Dietrich VII (1256–1305) was Count of Cleves from 1275 through 1305. He was the son of Dietrich VI, Count of Cleves and his wife Aleidis von Heinsberg.^[1] Dietrich adopted the strategy used in Holland, in the county of Cleves, methodically reclaiming territory with dikes and settling new residents.^[2]

In 1260, Dietrich married Margaret of Guelders (d. 1281), daughter of Otto II, Count of Guelders. They had three children:

• Otto, Count of Cleves (1278–1310)
• Catharine, nun at Gräfenthal (1280-1357)
• Adelheid, married Henry IV, Count of Waldeck (d. 1348)

His second marriage was to Margaret of Habsburg-Kilburg,^[1] daughter of Everhard I of Kiburg-Laufenburg. Their children were:

• Dietrich VIII, Count of Cleves (1291–1347)
• Johann, Count of Cleves (1293–1368).
• Margaret, married Henry of Lodi, son of Guy, Count of Flanders (d. 1337)
• Irmgard, married Gerhard I of Horn, Count of Altena (1297-1350)
• Agnes (d. 1361), married in 1312 Count Adolf IX of Berg (d. 1348)
• Maria, nun in Bedburg (1302-1347)
• Eberhard (1303-1312)
• Anna (d. 1378), married Godfrey IV of Cuyck-Arnsberg (d. 1371)

• Margue, Michel; Pauly, Michel (2017). "The territorial principalities of Lotharingia". In Loud, Graham A.; Schenk, Jochen (eds.). The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100-1350: Essays by German Historians. Routledge.