Henry III of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz
Henry III byJan Gossaert
Born	12 January 1483 Siegen,County of Nassau
Died	14 September 1538(1538-09-14) (aged 55) Breda,Duchy of Brabant
Allegiance	Habsburg dynasty
Rank	Captain General
Conflicts	War of the League of Cambrai Italian War of 1521

CountHenry III of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz (12 January 1483 – 14 September 1538),Lord (from 1530Baron) ofBreda, Lord of theLek, ofDietz, etc. was a count of theHouse of Nassau.

He was born inSiegen, the son of CountJohn V of Nassau-Dillenburg andElisabeth of Hesse-Marburg.^[1] His younger brother wasWilliam I, Count of Nassau-Siegen (the father ofWilliam the Silent).

In 1499 Henry's uncle, countEngelbert II, invited Henry to theBurgundian Netherlands as his heir.^[1] He travelled withPhilip the Handsome toCastile in 1501-1503. Upon the death of his uncle in 1504 Henry inherited the Nassau possessions in the Netherlands, including the wealthy lordship ofBreda in theduchy of Brabant. The next year he was chosen aknight of the Golden Fleece. He again travelled toSpain in 1505-1506. He became a close confidant of the youngCharles V as well as hisChamberlain (1510), becoming his Upper Chamberlain upon the death ofWilliam of Croÿ-Chièvres in 1521. The good relations between Charles and Henry is evident in the fact that Charles did not name a new Upper Chamberlain after Henry's death. Henry was namedGrand Huntsman of Brabant, a position at court he held until the end of his life.

In 1519 he was part of the delegation that had Charles chosenking of the Romans. He was also prominently present at Charles' coronation toEmperor inBologna in 1530. He was a member of thePrivy Council of Charles since 1515 and of the Privy Council of ArchduchessMargaret of Austria between 1525-1526. He temporarily served asStadtholder of the conquered parts ofGuelders and was Stadtholder ofHolland andZeeland between 1515 and 1521. Henry was again in Spain between 1522 and 1530 (accompanying Charles) and in 1533-1534 (with his wife and son).

Henry served as an important military commander in the Netherlands, defendingBrabant fromGuelders in 1508. He wasCaptain General in the war with Guelders between 1511 and 1513, and fought withMaximilian of Austria againstFrance until 1514, participating in thebattle of Guinegate (1513). He again commanded the armies against Guelders andFrance between 1516 and 1521, defeating theBlack Band, which was in the employ ofCharles of Guelders, in 1518 and defeatingRobert van der Marck, Lord ofSedan in 1521. He also repelledFrancis I of France, who invadedHainaut that same year. Subsequently, Henry conqueredTournai.

Although Henry, who attended theDiet of Augsburg in 1530, was at first not averse toMartin Luther and histeachings, he later followed Charles' example and remained a staunchCatholic. He did not approve of the choice of his brother William, who did become a Lutheran, but remained supportive of him throughout his life. He was very impressed with theRenaissance and especially its arts, examples of which he encountered on his journeys toSpain andItaly. For example, he commissioned ItalianarchitectTomasso Vincidor da Bologna to completely rebuild hiscastle at Breda in a renaissance style in 1536, one of the first of such buildings north of theAlps. However, his interests seem to have been superficial.Desiderius Erasmus only considered him a "platonic friend of science".

Henry married three times:

• On 3 August 1503 Henry III married firstly Françoise Louise of Savoy (° bef. 1486 - † 17 September 1511).^[1] They had no children.
• In May 1515 Henry III married secondlyClaudia of Châlon (° 1498 – † 31 May 1521).^[1] They had one son,René of Châlon (° 5 February 1519 - † 18 July 1544),^[2] who becameprince of Orange in 1530 on the death of Claudia's brotherPhilibert.
• On 26 June 1524 Henry III married thirdlyMencia de Mendoza y Fonseca (° 30 November 1508 – † 4 January 1554).^[1] They had one son, born in March 1527, who lived only a few hours.

Henry had no further legitimate children, although he is known to have had some illegitimate offspring, amongst themAlexis of Nassau-Corroy and Isabelle of Nassau, both legitimised after the death of their father, and both had an impressive descendance. One of his descendants isPhilippe François de Berghes, 1st Prince of Grimberghen.

His third marriage to Mencia de Mendoza y Fonseca was mainly encouraged by Charles V, as part of his plan to make the nobility ofSpain and theLow Countries mix. Henry was however never really liked by the Spaniards, who regarded him as a loud and barbarianGermanparvenu. Upon his death, inBreda, in 1538 he was succeeded by his only son, but René was himself slain in battle only a few years later in 1544. Henry lies buried beneath the grave monument he had erected for his uncle Engelbert in theGrote kerk at Breda.

• Guenther, Ilse (1995). "Henry III of Nassau". In Bietenholz, Peter G.; Deutscher, Thomas Brian (eds.).Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation. Vol. 2. University of Toronto Press.
• Martone, Eric (2011). "Counts of Orange". In Poddar, Prem; Jensen, Lars; Patke, Rajeev Shridhar (eds.).A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures - Continental Europe and Its Empires. Edinburgh University Press.

• Hans Cools,Mannen met Macht (Walburg Pers, Zutphen, 2001)
• H.P.H. Jansen,Nassau en Oranje in de Nederlandse geschiedenis (Sijthoff, Alphen a/d Rijn, 1979)
• Grew, Marion Ethel, "The House of Orange" ( Methuen & Co. Ltd., 36 Essex Street, Strand, London W.C.2, 1947)
• Rowen, Herbert H., "The princes of Orange: the stadholders in the Dutch Republic", (Cambridge University Press, 1988).
• Motley, John Lothrop "The Rise of the Dutch Republic" vol.1. (Harper Brothers Publishers, 1855)

• 1483 births
• 1538 deaths
• Military personnel from Siegen
• Stadtholders in the Low Countries
• Knights of the Golden Fleece
• Lords of Breda
• Counts of Nassau
• Military leaders of the Italian Wars
• Hunters
• Dutch generals
• 16th-century governors

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