Henry, Duke of Lower Lorraine

Who was Henry, Duke of Lower Lorraine?

Henry I was the count of Limburg and Arlon from 1082 to his death and duke of Lower Lorraine between 1101 to 1106. He was the son of Waleran I of Limburg and Jutta, daughter of Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine.

He opposed Egilbert, Archbishop of Trier, and took back some property which the former Countess Adela had given to the church. Egilbert summoned him to return them, but he refused and was excommunicated. Egilbert took up arms and seriously defeated him.

As advocate of the abbey of Sint-Truiden, a title he had inherited from his father, he intervened in the internal affairs of the abbey. The abbot Herman, named by Poppo, Bishop of Metz, and supported by Godfrey of Bouillon and Henry, fell out with the Emperor Henry IV and the abbey was transferred to the authority of Arnold, Count of Loon. Arnold forced Henry and Godfrey to withdraw from the monastery.

After many local nobles left on the First Crusade, among them Godfrey, Henry's power in the region of Belgica was greatly increased and he abused it, especially against the monasteries. The emperor intervened and took Limburg in July 1101.