Henry II, Duke of Brabant


Henry II of Brabant was Duke of Brabant and Lothier after the death of his father Henry I in 1235. His mother was Matilda of Boulogne.
Henry II supported his sister Mathilde's son, William II of Holland, in his bid for election as king of Germany. He founded Valduc Abbey in 1232.
His first marriage was to Marie of Hohenstaufen, daughter of Philip of Swabia and Irene Angelina. They had six children:
  1. Matilda of Brabant, married:
  2. # Robert I of Artois, 14 June 1237, in Compiègne
  3. # before 31 May 1254 to Guy II of Châtillon, Count of Saint Pol.
  4. Beatrix, married:
  5. # at Creuzburg 10 March 1241, Heinrich Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia;
  6. # in Leuven November 1247 to William III of Dampierre, Count of Flanders.
  7. Maria of Brabant, married Louis II, Duke of Upper Bavaria. She was beheaded by her husband on suspicion of infidelity.
  8. Margaret, Abbess of Valduc Abbey.
  9. Henry III, Duke of Brabant
  10. Philip, died young
His second marriage was to Sophie of Thuringia, daughter of Ludwig IV of Thuringia and Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, by whom he had two children:
  1. Elizabeth, married Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
  2. Henry, created Landgrave of Hesse in 1264.
Henry died in Leuven, aged about 40.