Johann VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg


Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg was the second son of William the Rich and the younger brother of William the Silent. He has a special place in the history of the Netherlands because he is the male-line forefather of the House of Orange which ruled that country until 1898.
John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg was a Count of Nassau in Dillenburg. Other names he had were Jan VI or Jan de Oude.
John VI was born in Dillenburg, the second son of Count William I of Nassau-Dillenburg and his second wife Juliane of Stolberg-Wernigerode and brother of William I of Orange. He was the principal author of the Union of Utrecht.

Family and children

John VI was married three times and had a total of 24 children:
First, he was married on 16 June 1559 with Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg, who bore him 13 children:
  1. Count Willem Lodewijk "Us Heit"
  2. Count John VII
  3. Count George
  4. Elisabeth, married:
  5. # on 3 October 1583 to Count Philip IV, Count of Nassau-Weilburg
  6. # on 7 May 1603 to Count Wolfgang Ernst I of Isenburg-Büdingen
  7. Juliana, married:
  8. # on 24 April 1588 to Wild- and Rhinegrave Adolf Henry of Dhaun
  9. # on 8 February 1619 to Count John Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels
  10. Philip
  11. Maria, married on 2 December 1588 to Count John Louis I of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein
  12. Anna Sibylla
  13. Mathilde, married on 24 June 1592 to Count Wilhelm V of Mansfeld-Arnstein
  14. Albert
  15. Count Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz. It is through Ernest Casimir that the royal family of the Netherlands are descended.
  16. Louis Gunther
  17. Stillborn son
.
Secondly, he married on 13 September 1580 with Kunigunde Jakobäa of Simmern, daughter of Frederick III, Elector Palatine, who bore him 4 children:
  1. Stillborn son
  2. Maria Amalia, married on 23 August 1600 to Count Wilhelm I of Solms-Braunsfeld-Greiffenstein
  3. Kunigunde
  4. Stillborn son
Thirdly, he married on 14 June 1586 to Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein, who bore him 7 children:
  1. George Louis
  2. Prince John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar
  3. Johannette Elisabeth, married on 16 December 1616 to Count Conrad Gumprecht of Bentheim-Limburg, son of Arnold III, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt-Tecklenburg-Limburg
  4. Anna, married on 19 June 1619 to Count Philipp Ernst of Isenburg-Birstein
  5. Magdalene, married on 29 May 1624 to Count Georg Albrecht I of Erbach
  6. Anna Amalie, married on 25 November 1648 to Count Wilhelm Otto of Isenburg-Birstein
  7. Juliane.
He died in his native city of Dillenburg, aged 69.