Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY
Johann was born in Dillenburg on 29 December 1583, the second son, second of twelve children of Johann VII, Graf von Nassau-Siegen and his first wife Gräfin Magdalena von Waldeck. From his father's second marriage, to Princess Margaretha von Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön, there were a further thirteen children. Johann became his father's main heir when his elder brother Johann Ernst fell at Udine in 1617 as a general in the service of Venice.
Brought up in the Reformed Church like all his siblings, Johann converted to Catholicism in 1612, to the dismay of his entire family, apparently because of the impression made on him by Pope Clement VIII. On 13 August 1618 in Brussels he married the Catholic Princess Ernestine Yolande de Ligne, youngest child of Lamoral I, prince de Ligne and Marie de Melun d'Espinoy, heiress of Cysoing, Roubaix and Antoing. Johann and Ernestine had five daughters, and finally one son Johann Franz Desideratus, who became his father's heir. He and two of his sisters would have progeny.
Johann entered military service for Spain, became a general, war counsellor at the imperial court, field marshal, and in 1630 a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. With him the Nassau-Siegen line divided into Catholic and Protestant branches. He did his utmost to reconvert the people in his inherited lands to Catholicism, and attempted to pressure his brothers out of their shares. Having become wealthy, he lived mainly in Brussels or in the barony of Renaix that he had purchased.
Johann died on 27 July 1638 at his château in Renaix in Belgium.
|