biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (d.1039)
|
| biography:
| Count of Holland (from 993), the son of Arnulf of Ghent. During his minority Holland was attacked by Frisians but saved by his uncle, the Emperor Henry II, by marriage in 1005. He lost his holdings in Ghent and the Waas, but gained the Rijnland and recovered the Merwede area from the Frisians. Dirk later opposed the Bishop of Utrecht, who was supported by Henry II. He built a fort at Vlaardingen on a site claimed by Utrecht, started levying tolls there, and defeated an imperial army trying to stop him, after which Vlaardingen became the centre of his realm. He became known as Hierosolymita following a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. |
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