Vianden

The counts of Vianden held the castle above the Our river in the Ardennes and ranked among the mightiest regional lords from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. A count named Bertolph is first attested around 1090, probably sprung from the advocates of Prüm abbey.

The family reached its peak under Henry I, who in 1216 married Margaret, marchioness of Namur and daughter of the Latin emperor Peter II. In 1264 Vianden became a vassal of the counts of Luxembourg.

When Henry II died in 1337 the male line was nearly spent, and after a brief succession the county passed through his daughter Maria to her husband Simon III of Sponheim-Kreuznach, who ruled it jure uxoris from 1348. Through later marriages the inheritance flowed into the House of Orange-Nassau.