Dietrich VII, Count of Cleves

German noble (1256–1305)

Dietrich VII (1256–1305) was Count of Cleves from 1275 through 1305. He was the son of Dietrich VI, Count of Cleves and his wife Aleidis von Heinsberg.^[1] Dietrich adopted the strategy used in Holland, in the county of Cleves, methodically reclaiming territory with dikes and settling new residents.^[2]

Marriage and issue

In 1260, Dietrich married Margaret of Guelders (d. 1281), daughter of Otto II, Count of Guelders. They had three children:

• Otto, Count of Cleves (1278–1310)
• Catharine, nun at Gräfenthal (1280-1357)
• Adelheid, married Henry IV, Count of Waldeck (d. 1348)

His second marriage was to Margaret of Habsburg-Kilburg,^[1] daughter of Everhard I of Kiburg-Laufenburg. Their children were:

• Dietrich VIII, Count of Cleves (1291–1347)
• Johann, Count of Cleves (1293–1368).
• Margaret, married Henry of Lodi, son of Guy, Count of Flanders (d. 1337)
• Irmgard, married Gerhard I of Horn, Count of Altena (1297-1350)
• Agnes (d. 1361), married in 1312 Count Adolf IX of Berg (d. 1348)
• Maria, nun in Bedburg (1302-1347)
• Eberhard (1303-1312)
• Anna (d. 1378), married Godfrey IV of Cuyck-Arnsberg (d. 1371)

References

1. Biographie, Deutsche. "Kleve - Deutsche Biographie". www.deutsche-biographie.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-10.
2. Margue & Pauly 2017, p. 233.

Sources

• Margue, Michel; Pauly, Michel (2017). "The territorial principalities of Lotharingia". In Loud, Graham A.; Schenk, Jochen (eds.). The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100-1350: Essays by German Historians. Routledge.