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TheDuchy of Guelders(Dutch:Gelre,French:Gueldre,German:Geldern) is a historicalduchy,previouslycounty,of theHoly Roman Empire,located in theLow Countries.
Duchy of Guelders | |||||||||
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| 1339–1795 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms
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 Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen, about 1350 | |||||||||
| Status | Duchy | ||||||||
| Capital | Geldern | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages, Renaissance | ||||||||
•Gerard Ifirst Count of Guelders | 1339 | ||||||||
• County created | 1096 | ||||||||
• Held byJülich | 1393–1423 | ||||||||
• Acquired byBurgundy | 1473 | ||||||||
| 1543 | |||||||||
• Lower Quarters to Dutch Republic | 1581 | ||||||||
•Batavian Republiccreated | 1795 | ||||||||
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Geography
editThe duchy was named after the town ofGeldern(Gelder) in present-dayGermany.Though the present province ofGelderland(English alsoGuelders) in theNetherlandsoccupies most of the area, the former duchy also comprised parts of the present Dutch province ofLimburgas well as those territories in the present-day GermanstateofNorth Rhine-Westphaliathat were acquired byPrussiain 1713, which included the duchy's capitalGeldern.
Four parts of the duchy had their own centres, as they were separated by rivers:
- the quarter ofRoermond,also called Upper Quarter orUpper Guelders– upstream on both sides of theMaas,comprising the town ofGeldernas well asErkelenz,Goch,Nieuwstadt,VenloandStraelen;
spatially separated from the Lower Quarters (Gelderland):
- the quarter of the countyZutphen,also called theAchterhoek– east of theIJsseland north of theRhine,includingDoesburg,Doetinchem,GroenloandLochem;
- theVeluwe Quarterwith Arnhem as its capital – west of the IJssel and north of the Rhine, withElburg,Harderwijk,HattemandWageningen;
- Nijmegen Quarter,includingBetuwe– south of the Rhine and north of the Maas (in between the rivers), includingGendt,Maasbommel,TielandZaltbommel
History
editWassenberg and Jülich dynasties (c.1096–1423)
editThe county emerged about 1096, when the first documented reference toGerard IIIofWassenbergas "Count of Guelders" occurred. It was then located on the territory ofLower Lorraine,in the area ofGeldernandRoermond,with its main stronghold atMontfort(built 1260). Count Gerard's sonGerard IIin 1127 acquired the County ofZutphenin northernHamalandby marriage. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Guelders quickly expanded downstream along the sides of theMaas,Rhine,andIJsselrivers and even claimed the succession in theDuchy of Limburg,until it lost the 1288Battle of WorringenagainstBergandBrabant.
Guelders was often at war with its neighbours, not only with Brabant, but also with theCounty of Hollandand theBishopric of Utrecht.However, its territory grew, not only because of its success in warfare, but also because it thrived in times of peace. For example, the larger part of the Veluwe and the city of Nijmegen were given ascollateralto Guelders by their cash-strapped rulers. On separate occasions, in return for loans from the treasury of Guelders, the bishop of Utrecht granted the taxation and administration of the Veluwe, andWilliam II– Count of both Holland andZeeland,and who was electedanti-kingof the Holy Roman Empire (1248–1256) – similarly granted the same rights over Nijmegen; as neither ruler proved able to repay their debts, these lands became integral parts of Guelders.[citation needed]
In 1339 theEmperorLouis IV of Wittelsbachelevated CountReginald II of Guelders(also styled Rainald), of the House of Wassenberg, to the rank ofDuke.After the Wassenberg line became extinct in 1371 following the deaths of Reginald II's childless sonsEdward II(on 24 August, from wounds suffered in theBattle of Baesweiler) andReginald III(on 4 December), the ensuingGuelders War of Succession(1371 to 1379) sawWilliam I of Jülichemerge victorious. William was confirmed in the inheritance of Guelders in 1379, and from 1393 onwards held both duchies inpersonal union(in Guelders as William I, and in Jülich as William III).
Egmond and Burgundian dynasties (1423–1477)
editIn 1423 Guelders passed to theHouse of Egmond,which gained recognition of its title from EmperorSigismund of Luxembourg,but was unable to escape the political strife and internecine conflict that had so plagued the preceding House of Jülich-Hengebach, and more especially, the pressure brought to bear by the expansionist rulers of theDuchy of Burgundy.The first Egmond Duke,Arnold,suffered the rebellion of his sonAdolfand was imprisoned by the latter in 1465. Adolf, who had enjoyed the support of BurgundianDuke Philip III ( "the Good" )and of the four major cities of Guelders during his rebellion, was unwilling to strike a compromise with his father when this was demanded by Philip's successor, DukeCharles the Bold.Charles had Duke Adolf captured and imprisoned in 1471 and reinstated Arnold on the throne of the Duchy of Guelders. Charles then bought the reversion (i.e., the right of succession to the throne) from Duke Arnold, who, against the will of the towns and the law of the land, pledged his duchy to Charles for 300,000 Rhenish florins. The bargain was completed in 1472–73, and upon Arnold's death in 1473, Duke Charles added Guelders to the "Low Countries" portion of hisValoisDuchy of Burgundy.
Habsburg dynasty (1477–1549)
editUpon Charles' defeat and death at theBattle of Nancyin January 1477, Duke Adolf was released from prison by theFlemish,but died the same year at the head of a Flemish army besiegingTournai,after the States of Guelders had recognized him once more as Duke. Subsequently, Guelders was ruled byHabsburgHoly Roman EmperorMaximilian I,husband of Charles the Bold's daughter and heir,Mary.
The last independent Duke of Guelders was Adolf's sonCharles of Egmond(1467–1538, r. 1492–1538), who was raised at the Burgundian court of Charles the Bold and fought for the House of Habsburg in battles against the armies ofCharles VIII of France,until being captured in the Battle of Béthune (1487) during theWar of the Public Weal(also known as theMad War). In 1492, the citizens of Guelders, who had become disenchanted with the rule of Maximilian, ransomed Charles and recognized him as their Duke. Charles, now backed byFrance,fought Maximilian's grandsonCharles of Habsburg(who became Holy Roman Emperor, as Charles V, in 1519) in theGuelders Warsand expanded his realm further north, to incorporate what is now the Province ofOverijssel.He was not simply a man of war, but also a skilled diplomat, and was therefore able to keep his independence. He bequeathed the duchy to DukeWilliam the RichofJülich-Cleves-Berg(also known as Wilhelm of Cleves). Following in the footsteps of Charles of Egmond, Duke William formed an alliance with France, an alliance dubiously cemented via hispolitical marriageto French KingFrancis I's nieceJeanne d'Albret(who reportedly had to be whipped into submission to the marriage,[1]and later bodily carried to the altar by theConstable of France,Anne de Montmorency).[2][3]This alliance emboldened William to challenge Emperor Charles V's claim to Guelders, but the French, mightily engaged on multiple fronts as they were in the long struggle to against theHabsburg "encirclement" of France,proved less reliable than the Duke's ambitions required, and he was unable to hold on to the duchy; in 1543, by the terms of theTreaty of Venlo,Duke William conceded the Duchy of Guelders to the Emperor.
Part of the Seventeen Provinces
editEmperor Charles V united Guelders with theSeventeen Provincesof theHabsburg Netherlandsby thePragmatic Sanction of 1549,and Guelders thus lost its independence.
Charles abdicated in 1556 and decreed that the territories of theBurgundian Circleshould be held by theSpanish Crown.When the Netherlands revolted against KingPhilip II of Spainin theDutch Revolt,the three northern quarters ofGelderlandjoined theUnion of Utrechtand became part of theUnited Provincesupon the 1581Act of Abjuration,while only the Upper Quarter remained a part of theSpanish Netherlands.
At theTreaty of Utrecht,ending theWar of the Spanish Successionin 1713, theSpanish Upper Quarterwas again divided betweenPrussian Guelders(Geldern,Viersen,Horst,Venray), the United Provinces (Venlo,Montfort,Echt),Austria(this part continued as the duchy:Roermond,Niederkrüchten,Weert), and theDuchy of Jülich(Erkelenz). In 1795 Guelders was finally conquered and incorporated by theFrench First Republic,and partitioned between the départements ofRoerandMeuse-Inférieure.
Coat of arms of Guelders
editThe coat of arms of the region changed over time.
-
before 1236 -
from 1236 -
from 1276 -
Jülich-Guelders after 1393
Guelders in popular culture
editWilliam Thatcher, the lead character in the 2001 filmA Knight's Taleplayed byHeath Ledger,claimed to be SirUlrich von LiechtensteinfromGelderlandso as to appear to be of noble birth and thus qualify to participate in jousting.
Set in the late 1460s, the main character inRafael Sabatini's1929 novelThe Romantic Princeis Count Anthony of Guelders, elder son of Duke Arnold and brother to Adolf "since then happily vanished". Sabatini weaves the historical characters and events of the period through the story.
The folk/metalbandHeidevolk,based in Gelderland, composed and performs a range of songs about Gelre/Guelders, among them a contemporary anthem "Het Gelders Volklied".
List of rulers
editSee also
editNotes
editReferences
edit- Diana Robin; Anne R. Larsen; Carole Levin, eds. (2007).Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England.Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp.459.ISBN978-1-85109-772-2.
- Strage, Mark (1976).Women of Power: the Life and Times of Catherine dé Medici(1st ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. xiv, 368 p., ill: 16 leaves of plates.ISBN0-15-198370-4.
- Hackett, Francis(1935).Francis the First:First Gentleman of France(1968 revised ed.). London: Greenwood Press. p. 448.ISBN9780837100937.
- Nijsten, Gerard.In the Shadow of Burgundy: The Court of Guelders in the Late Middle Ages(Cambridge University Press, 2004).
- Nordzij, Aart.Gelre. Dynastie, land en identiteit in de late middeleeuwen(Werken Gelre 59), Hilversum, 2009.
- Carl, Horst.Das 18. Jahrhundert (1701-1814) – Rheinland und Westfalen im preußischen Staat von der Königskrönung bis zur „Franzosenzeit“.In: Georg Mölich, Veit Veltzke, Bernd Walter (eds.).Rheinland, Westfalen und Preußen. Eine Beziehungsgeschichte,2nd ed., Münster 2023, p. 51–118.
- Früh, Martin. “Pour avoir toujours libre accès”: Die DFG-geförderte Digitalisierung der Territorialarchive Geldern und Moers als Beitrag des Landesarchivs Nordrhein-Westfalen zur Erforschung der Rheinischen Landesgeschichte.In:Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter88 (2024), p. 207-224.
External links
edit
- Marek, Miroslav."Geldern-Heinsberg".Genealogy.EU.
- Marek, Miroslav."House of Egmont".Genealogy.EU.
- Edmundson, George(1911)..Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 11 (11th ed.). pp. 555–557.
- Map of Upper Guelders in 1789 – Northern Part
- Map of Upper Guelders in 1789 – Southern Part