The House of Luxemburg/Luxembourg stemmed from the House of Ardenne (or Ardennes, French Maison d'Ardenne) was an important medieval noble family from
Lotharingia, known from at least the tenth century. They had several important branches, descended from several brothers:[1]
The first instance of the house of Luxembourg,
counts of Luxemburg, is outlined below.
When the male line died. Three houses descended from the women of the counts of Luxembourg, the
Counts of Loon, the Counts of
Grandpré, and the
Dukes of Limburg. All three families had a place in relation to the succession of the
House of Ardennes. Indeed, the Count of Grandpré was the next heir of
Conrad II of Luxembourg, who was the last representative of the Ardennes dynasty. But, Emperor
Frederick II preferred that Luxembourg was held by a lord Germanic rather than French and attributed the county to
Henry of Limburg-Arlon (see below), son of Conrad's aunt Ermesinde and Count
Godfrey I of Namur. The Counts of Loon are also in position to claim the inheritance Luxembourg, albeit weaker position.
House of Limburg–Arlon/the (Second) House of Luxemburg
Having succeeded to the county of Luxemburg, the younger branch of the House of Limburg-Arlon is the family that succeeded in getting one of its scions elected Holy Roman Emperor. From there descended the Kings of Bohemia, several other Emperors and a King of Hungary as shown below.
House of Limburg–Arlon/the House of Luxemburg
Waleran I of Arlon also called Udon of Limburg († 1082) Count of Limburg
Henry III (1583 – 1616} Count of Ligny and
Brienne elevated to Duke of Brienne in 1587
Marguerite-Charlotte de Luxembourg (1607–1680) heiress to the title 1m.Léon d'Albert de Luynes (1582–1630) third duc de Piney jure uxoris 2m. Charles-Henri de
Clermont-Tonnerre ( -1674)
Henri-Léon d'Albert de Luxembourg (1630–1697)4th
Duke of Piney-Luxembourg resigned the peerage in 1661
Madeleine-Charlotte de Clermont de Luxembourg (1635–1701)
Henry V was the first
Count of Luxembourg to adopt a primitive form of these arms. His father,
Waleran III,
Dukeof Limburg, bore the arms, argent a lion rampant queue fourché gules armed, langued and crowned or (white
field bearing a red double tailed
lion with yellow claws, teeth, tongue and crown). Henry V replaced the white field by a series of white and blue stripes (burely of 10 argent and azure) to differentiate from his half-brother
Henry IV, Duke of Limburg.
It is yet uncertain where the origins of this burely of 10 argent and azure are. Jean-Claude Loutsch, Luxembourg's most prominent
heraldist, authored the theory that the original Luxembourg dynasties may have born a striped banner (colours unknown). Two dynasties closely related to the first
Houses of Luxembourg also adopted striped coats of arms during this period. Both the Counts of
Loon and Counts of
Grandpré bore the arms burely of 10 or and gules (yellow and red alternating stripes). In such a case, the choice of colour of the stripes would have been determined to match the white field and red lion of Limburg.
^Parisse, ‘Généalogie de la Maison d'Ardenne’, La maison d'Ardenne Xe-XIe siècles. Actes des Journées Lotharingiennes, 24 - 26 oct. 1980, Centre Univ., Luxembourg, (1981) 9-41
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