| John II | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Brabant Duke of Lothier Duke of Limburg | |
 | |
| Born | 27 September 1275 |
| Died | 27 October 1312 (aged 37) Tervuren |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | John III, Duke of Brabant |
| House | Reginar |
| Father | John I, Duke of Brabant |
| Mother | Margaret of Flanders |
John II (27 September 1275 – 27 October 1312), also called John the Peaceful, was Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg (1294–1312). He was the son of John I of Brabant and Margaret of Flanders.
John II succeeded his father in 1294[1] During the reign of John II, Brabant continued supporting a coalition to stop French expansion. He tried to conquer South Holland (district of medieval Holland) from the pro-French Count John II of Holland, but was not successful.
In 1309, the Crusade of the Poor besieged the castle of Genappe in Brabant because it was sheltering Jews. John sent an army that defeated the crusaders, who incurred heavy losses.[2] According to Chris Harman (2000), during different parts of the XIV century several attacks on jews merchants and christian priests took place, and also awhich, typically, masses of people would march from town to town, looting and being joined by others during their march. Harman quotes the following:
"Armed columns appeared, consisting of miserably poor artisans and labourers with an admixture of nobles who had squandered their wealth. These people begged and pillaged their way through the country, killing Jews but also storming…castles…In the end they attacked the castle of the Duke of Brabant…who three years before had routed an army of insurgent clothworkers and, it is said, buried its leaders alive." N. Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium. (London, 1970), p.102.
John, who suffered from kidney stones and wanted his duchy to be peacefully handed over to his son upon his death, in 1312 signed the famous Charter of Kortenberg. John died in Tervuren in 1312.[3] He was buried in the St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral in Brussels.
- ^ Balduini Ninovensis Chronicon 1294, MGH SS XXV, p. 546.
- ^ Gábor Bradács, "Crusade of the Poor (1309)", in Jeffrey M. Shaw and Timothy J. Demy (eds.), War and Religion: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict, 3 vols. (ABC-CLIO, 2017), vol. 1, pp. 211–12.
- ^ Oude Kronik van Brabant, p. 72.