He was a soldier and courtier, for some time leader of the Privy council of the Duchy of Burgundy and a significant patron of the arts.

Engelbert was born in Breda on 17 May 1451, the son of John IV of Nassau-Siegen and his wife Mary of Looz-Heinsberg.

[1]On 19 December 1468 in Koblenz he married Cimburga van Baden, daughter of Charles I, Margrave of Baden-Baden.

He was one of the last important patrons of Flemish illuminated manuscripts, and commissioned perhaps the most sumptuous manuscript of the Roman de la Rose, British Library Harley MS 4425, which has 92 large and high quality miniatures, despite a date around 1500; the text was copied by hand from a printed edition.

[3] The Book of Hours of Engelbert of Nassau (Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Douce 219–220), of the 1470s or 1480s is another well-known manuscript.