[June 30] Charles II, duke of Guelders

Parents: Adolf, duke of Guelders, and Catharine of Bourbon
Date of Birth: 9 November 1467
Royal House: Egmond
Spouse: Elisabeth, daughter of Henry I, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Marguerite of Saxony
Predecessor: Philip I
Reign: 1492 – 1538
Summary: The history of the duchy of Guelders should have ended when it merged with the much larger dynastic state of the Burgundian inheritance in 1473. In that year, Charles' father, Adolf, sold his duchy to Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy and lord of the Netherlands. Charles was born and raised at the Burgundian court and viewed Charles the Bold as a father-like figure. He joined with the Burgundians in many battles against the French and was captured at the Battle of Béthune in 1487. Charles the Bold died in 1477 and Burgundy was inherited by his daughter, Mary, who died only five years later. Their son, Philip, was still a toddler when Mary died, so her husband, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, took over as regent for Philip I in Burgundy. By 1492, the citizens of Guelders were tired of rule by a foreign overlord. They gathered enough money to ransom Charles of Egmond and declared him their duke as Charles II.


The French initially supported this new duke in the Low Countries, but Maximilian viewed Charles as an upstart and by 1505, Philip was old enough to retake Guelders and declare himself its duke. Charles was forced to accompany Philip to Spain to attend his coronation as king of Castile, but Charles managed to escape outside of Antwerp. Philip died a few months later and by 1513, Charles II was in control of Guelders again. The Burgundian inheritance was now in the hands of King Charles I of Castile, Philip's eldest son, but in Guelders, only Charles II was recognized. When Frisian peasants rose up in rebellion against Habsburg rule, Charles financially supported them. He switched sides when the peasants began to lose in order to avoid incurring the wrath of the Habsburgs. At the Treaty of Gorinchem in 1528, Charles I, now Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, proposed to recognize Charles II as duke in Guelders so long as the duchy would return to the Habsburgs upon  the extinction of the Egmond line. Charles II delayed since he had no children. When another battle occurred, the provision was removed from the treaty. A resolution was finally approved in 1536 in the Treaty of Grave. Charles II died two years later at Arnhem and was buried at the Church of Saint Eusebius there. William, duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, took up the Egmond cause, being a distant cousin of Charles II. But in the Treaty of Venlo in 1543, Guelders was once-and-for-all merged into the Burgundian inheritance and became the property of the Habsburg Empire.
Date of Death: 30 June  1538
Successor: William II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Nepotianus, usurper of Rome (350)
• Adolf, prince-bishop of Osnabrück (1224)