Dietrich, Hammerhand
Lived: 1130-1156
Head of House of Graziano: 1154-1156
Duke of Holland, Flanders, Mecklenburg, Modena and Valois: 1154-1156
Duke of Brabant and Gelre: 1155-1156
Dietrich’s short rule is dominated by the Duke’s betrayal of the failing Emperor Meinhard, a blow that finally guaranteed Meinhard’s position in the dustbin of history. Dietrich himself is best known for his status as an incredible warrior who wielded a great war hammer in battle, a preference that his title ‘’Hammerhand’’ is derived from, and refused to wear armour or ride on horse with his knights. Yet Dietrich’s rule was cut shockingly short by a humble nosebleed.
Dietrich cut an impressive figure, a dominatingly powerful individual, although lacking in some of the finer skills of state his shear physical presence seemed to inspire both prince and pauper. Unlike his father Dietrich had no deep rooted loyalty to his Imperial liege, hoping to jump a sinking ship, he quickly moved to crush the von Frankens by bringing war within weeks of his ascension.
By the time Dietrich moved to war von Franken authority had dwindled to the regions around the Netherlands and the Rhine with the Grazianos ruling roughly 1/3 of the lands loyal to Meinhard. So when this vital ally betrayed the Empire it was pretty clear that the days of von Franken rule in Germany were drawing to a swift close.
Dietrich split his army into several smaller groups which moved to overrun the border regions around the Netherlands. Dietrich himself led his army towards battle with the Emperor who had marched out from Aachen – fearing for the safety of his capital.
Meinhard had hoped to hold his opponent back from the German Rhineland by cutting off Dietrich’s march into Luxembourg at Bastogne. Meinhard brought around 23,000 to the field whilst Dietrich boasted an impressive 32,000.
Despite the Duke’s arguments with his knights, who were angry at their leader’s request for them to dismount and march into battle on foot, Dietrich kept a well organised force. The tight and powerful Graziano ranks proved impenetrable to the probing attacks of the Imperial army and Meinhard proved utterly unable to develop a secondary plan after his cavalry attacks failed. Instead Dietrich was able to bring his infantry into contact with the lesser foot soldiers of the von Frankens and achieve a stinging victory as much of Meinhard’s peasant core routed. Lacking in men, confidence and support Meinhard fled to Aachen where he prayed the city’s walls would protect him.
Meinhard had hoped that Dietrich’s army would begin to disband as it spent longer on the field but instead it swelled in numbers are reinforcements arrived outside of Aachen and strict discipline kept desertion relatively low. Therefore at the start of 1155 Dietrich felt confident enough to launch a direct assault on Aachen itself. The attack was a great showcase for Medieval siege tactics as all sorts of siege engines were deployed varying from catapults and trebuchets to siege towers and battering rams. In spite significant losses as the walls were overrun the attack proved a great success as the capital of the Holy Roman Empire fell into Graziano hands and its Emperor became Dietrich’s prisoner.
The costs of keeping his large army on the field were putting significant pressure on both Dietrich’s finances and the loyalty of his vassals and with Meinhard in his custody the Graziano Duke moved for a quick peace. Dietrich was made master over all of the Netherlands as he was granted the titles Duke of Gelre and Duke of Brabant along with large tracts of land. He also gained control of the Rhenish city of Cologne and the small County of Weimar (previously ruled by the Duke of Brabant).
Yet within one year of Dietrich’s victory over the Emperor the, still young, Duke died leaving his 9 year old son Otto, the Capet claimant to the French throne, as the Head of the House of Graziano and heir to one of Europe’s great realms.
