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- Henry IV (c.1112 14 August 1196), called the Blind (l'Aveugle or der Blinde), was the count of Luxembourg from 1136 and count of Namur from 1139 until his abdication in 1189. He was the son of Godfrey I of Namur and Ermesinda, daughter of Conrad I of Luxembourg.
His father confided to him the administration of the counties of La Roche and Durbuy. When his cousin Conrad II of Luxembourg died, he was granted that county by the Emperor Lothair II, who was preventing it from passing to the French lords of Grandpré. Three years later, he inherited Namur from his father. He inherited the advocacy of the abbeys of Saint-Maximin at Trier and Saint-Willibrod at Echternach. This was the cause of many conflicts with the archbishop of Trier.
In 1141, he helped Alberon II, Bishop of Liège take Bouillon with Renaut I of Bar. In 1147, he gave up Saint-Maximin, but he regained it on the death of the Archbishop Albero de Montreuil in 1152. The new archbishop, Hillin von Fallemanien, exchanged the rights over the abbeys with the town of Grevenmachen in 1155. In 1157, he married Laurette (d.1175), daughter of Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders, and Margaret of Clermont. They separated in 1163. Left without child, he designated his brother-in-law Baldwin IV of Hainault, husband of his sister Alice, as his heir. When Baldwin died in 1171, he designated Baldwin V. Baldwin V and Henry carried out two wars, in 1170 and 1172, with Henry III of Limburg.
In 1171, Henry married a second time, this time to Agnes, daughter of Henry of Guelders and Agnes of Arnstein. Heirless still, he repudiated her in 1184, but fell seriously ill and rejoined her. In September 1186 is born to them a girl, Ermesinda. This birth called into question the plan of succession, for Henry considered his promise to Baldwin null. Henry, then 76 years old, pledged his daughter in marriage to Henry II of Champagne. Baldwin still claimed his inheritance. It was then decided that Baldwin would inherit Namur, Ermesinda Durbuy and La Roche, and Luxembourg (fief masculin) would revert to the Empire.
The fiefs were dispensed in 1189 and Henry quashed the planned marriage of his daughter and married her instead to Theobald I of Bar. He enterred into a war with Henry of Limburg and was defeated on 1 August 1194 at Neuville on Mehaigne. He died two years later in Echternach. (Wikipedia)
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