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Godfrey III
Duke of Lower Lorraine Landgrave of Brabant Count of Louvain Count of Brussels
Effigy of Godfrey on his seal
Born	c. 1142
Died	21 August 1190
Noble family	House of Reginar
Spouses	Margaret of Limbourg Imagina of Looz
Issue	Henry I, Duke of Brabant SaintAlbert, Prince-Bishop of Liège William Godfrey
Father	Godfrey II, Count of Louvain
Mother	Luitgarde of Sulzbach

Godfrey III (German:Gottfried,Dutch:Godfried;c. 1142 – 21 August 1190) wascount of Louvain (or Leuven),landgrave of Brabant,margrave of Antwerp, andduke of Lower Lorraine (asGodfrey VIII) from 1142 to his death.

Godfrey was the son ofGodfrey II and Luitgarde of Sulzbach.^[1] He was still an infant at his succession (therefore calleddux in cunis) of which a few Brabantian vassals sought to take advantage to become independent of the duke (Wars ofGrimbergen, 1141–1159).

On 30 March 1147, Godfrey was present at the coronation ofHenry Berengar, son ofConrad III of Germany, inAachen. When Conrad left on Crusade, war began anew in 1148. Peace was elusive until the election of Conrad's successor,Frederick Barbarossa. By marriage to Margaret, daughter ofHenry II of Limburg, Godfrey united two powerful and antagonistic houses in the region.

In 1159 Godfrey ended the war with the Berthout, lords ofGrimbergen, by burning their impressivecastle at Grimbergen.In 1171, Godfrey was at war withHainaut, but was defeated. In 1172, he bought theCounty of Aarschot from its wayward countGodfried III, which in future generations would give rise to the dynasty of thedukes of Aarschot that remain to this day. In 1179, he gave his sonHenry in marriage to a niece ofPhilip of Alsace,Count of Flanders.

Between 1182 and 1184 Godfrey went on a Jerusalem campaign. In the interim, Barbarossa grantedHenry the title "Duke of Brabant". Godfrey died in 1190, on 10 or 21 August. He left an increased territory and built the fortress of Nedelaer (nearVilvoorde). The ducal title was transmitted to his son at theDiet ofSchwäbisch Hall (September 1190).

Godfrey married twice:

• Firstly, to Margaret of Limbourg, daughter ofHenry II, Duke of Limburg,^[2] in 1158, by whom he had two children:
  • Henry I, Duke of Brabant (1165 – 5 September 1235).^[3] Henry was installed in 1180 asduke of Lower Lorraine until 1222. He was madecount of Louvain in 1183, until 1198. He was installed as Duke of Brabant in 1191.
  • Albert de Louvain (1166 – 24 November 1192). Albert was elected Bishop of Louvain (Liege) in 1191, but assassinated in Reims in 1192.^[4]
• Secondly, Godfrey married Imagina of Loon,^[3] daughter ofLouis I, Count of Loon, by whom he had two children:
  • William of Louvain, Lord ofPerwez en Ruysbroek.^[3] He married Marie of Orbais, daughter of Enguerrand of Orbais.
  • Godfrey of Louvain (d. 1226), who went to England in 1196 and becameSeneschal of theHonour of Eye. He married Alice de Hastings, daughter and heiress of Robert de Hastings (d. c. 1190),feudal baron ofLittle Easton in Essex,^[5] by whom he had:
    • Matthew de Lovaine, Lord of Little Easton, Seneschal of the Honour of Eye (b. about 1202 in Little Easton – d. 1 June 1258 in Little Easton)

• Loud, Graham A.; Schenk, Jochen, eds. (2017).The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100-1350: Essays by German Historians. Routledge.
• van der Steen, Jasper (2015).Memory Wars in the Low Countries, 1566-1700. Brill.

• Dukes of Lower Lorraine
• Counts of Louvain
• Margraves of Antwerp
• House of Reginar
• 12th-century dukes in Europe
• 12th-century counts in Europe
• 1140s births
• 1190 deaths

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from February 2010
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• Articles containing German-language text
• Articles containing Dutch-language text
• Year of birth uncertain