Loon War
| Loon War | |||||||||
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 William's troops besiege Ada in the Fortress of Leiden. Reinier Vinkeles (1785). |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 LoonSupported by: .svg){kind=small} France Staufen Flanders Limburg Brabant Utrecht Liège
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 HollandSupported by:  England House of Welf
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Louis II of Loon Ada of Holland Dirk van Are Philip of Swabia
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William of Frisia Walter of Egmont John Lackland Otto IV
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The Loon War (Dutch: Loonse Oorlog) was a war of succession over the County of Holland (and its dependency Zeeland) from 1203 until 1206, brought on by the death of count Dirk VII. The war was waged between Dirk's brother William of Frisia, and Dirk's daughter Ada who had quickly married count Louis II of Loon.
Count Dirk VII of Holland passed away on 4 November 1203, having fathered only daughters, with only Ada surviving him. On his deathbed, he declared he wanted to discuss his succession with his brother William of Frisia. However, his wife, countess Adelaide of Cleves, who had already fought a battle near Alkmaar against the rebellious William in 1195, wanted Ada to receive the inheritance instead. Because Holland and Zeeland were so-called "sword fiefs" and not "spindle fiefs", Ada, as a woman, had no right to inherit the counties, but Adelaide tried to accomplish this anyway by quickly finding a husband for Ada. Even before her father was buried, the 15-year-old Ada wed count Louis II of Loon, as arranged by her mother. On the way to her father's funeral, she ran into her uncle William's henchmen, after which she entrenched herself in the Fortress of Leiden.
The war of succession took on an international scope: Ada and Louis allied themselves with France and the German house of Hohenstaufen, William joined up with Engeland and the German house of Welf. In the background, a struggle for the throne of the Holy Roman Empire was taking place between the Welf Otto IV of Brunswick and the Stauf Philip of Swabia. This meant that the emperor or overlord was unable to determine the fate of the events in his Dutch provinces. Well-known noblemen from Holland who joined forces with the Loon camp were Gisbert II of Amstel, Floris Herbaren van der Lede, Folpert II van der Lede, Hugo of Voorne, Rogier van der Meere and Otto of Voorn; William was supported by Walter of Egmont, Albert II Banjaert, Philip of Wassenaar, James of Leiden, Simon of Haarlem, William of Teylingen, Jan of Rijswijk and Otto of Bentheim.
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