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The county of Nassau emerged in the mid-12th century on the banks of the lower river Lahn, near its confluence with the Rhine, in the present-day German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. The precise process by which the Nassau family gained possession of the county is obscure. In a charter dated 1 Apr 1158, Hillin Archbishop of Trier records that "castrum de Nassouwe" had previously belonged to the church of Worms but that "Ruberti et Arnoldi de Luremburg" had built a castle against the wishes of the church, and that "postmodum…Beatrix comitissa et coheredes eius…filii Ruberti et Arnoldi de Luremburg" had requested settlement of the dispute which was mediated by "Gerlaci de Isemburch et Everhardi de Burgensheim". The family of the Grafen von Nassau were descended from the Grafen von Laurenburg. The family estates were divided in 1255 between the brothers Walram Graf von Nassau and Otto Graf von Nassau, ancestors of the two prolific branches of the family which became extinct in the male line in 1912 (with the death of Wilhelm IV Grand Duke of Luxembourg) and 1890 (with the death of Willem III King of the Netherlands) respectively.