Walram II, Count of Nassau


Walram II of Nassau, Walram II. von Nassau, was Count of Nassau and is the ancestor of the Walramian branch of the House of Nassau.

Biography

Walram was the second son of Count Henry II of Nassau and Matilda of Guelders and Zutphen, the youngest daughter of Count Otto I of Guelders and Zutphen and Richardis of Bavaria. Walram is first mentioned in a charter dated 20 July 1245.
Walram succeeded his father before 1251, together with his brother Otto I. They received town privileges for Herborn from the German King William in 1251.
Walram and Otto divided their county on 16 December 1255 with the river Lahn as border. The division treaty is nowadays known as the Prima divisio. The area south of the Lahn: the lordships Wiesbaden, Idstein, the Ämter Weilburg and Bleidenstadt, was assigned to Walram. Nassau Castle and dependencies, the Ämter Miehlen and Schönau as well as the Vierherrengericht, Laurenburg Castle, the Esterau and the fiefs in Hesse remained jointly owned.
Later, perhaps shortly after the conclusion of the division treaty, Walram expressed dissatisfaction with some provisions of the treaty and challenged them. Whether he was already acting under the influence of the mental illness from which he suffered is unknown. What is certain is that in an attack of insanity he burned his copy of the division treaty.
Walram was Hofmarschall and Geheimrat of King Rudolf I of Germany.
Walram lost several towns, including Niederlahnstein, Pfaffenhofen and Vallendar, to the Archbishop of Trier. He also continued the Dernbacher Feud against Hesse. He died – allegedly in mental derangement – on 24 January 1276. He was succeeded by his son Adolf.

Marriage and children

Walram married before 1250 to Adelheid of Katzenelnbogen, daughter of Count Diether IV of Katzenelnbogen and Hildegunde. As a widow Adelheid was a Clarissan nun in Wiesbaden and in Mainz. She was buried in the St. Clara monastery in Mainz.
From this union came the following children:
  1. Diether, was Archbishop of Trier 1300-1307.
  2. Adolf, succeeded his father as count of Nassau, was King of Germany 1292-1298.
  3. Richardis, was a nun in the St. Clara monastery in Mainz and later in Klarenthal Abbey near Wiesbaden.
  4. Matilda.
  5. Imagina, may have married Frederick of Lichtenberg.