2020-06-11 Thu

John IV, Duke of Brabant was the second Brabantian ruler from the House of Valois. He was a son of Antoine of Burgundy, Duke of Brabant, Luthier and Limburg and his first wife Jeanne of Saint-Pol.

John was born on 11th June 1403 in Arras, and succeeded as duke of Brabant in 1415, after his father's death at the Battle of Agincourt. He is often characterized as a weak prince, who was easily influenced by more shrewd and politically able men, such as Philip the Good and John III of Holland. His age and inexperience would have played a major role in this characterization.

In 1425, he founded the University of Leuven. Though it was dissolved during the French Revolutionary Wars, it has two successor institutions that are considered to be the oldest universities in the Low Countries, and the oldest Catholic universities in the world still in operation.

John died in Brussels in 1427, aged 23, without issue. Double groat, struck in Maastricht under the reign of John IV.

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