Arnold III, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt-Tecklenburg-Limburg


Arnold III of Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Steinfurt-Limburg was a German nobleman. He was Count of Bentheim, Tecklenburg and Steinfurt, and jure uxoris Count of Limburg. He ruled as Arnold IV in Bentheim and Tecklenburg, and as Arnold II in Steinfurt. In Limburg, he was the first Count named Arnold and hence just the name distinctive.

Life

Arnold was the son of Count Eberwin III of Bentheim-Steinfurt and his wife, Countess Anna of Tecklenburg-Schwerin.
He spent his youth in Leeden Abbey with his sister Walburga. His mother educated him in regards to religion. He attended the princely school in Jülich where he studied arts, languages and knightly exercises. He had both Protestant and Catholic teachers.
In 1571, he went to Strasbourg, to study Protestant theology, law and politics. He was planning to visit the French court in Paris after completing his Grand Tour but during his journey he received word that there was a turmoil. The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre hindered him to follow through on his original plan. Instead he returned to his studies at the landgraviate court of Hesse-Kassel.
On 26 July 1573, he married Magdalena, the daughter of Count Gumprecht II of Neuenahr-Alpen.
Arnold peacefully united a substantial number of territories in his hand, due to inheritance and marriage. He held the counties of Bentheim, Tecklenburg, Steinfurt, Limburg an der Lenne, the Lordship of Rheda, possessions on the Lower Rhine and bailiff rights in the Archbishopric of Cologne. This made the House of Bentheim-Tecklenburg a significant political factor. Even so, this house did not follow primogeniture; this led to its possessions being fragmented and the house losing its prominence. During his reign, Arnold had to cope with a lawsuit brought by the Counts of Solms-Braunfels about the inheritance of the County of Tecklenburg.
Between 1588 and 1593, Arnold III gradually introduced the Reformed doctrine of John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli in his territories. He had studied it in detail while he was a student in Strasbourg in 1571 and 1572. His time in Strasbourg coined his religious stance and moreover influenced his stance on politics and education. He supported existing schools and eventually founded himself several schools in his counties. In September 1588, he founded his first school, a Latin school in an abandoned monastery in Schüttorf. In 1591, due to a looming invasion by enemy troops, the school had to move from Schüttorf to Steinfurt. In 1853, the school was expanded to a grammar school; it was named after him Arnoldium.
Arnold III died in 1606 and was buried in the Protestant church in Bad Bentheim.

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