Agnes of Leiningen


Agnes of Leiningen was a Countess of Nassau by marriage to Otto I, Count of Nassau. She was probably Regent of the County of Nassau for some time for her youngest son after the death of her spouse in 1289/1290.

Biography

Agnes was a daughter of Count Emich IV of Leiningen and his wife Elisabeth. She married before 1270 Count Otto I of Nassau. Her husband had divided the County of Nassau with his elder brother Walram II on 16 December 1255, on which occasion Otto had obtained the area north of the river Lahn, containing, among others, Siegen, Dillenburg, Herborn, Tringenstein, Neukirch and Emmerichenhain.
Agnes ruled with her sons after the death of her husband. That can only mean that she acted as regent for her younger sons, the eldest two being of age at the death of their father. Nothing else is known about her regency.
On 13 April 1298 Agnes obtained permission from Bishop Emich I of Worms to found a monastery in Abenheim. The current Klausenberg Chapel is probably the remains of that monastery. Agnes was a second cousin of the bishop. In 1299 she and her sons Henry and Emich confirmed the foundation in a charter.

Issue

From her union with Otto I of Nassau came the following children:
  1. Henry, succeeded his father to become Count of Nassau-Siegen in 1303.
  2. Matilda, married around 1289 Gerhard of Schöneck.
  3. Emicho, succeeded his father to become Count of Nassau-Hadamar in 1303.
  4. Otto, was canon at Worms in 1294.
  5. John, succeeded his father to become Count of Nassau-Dillenburg in 1303.
  6. Gertrudis, was abbess of Altenberg Abbey, a Premonstratensian nunnery near Wetzlar.