Reginald II of Guelders

Reginald II of Guelders, called the Black (c. 1295–1343), took power by imprisoning his own father. The son of Count Reginald I, he acted as regent from 1316, locked his father away in 1318 and governed as ‘son of the count’ until succeeding as Count of Guelders in 1326.

In 1332 he married Eleanor of Woodstock, sister of Edward III, and in the early Hundred Years' War became the English king's closest ally among the German princes. In 1338 he excluded Eleanor from court, claiming she had leprosy, and Guelders was raised to a duchy the next year.

He died at Arnhem after a fall from his horse, leaving sons Reginald III and Edward, whose quarrel later split the duchy.