Walram I of Nassau

Walram I of Nassau (French: Valéran) (c. 1146–1198) was the first (legally titled) Count of Nassau, reigning from 1154 to 1198. The House of Nassau would become an important aristocratic family in Germany, from which are descended the present-day rulers of both the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Walram was the younger son of Count Robert I (German: Ruprecht) of Nassau and an unknown mother. She may have been Robert I’s wife, Beatrix of Limburg (c. 1115-c. 1164), daughter of Walram II the Pagan, Count of Limburg and Duke of Lower Lorraine and Jutta of Guelders (daughter of Gerard I, Count of Guelders), but this is considered unconfirmed by some historians.

When his father died, Walram was only seven years. Therefore, he initially shared the rule with his older brother Robert (Ruprecht) II, who died early as 1159 and of whom little is known. After Robert II’s death, he shared power with his cousins, Henry (Heinrich) I and Robert (Ruprecht) III (sons of Robert I’s brother, Arnold I of Laurenburg). After Henry and Robert’s deaths in 1167 and 1191, respectively, Walram reigned alone.

Robert I had ruled from Nassau Castle, together with his brother Arnold I, since about 1120. Originally titled Count of Laurenburg, Robert called himself Count of Nassau after his castle. This title was disputed by the Bishop of Worms, with whom the Laurenburgs had been in conflict since Robert I’s father, Count Dudo-Henry of Laurenburg (founder of the House of Nassau) undertook to build Nassau Castle on land belonging to the Worms Diocese. The title was only confirmed during Walram's reign through the intervention of Archbishop of Trier Hillin of Falmagne in 1159, about five years after Robert’s death. To settle the dispute, the Archbishop exchanged his own estate in Partenheim in the Nahegau for the Bishop of Worms’ possessions around Nassau, and received the castle of the Laurenburgs as a loan. The Laurenburger family gave up their claim to allodial title over Nassau and in return were given the fiefdom over the castle and town of Nassau from the archbishop. Thereafter, the Laurenburger family were titled the Counts of Nassau. Although this action by the Archbishop settled the feud with Worms, it would eventually lead to new conflicts with Trier under Walram’s descendants (despite the fact that the Archbishop of Trier renounced his territorial claims in 1192).

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