At fifty years of age, his third son Everhart, closest descendant of the original holder, succeeded him in the county.

To prevent the family of his former wife Von Neuenahr from taking the county, Count Johan adopted his cousin Irmgard of Sayn at her marriage to Winrich of Daun.

The former counts of Limburg were a branch of the House of Berg, which was among the most powerful dynasties in the region of the lower Rhine during the Early Middle Ages.

Historians by name among others Oedinger, Lewald, Kimpen, Rudiger link this House to "Hermann II(I) Pusillius (945–996)" heir of an even older dynasty, the Ezzonen, going back to the 9th century.

[1] Since the 9th century, the house of Limburg Hohenlimburg counted five Counts Palatine of Lothringia, several Dukes of Westphalia, Bavaria, Carinthia and Swabia, seven Archbishops of Cologne, one Prince-Bishop of Speyer, more than ten bishops in the Holy Roman Empire, and at least two saints of the Catholic Church.

He had Carolingian ancestors along the female line since Jutta von Friaul was the daughter of Gisela (820–874) sister of king Charles the Bold.

In spite of their military accomplishments in favour of the German emperors, the Ezzonians did not succeed in building a territorial entity in Lotharingia.

As son of Erenfried I, he followed his father and married a daughter of Herman II count of the Wertigau, among others "Vogt of the Abby of Werden".

Erenfried II., the second son of Eberhard I, called after his grandfather, was count of the Zulpichau, Bonngau, Keldachau, Tubalgau and Ruhrgau.

[5] Two sons are known from that marriage, Herman (III), Count of Keldachgau and Adolf I, defensor Tuitiensis guardian of Deutz.

On the river Duhn, in the middle of the former Ezzoner Keldachgau, about 30 km east of Cologne, Adolf built castle Berg near today's Altenberg.

He was the youngest (half-brother) of Ezzo, founder of Brauweiler Abbey, who was brother-in-law of Emperor Otto III, married to Mathilde.

Their son, Eberhard of Berg, 1st Abbot of Georgenthal, convinced his brother Adolf IV of Berg-Altena to donate the Altenberg monastery to the Cistercian Order.

The Abbey of Altenberg became the main resting place of the counts and dukes of Van Berg, located in the middle of Keldachgau, the former Ezzoners gau in the 10th century, to the right of the Rhine east of Bonn, Cologne, Duisburg.

Archbishops of Cologne, Trier, bishops of Munster and Osnabruck, Abbis and Abbot of Abbeys and the counts were the keepers of guardianship Essen and Werden[11] on the river Ruhr.

Their sons Arnold and Frederick, with the agreement of their brother Adolf Archbishop of Cologne, shared their father's territory.

A conflict arose with his uncle Archbishop of Cologne, Engelbert II of Berg about the management of the monastic property when he wanted to expropriate his guardianship.

Bishop Diederick died on his return journey from Rome where he travelled with brother Frederik to the Pope for penance.

While he was sleeping in an inn near Arlon, dressed as a merchant, where he spent the night, he was cunningly taken by surprise and taken to Cologne.

Frederik van Isenberg was convicted, taken away from his county and possessions, and put to death on the wheel in Cologne on November 13 in the year 1226 in front of St. Severin's church.

[17] His younger brother Everhard continued 30 years more, the struggle together with his father for the conquest of former Isenberger family property.

According the noble feudal right, the county Limburg Lenne, fief of the counts of Berg, passed to him.

As a result, great-nephew Count Everhard of the Mark, who had sided with Duke Johan I of Brabant and was one of the victors, destroyed the Neuen Isenberg and took and occupied the Hohenlimburg.

In 1401 grandson Diederik III succeeded his grandfather as count of Limburg Hohenlimburg and married on 3 July 1371 to the heiress Lukarda of Broich.

[22] As soon as count William I died in 1459, his son-in-law Neuenahr hastened to usurp the county with Hohenlimburg Castle.

He invoked his marriage treaty and had used his position to assure himself with the German Roman King Frederik that he would lend him "vom Reich zu Lehnen" with the county.

The last count Johan III, at his turn the oldest surviving male of the inherence line, married Elisabeth also a Neuenahr but left no children.

As a widower, at the last minute in 1508, he dedicated his estate to his adoptive daughter Irmgard of Sayn at her marriage to Wirich V of Daun-Falkenstein.

After 30 years in office, Johan left the monastery and married out of love, Anna Borckhartz zu Schenkenbush.

Before the end of the 16th century, these last patrilineal descendants of the former counts of Limburg Hohenlimburg left Germany during the devastating Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), for the Netherlands and settled in Gelderland.