Biography of Otto II Count Guelders 1215-1271

Paternal Family Tree: Guelders

Maternal Family Tree: Agatha

In January 1206 [his father] Gerard III Count Guelders (age 21) and [his mother] Margaret Reginar Countess Guelders (age 14) were married. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Henry Reginar VIII Duke Lower Lorraine I Duke Brabant (age 41) and [his grandmother] Maud Metz (age 36). He the son of [his grandfather] Otto I Count Guelders (age 56) and [his grandmother] Richardis Wittelsbach Countess Guelders (age 33).

Around 1215 Otto II was born to [his father] Gerard III Count Guelders (age 30) and [his mother] Margaret Reginar Countess Guelders (age 23). He a great x 2 grandson of King Stephen I England.

On 22nd October 1229 [his father] Gerard III Count Guelders (age 44) died. His son Otto (age 14) succeeded II Count Guelders.

In 1231 [his mother] Margaret Reginar Countess Guelders (age 39) died.

On 12th March 1237 William Jülich IV Count Jülich (age 27) and [his sister] Margaret Guelders Countess Jülich were married. She by marriage Countess Jülich. He would, thirteen years later, marry her sister [his sister] Richardis Guelders Countess Jülich (age 22); an example of Married to Two Siblings. She the daughter of [his father] Gerard III Count Guelders and [his mother] Margaret Reginar Countess Guelders. He the son of William Jülich III Count Jülich and Matilda Luxemburg Countess Jülich. They were third cousins. She a great x 2 granddaughter of King Stephen I England.

In 1240 Otto II (age 25) and Margaretha Cleves Countess of Gulders (age 22) were married. She by marriage Countess Guelders. She the daughter of Dietrich Cleves V Count Cleves and Mathilda Dinslaken Countess Cleves. He the son of Gerard III Count Guelders and Margaret Reginar Countess Guelders. They were fourth cousins. He a great x 2 grandson of King Stephen I England.

In 1242 Raoul Coucy II Lord Coucy succeeded II Lord Coucy. [his future wife] Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu by marriage Lord Coucy.

William of Worcester's Chronicle of England

William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.

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Before 1250 Raoul Coucy II Lord Coucy and [his future wife] Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu were married. She the daughter of Simon Dammartin and Marie Montgomery Countess Ponthieu (age 50). They were third cousins.

Before January 1250 William Jülich IV Count Jülich (age 40) and [his sister] Richardis Guelders Countess Jülich (age 35) were married. She by marriage Countess Jülich. He had previously married her sister [his sister] Margaret Guelders Countess Jülich; an example of Married to Two Siblings. She the daughter of [his father] Gerard III Count Guelders and [his mother] Margaret Reginar Countess Guelders. He the son of William Jülich III Count Jülich and Matilda Luxemburg Countess Jülich. They were third cousins. She a great x 2 granddaughter of King Stephen I England.

In 1253 Otto II (age 38) and Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu were married. She by marriage Countess Guelders. She the daughter of Simon Dammartin and Marie Montgomery Countess Ponthieu. He the son of Gerard III Count Guelders and Margaret Reginar Countess Guelders. They were half fifth cousins. He a great x 2 grandson of King Stephen I England.

In 1255 [his son] Reginald I Count Guelders was born to Otto II (age 40) and [his wife] Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu. He a great x 3 grandson of King Stephen I England. He married (1) 1276 his fourth cousin Ermengarde Luxemburg I Duchess Limburg, daughter of Waleran Luxemburg IV Duke Limburg and Judith Kleve Duchess Limburg (2) 1286 his half third cousin once removed Margaret Dampierre Countess Guelders, daughter of Guy Dampierre Count Flanders and Isabelle Luxemburg Countess Flanders, and had issue.

On 1st January 1271 Otto II (age 56) died. His son Reginald (age 16) succeeded I Count Guelders.

In 1280 [his former wife] Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu died.

[his daughter] Elizabeth Guelders was born to Otto II and Margaretha Cleves Countess of Gulders. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Stephen I England.

[his daughter] Maria Guelders was born to Otto II and Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Stephen I England.

[his daughter] Margaret Guelders Countess Cleves was born to Otto II and Margaretha Cleves Countess of Gulders. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Stephen I England. She married (1) her fourth cousin twice removed Enguerrand Coucy 4th Lord Coucy (2) her half first cousin Dietrich Cleves VII Count Cleves, son of Dietrich Cleves VI Count Cleves and Alida d Henry I Sponheim Countess Cleves, and had issue.

Raoul Lusignan II Count of Eu and Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu were married. She by marriage Countess Eu. She the daughter of Simon Dammartin and Marie Montgomery Countess Ponthieu.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke

Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.

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[his daughter] Phillipa Guelders was born to Otto II and Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Stephen I England.

[his daughter] Margaret Guelders was born to Otto II and Philippe Dammartin Countess Eu. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Stephen I England.