Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg

Gerhard VI (c. 1367–1404) was the Count of Holstein-Rendsburg from 1382, and Duke of Schleswig as of 1386.

Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein
Bornc. 1367
Died1404
Noble familyHouse of Schauenburg
Spouse(s)Catherine Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg
IssueIngeborg of Holstein
Henry IV, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg
Helvig of Schauenburg
Adolf VIII, Count of Holstein
Gerhard VII, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg
FatherHenry II, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg
MotherIngeborg of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Seal of Gerhard VI dating to about 1392

Gerhard VI was born around 1367, the son of Count Henry II from the Rendsburg line of the House of Schauenburg and Ingeborg of Mecklenburg. After the death, in 1381 or 1384, of his father, who had ruled jointly with Gerhard's uncle Nicholas (Claus), Gerhard and his younger brother Albert II entered into the joint government for their late father. On 15 September 1386 King Olav III of Denmark enfeoffed him with the Duchy of Schleswig, after his uncle Nicholas had resigned from that function.

In 1390 Gerhard and his brother and uncle inherited Holstein-Kiel, including the merged Plön, whose line had been extinct in 1350. After their uncle Nicholas had died in 1397 the brothers divided their possessions, the elder keeping Schleswig and Holstein-Rendsburg, and Albert II receiving Holstein-Segeberg as secundogeniture. In 1403 Gerhard regained Segeberg by way of reversion upon Albert's death in action against Ditmarsh, thus ruling almost the whole of Holstein except of Holstein-Pinneberg. The Duchy of Schleswig and the County of Holstein-Rendsburg were then under one ruler. He fell in the Battle on the Hamme on 4 August 1404 during another attempt to subjugate Ditmarsh.

Family edit

In 1391 Gerhard married Catherine Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg, daughter of Magnus II of Brunswick-Lüneburg. They had the following children:

See also edit

Sources edit

  • Karl Jansen (1878), "Gerhard VI", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 8, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 740–741
Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg
Born: about 1367 Died: 4 August 1404
Danish nobility
Preceded by Duke of Schleswig
as Gerhard II
1386-1404
Succeeded by
German nobility
Preceded byas Counts of Holstein-Rendsburg Counts of Holstein-Rendsburg
as Gerhard VI
1381/1384-1404
with his uncle Nicholas (Claus) (1340-1397)
and his brother Albert II (1381/1384-1397)
Succeeded byas Count of Holstein-Segeberg (newly partitioned)
Preceded byas Count of Holstein-Kiel
(line extinct in 1390, merged into Rendsburg)
Succeeded byas Count of Holstein-Rendsburg
Preceded byas Count of Holstein-Segeberg
(in 1403 reverted)