Fastradus I d'Oisy
(3 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,00000056 %)
* 1050 x Ida of Avesnes + 8-6-1093
Fastradus apparently received the title of Lord of Avesnes through his wife Ida.

(Not known if any other children)

Child of
Fastradus I d'Oisy (1050-1093)
and Ida of Avesnes (1054-1076)
(See 29, 27 generations back)

Fastradus II d'Oisy
(3 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,0000011 %)
* 1075? x Richilde + ? (before 5-8-1111)

(Not known if any other children)

Child of
Fastradus II d'Oisy (1075?-before 1112)
and Richilde (?-?)
(See 28, 26 generations back)

Gauthier d'Oisy
(3 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,0000022 %)
* 1110? x Ida (Ade) of Tournai (de Mortagne) + ? (after 1149)

(Not known if any other children)

Child of
Gauthier d'Oisy (1110?-after 1149)
and Ida (Ade) of Tournai (de Mortagne) (1114?-?)
(See 27, 25 generations back)

Nicolas d'Oisy, of Avesnes
(3 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,0000045 %)
* 1129 x Mahaut de la Roche + 1170
Nicolas, a second great-grandson of Ida of Avesnes' father Waudru of Avesnes apparently inherited the title of Lord of Avesnes because there were no more heirs available.

(Not known if any other children)

Child of
Nicolas d'Oisy, of Avesnes (1129-1170)
and Mathilde (Mahaut) de la Roche (1133-?)
(See 26, 24 generations back)

Jacques d'Oisy, of Avesnes
(3 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,0000089 %)
* 1150? x Amélie (or Adèle) de Guise + 7-9-1191 (Arsoef)

(Not known if any other children)

Children of
Jacques d'Oisy, of Avesnes (1150?-1191)
and Amélie (or Adèle) de Guise (?-?)
(See 25, 23 generations back)

Gaulthier (Walter) II of Avesnes
* ? x Margaretha of Blois + 1246
Gaulthier's wife Margaretha was the granddaughter of our ancestors Thibaut (Theobald) IV of Blois and Mathilde of Carinthia. Margaretha had been married before to Otto of Hohenstaufen, the son of Emperor Frederik Barbarossa of Germany.

Mathilde of Avesnes
(1 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,0000029 %)
* 1170? x Louis IV, Count of Chiny + 5-11-1236
For her descendants see the page on Chiny

Bouchard of Avesnes
(1 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,000012 %)
* 1172? (Oisy) x Margaretha of Constantinopel (before 23-7-1212) + 1244 (Valenciennes)
Bouchard was a member of the clergy and already about 40 years old when he was entrusted with the care for the 10-year old orphaned Margaretha, who's father Boudewijn VI, Count of Hainaut, Count of Flanders and Emperor of Constantinopel had been killed in a battle in Bulgaria in 1205. Bouchard did apparently not hesitate for long and "married" Margaretha the same year, probably calculating that at least part of Boudewijn's inheritance would come his way. The marriage was declared invalid at the Council of Laterans in 1215, but Margaretha stayed eight more years with Bouchard with whom she got a number of children. When Bouchard returned from Rome in 1224 after a failed attempt to get his marriage officially approved, he found that in the meantime Margaretha had gone, and had married Willem (Guillaume) of Dampierre, by whom she also got a number children. This would lead to almost a century of feud and war between Margaretha's children and their offspring over her rich inheritance: the counties of Flanders and Hainaut.

Adèle (Alix) of Avesnes
(1 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,0000029 %)
* ? x Roger de Rosoy + ?
For her descendants see the page on De Rosoy

Jacques of Avesnes
* ? + ?

Children of
Bouchard of Avesnes (1172?-1244)
and Margaretha of Constantinopel (1202-1280)
(See 22 generations back)

Jean I of Avesnes, Count of Hainaut
(1 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,000024 %)
* ?-4-1218 (Houffalize) x Aleida of Holland (25-10-1246) + 24-12-1257 (Valenciennes)
Jean was only about 5 years old when his mother Magaretha left her family to marry Willem (Guillaume) of Dampierre. She also had offspring from this second marriage, but since the validity of her first marriage was being disputed, the Avesnes and the Dampierre families fought bitterly over the right of succession for almost a century, not accepting the ruling by the King of France in 1246, repeated in 1256, that Flanders would go to the Dampierres and Hainaut to the Avesnes, which was in practice already the case.

Baudouin of Beaumont
* ? x Felicitas de Coucy + 1299
Baudouin's wife was the daughter of Thomas II, "seigneur" of Coucy and Mathilde de Réthel

Children of
Jean I of Avesnes, Count of Hainaut (1218-1257)
and Aleida of Holland (?-1284)
(See 21 generations back)

Jan (Jean) II of Avesnes, Count of Holland and Hainaut
(1 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,000048 %)
* 1247? x Philipine of Luxembourg (around 1270) + 11-9-1304 (Valenciennes)
The way Jean (Jan) II became Count of Holland nobody could have predicted. In 1296, he persuaded Count Floris V of Holland to change sides to France in its conflict with England. Floris V had come to distrust King Edward I of England, who had become friendly towards Gwijde III of Dampierre, Count of Flanders, preferring to trade wool with Flanders rather than Holland. Jean and Floris correctly calculated that King Philipe IV of France would not accept his vassal Gwijde of Dampierre becoming too close to France's enemy England, and would therefore be a useful ally both of Hainaut and of Holland against England and Flanders.
The drawback was of course that King Edward I did not accept Floris' turnabout, and immediately he contacted some of Floris' political opponents in Holland. Edward ordered Foris' capture and transport to England, probably to force him to change his mind again or to have him replaced with his sickly young son Jan of Holland. Shortly afterwards, Floris was captured while on a falcon hunt and was locked up in the castle at Muiden. The news spread quickly and the castle was besieged by armed farmers who came to their Count's rescue. Floris was bound and put on a horse, accompanied by his captors who tried to get him out of the country. They were however intercepted, and just as Count Floris was about to be freed, his captors stabbed and hacked him to death. Floris' son and heir Jan of Holland died a few years later in 1299 at the age of about 15, which made Aleida of Holland the heiress to the County. The title was transferred to her son Jean II of Avesnes.

Gwijde (Guy) of Avesnes, Bishop of Utrecht
* 1253? x I. (Unknown) II. (Unknown) + 28-5-1317 (Utrecht)
There were frequent armed conflicts between the County of Holland and all of its neighbours, one of which is Utrecht. It was a great diplomatic success to have Gwijde (naturally an ally of Holland) appointed by the Pope as Bishop and ruler of Utrecht in 1301 after his predecessor Willem Berthout of Mechelen was killed in a lost battle against the "Lichtenbergers", a clan of Holland supporters in Utrecht. The situation changed after the spectacular victory of Flanders, Holland's most powerful regional rival, against the French at Courtrai / Kortrijk (the "Guldensporenslag") in 1302. Gwijde III of Dampierre, the Count of Flanders attacked Hainaut and Zeeland in 1303 and occupied Middelburg. On Duiveland, Bishop Gwijde of Avesnes lost a battle under his command and that of his young nephew, Count Willem III, and was he taken prisoner by the invaders, who advanced further into Holland. In 1304 however, the Flemish army was beaten near the besieged town of Zierikzee by a combined fleet of France and Holland, and they were driven out of Holland again. Flanders had to sign a humiliating peace-treaty. Bishop Gwijde was released not long afterwards and remained Bishop of Utrecht until his death.

Floris (Florent) of Avesnes
* ? x Isabella de Villehardouin, of Morea + 1297

Willem (Guillaume) of Avesnes, Bishop of Kamerijk
* ? + 1296

Bouchard of Avesnes, Bishop of Metz
* ? + 1296

Children of
Jan (Jean) II of Avesnes, Count of Holland and Hainaut (1247?-1304)
and Philipine of Luxembourg (1252?-1311)
(See 20 generations back)

Jan (Jean) of Baumont
* ? + 1302

Hendrik (Henri) of Avesnes
* ? + 1303

Willem (Guillaume) III of Avesnes, Count of Holland and Hainaut
(1 times our ancestor, blood-relationship 0,000095 %)
* 1286? x Jeanne (Johanna) of Valois (Longpont 23-5-1305), relationship with jonkvrouwe ? de Moor (around 1319) + 7-6-1337 (Valenciennes)
Count Willem was one of the greatest European statesmen of his time, who was able to strengthen Holland's position in the armed conflicts with Flanders, and forge political coalitions with the superpowers England, France and Germany, which were sealed through the marriages of his daughters. Willem's daughter Margaretha married Duke Ludwig of Bavaria who later became Emperor of Germany, his daughter Philipa married King Edward III of England, his daughter Johanna (Jeanne) became the wife of Wilhelm V, Duke of Jülich, and Willem's brother-in-law Philipe IV of Valois became the King of France. Through these policies, Count Willem eventually prevailed over Flanders in the old conflict concerning the Scheldt estuary, and in 1323 he and the great-grandson of Gwijde III of Dampierre, Lodewijk (Louis) of Nevers who had become the new Count of Flanders signed a treaty in Paris. Willem gave up the Avesnes families' unrealistic claim to the County of Flanders, and in return the disputed area called "Zeeland bewester Schelde" came definitively under Holland's rule. "Zeeuws-Vlaanderen" is still part of present-day The Netherlands. At Holland's other borders, Willem was successful as well. In 1331, Willem and the Duke of Gelre divided the area of their former rival, the Bishop of Utrecht, between them, who's political power had been broken under the rule of Willem's predecessor Count Floris V. In 1332 a treaty was signed with Brabant in which Willem gained control over "het land van Altena" (see map), the area where many families in our tree have their roots.
Count Willem was married to Jeanne (Johanna) of Valois (1294?-1352), but around 1319 he had a relationship with an unknown jonkvrouwe de Moor from the Duchy of Brabant. From this relationship an illegitimate son was born, our ancestor Jan Aelman. For his descendants, see the page on the Aleman family.

Jan (Jean) of Beaumont
* 1288? x Margaretha of Nesle (before 23-1-1317) + 11-3-1356 (Beaumont)
Jan led a military expedition to England in 1326 to depose King Edward II and put King Edward III on the throne. In 1345, after the death of his brother Willem III's son and successor Count Willem IV at the hands of the Frisians in the battle of Stavoren, Jan became Regent for a while until Willem III's eldest daughter Margaretha, the wife of the German Emperor Ludwig, took over as Regent for her son Willem V "of Bavaria". Margaretha and her son Willem V became enemies in the "Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten", the armed conflicts between the "Hoeken" (supporters of Margaretha and the old ruling nobility), and the "Kabeljouwen" (supporters of Willem V and the cities who would prefer a more modern form of government, allowing more freedom for their economic and social development).

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