Gerhard VI, Count of Oldenburg

Count Gerhard VI "the Quarrelsome" of Oldenburg (German: Gerhard (Gerd) der Mutige von Oldenburg) (1430 – 22 February 1500) was a Count of Oldenburg and regent of Bad Zwischenahn in 1440–1482.

Gerhard was the third son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg and his wife Helvig of Schauenburg. His eldest brother succeeded their father as Christian VI but was elected King Christian I of Denmark in 1448, therefore passing on the county to his brothers in 1450. In 1440–1463 Gerhard VI ruled in Delmenhorst as regent and in 1464–1482 (after the death of his brother Maurice) as the guardian of his nephew Jakob. He was constantly at war with Gerhard III, Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, and Frisians. In 1483 Gerhard was compelled to abdicate in favor of his sons, and he died whilst on a pilgrimage in the Rhône river valley.

Family and children

In 1453 he married with Adelheid of Tecklenburg (ca. 1435 – 2 March 1477), daughter of Count Otto VIII of Tecklenburg. They had eleven children:

1. Gerhard (1454–1470)
2. Dietrich (ca. 1456 – 1463)
3. Adolph, Count of Oldenburg (1458 – 17 February 1500)
4. Christian (1459 – 27 May 1492)
5. John (1460 – 10 February 1526)
6. Otto (d. 17 February 1500), a canon of Bremen Cathedral Chapter
7. Elisabeth (1468 – 12 September 1505)
8. Anna (1469 – 26 September 1505)
9. Irmgard, married to Hero Oomkens von Esens
10. Hedwig (d. 22 February 1502, married in 1498 to Edo Wimken II zu Jever
11. Adelheid (d. 1513), married in 1503 to Dietrich III von Plesse

Ancestry