) Muiderberg
Buried	Rijnsburg Abbey
Noble family	House of Holland
Spouse(s)	Beatrice of Flanders
Issue more...	John I, Count of Holland Witte van Haemstede Catherina van Holland
Father	William II, Count of Holland
Mother	Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Early life

Floris was the son ofCount William II(1227–1256) andElisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg.His father was slain in 1256 byFrisianswhen Floris was just two years old. Custody over Floris fell first to his uncle (Floris de Voogdfrom 1256 to 1258), then to his aunt (Adelaide of Hollandfrom 1258 to 1263). The fight over custody of Hollandculminated in the battle of Reimerswaal on 22 January 1263, where CountOtto II of Gueldersdefeated Aleidis and was chosen regent by the nobles who opposed Aleidis.

Otto II served as Floris V's guardian until he was twelve years old (1266) and considered capable of administering Holland himself. Floris's mother, Elisabeth, continued to reside in Holland after her husband's death in 1256. She died on 27 May 1266 and is buried in Middelburg abbey church. She died in the same year that Count Floris V was declared old enough to rule without guardianship, on 10 July 1266.

Political life

Holland,penny or 'kopje' with portrait of Floris V

Floris was supported by the count ofHainautof thehouse of Avesnes,who was an arch-enemy of thecount of Flandersof thehouse of Dampierre.Floris married Beatrix of Dampierre, the daughter ofGuy of Dampierre,count of Flanders, in 1269.

In 1272 Floris unsuccessfully attacked the Frisians (culminating in theBattle of Heiloo) in a first attempt to retrieve the body of his father. In 1274 he faced an uprising by nobles led by the powerful lordsGijsbrecht IV of Amstel,Zweder of Abcoude,Arnoud of Amstel,andHerman VI van Woerden,who held lands on the border with the adjacentbishopricofUtrecht(the area ofAmsterdam,Abcoude,IJsselstein,andWoerden) at the expense of the bishop. Gijsbrecht and Herman were supported by the craftsmen ofUtrecht,the peasants ofKennemerland(Alkmaar,Haarlem,and surroundings), Waterland (north ofAmsterdam) and Amstelland (Amsterdam and surroundings) and theWest Frisians.He assisted the weak bishop,John I of Nassau,by making a treaty with the craftsmen. The bishop would become dependent on Holland's support, and eventually added the lands of the rebellious lords to Holland in 1279. He gave concessions to the peasants of Kennemerland. Kennemerland was a duneland, where the farmers had far fewer rights than the farmers in the polders. Floris got rid of the Avesnes influence and switched allegiance to the Dampierres.

Floris V receivesMelis Stoke,byCharles Rochussen.

In 1282 Floris again attacked the troublesome Frisians in the north, defeating them at the battle ofVronen,and succeeded in retrieving the body of his father. After a campaign in 1287–1288 he finally defeated the Frisians. In the meantime he had received Zeeland-bewester-Schelde (the area that controls access to the Scheldt river) as a loan from the Holy Roman KingRudolf I of Germanyin 1287, but the local nobility sided with the count of Flanders who invaded in 1290. Floris arranged a meeting with countGuyof Flanders, but he was taken prisoner inBiervlietand was forced to abandon his claims and then set free.

Floris immediately wanted to resume war, but King Edward I of England, who had an interest in access to the great rivers for wool and other English goods, convinced Floris to stop hostilities with Flanders. When in 1292 Floris claimed thethrone of Scotlandin theGreat Cause(his great-grandmother Ada being the sister of KingWilliam I of Scotland), he did not receive the expected support from Edward, but England did support his claims in a new, this time more successful, war on Flanders.

Capture and death

Amid theGascon Warbetween England and France, EdwardI moved his trade in wool fromDordrechtin Holland toMecheleninBrabantto aid Flanders inits own war against France.Floris then switched sides to France in 1296. Edward I subsequently prohibited all English trade with Holland and conspired with Guy of Flanders to have Floris kidnapped and taken to France. The humiliated lords Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel and Herman of Woerden, together withGerard van Velsen,captured Floris during a hunting party and brought him toMuiderslotcastle. The news of the capture spread quickly; afraid of the people, four days later the lords together with their captive left the castle to get to a safer place. They were stopped by anangry mobof local peasants. In panic Gerard of Velzen killed the count, and the lords fled. Gerard was eventually captured and killed inLeiden.The other conspirators fled to Brabant, Flanders and perhaps toPrussia,to which many colonists and crusaders from Holland migrated.

Legacy

The life and death of Floris V inspired songs, plays, and books in the Netherlands. Best known is the playGijsbrecht van Aemstelby 17th century playwright and poetJoost van den Vondel,which is about the sacking of Amsterdam in the days after the death of Floris V.

The nickname "God of the Peasants" was introduced after Floris' death in the nobility and was originally intended to be an insult. He earned the name because he behaved "as if he were the Good Lord himself with his peasants". He apparently knighted 40 peasants as members of the Order of St. James without permission of the church, provoking the anger of the church and of the 12 existing noble members of that knightly order. This story has no historical basis, just like another story that claims that Gerard of Velzen participated in the conspiracy because Floris supposedly raped his wife. What is certain is that Floris was remembered as a saint by the peasants of Holland and that the "God of the Peasants" became a symbolic hero in the struggle for independence from Spain in theEighty Years' War(1568–1648).

Family

Coat of armsof Holland

Floris V was the son of CountWilliam II of Hollandand Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg.In c. 1271 Floris married Beatrice of Flanders, daughter ofGuy de Dampierre,count ofFlandersand Matilda, heiress of Bethune, Dendermonde, Richebourg and Warneton.Floris and Beatrice had several children including:

• John I, Count of Holland,who marriedElizabeth,daughter of KingEdward Iof England.No issue. After John's death Elizabeth returned to England and marriedHumphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.
• Margaret, engaged toAlphonso, Earl of Chester,son of KingEdward Iof England from 1281 to his death in 1284.

Floris had several illegitimate children, including:

• Witte van Haemstede(c. 1281-1321), son of Anna van Heusden (daughter of Jan van Heusden). Married Agnes van der Sluys had issue.
• Catherina van Holland(Katherin) (c. 1280- after 1328), married Zweder van Montfoort

Sources

• Fegley, Randall (2002).The Golden Spurs of Kortrijk: How the Knights of France Fell to the Foot Soldiers of Flanders in 1302.McFarland & Co.ISBN0786480548.
• Pollock, M. A. (2015).Scotland, England and France After the Loss of Normandy, 1204-1296.The Boydell Press.

External links

• Media related toFloris V, Count of Hollandat Wikimedia Commons