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Reginald II of Guelders

Reginald II "the Black" of Guelders (1295-12 October 1343) was Count and Duke of Guelders from 1318 to 1343, succeeding Reginald I of Guelders and preceding Reginald III of Guelders.

Biography[]

Reginald was born in 1295, the son of Reginald I of Guelders and Marguerite of Flanders. He came from the House of Flamens, and he acted as regent for his father after 1316 before imprisoning his father in 1318. In 1326, he styled himself Count of Guelders after his father's death, and in 1339 he became a Duke. In 1332, he married Eleanor of Woodstock, but he was annoyed by her over-eagerness to please him (Eleanor was nervous due to her unpleasant childhood), and he sent her from court in 1338 under the pretense that she had leprosy. However, she headed to Nijmegen and stripped down, showing that she did not have leprosy; he was forced to live with her for the rest of his life. Reginald allied with his brother-in-law Edward III of England against the Kingdom of France during the Hundred Years' War at the same time, and he would be Edward's largest ally among the German states until he died from a fall from his horse in 1343.

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