United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 1521–1614 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms
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.svg) Map of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle around 1560, United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg highlighted in red | |||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Duchy (State of Holy Roman Empire) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Düsseldorf | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | various closely related West Germanic varieties, e.g. South Guelderish, Ripuarian, Westphalian, Limburgish | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Duchy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1521 | |||||||||||||||||||
• Partitioned at Xanten | 12 November 1614 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Germany Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||
The so-called United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire between 1521 and 1666, formed from the personal union of the duchies of Jülich, Cleves and Berg.
The name was resurrected after the Congress of Vienna for province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg of the Kingdom of Prussia between 1815 and 1822. Its territory is today split between the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Dutch province of Gelderland.
History
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The United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a combination of states of the Holy Roman Empire. The duchies of Jülich and Berg united in 1423. Nearly a century later, in 1521, these two duchies, along with the county of Ravensberg, fell extinct, with only the last duke's daughter Maria von Geldern left to inherit; under Salic law, women could only hold property through a husband or guardian, so the territories passed to her husband—and distant relative—John III, Duke of Cleves and Mark as a result of their strategic marriage in 1509. These united duchies controlled most of the present-day North Rhine-Westphalia that was not within the ecclesiastical territories of Electoral Cologne and Münster.
Only a century after John III's marriage, however, the united ducal line fell extinct, prompting a war over the succession to the territories. The grandson of John III — Duke John-William — died without issue in 1609. His inheritance was claimed by the heirs of his two eldest sisters. Whilst the dukes, inspired by the humanism of Desiderius Erasmus, had managed to bear a "via media" between the confessional disputes ensuing from the Protestant Reformation, the heirs of the last duke's two eldest sisters were on opposite sides of the divide. The situation was further complicated by acquisitive desires of Emperor Rudolph II and the Wettin dukes of Saxony—the former particularly worrying to Henry IV of France and the Dutch Republic, who feared any strengthening of the Habsburg Netherlands.
The Lutheran Anna of Prussia was married to John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, whereas Roman Catholic Anna of Cleves was married to Philip Louis, Count Palatine of Neuburg. As a result, after the War of the Jülich Succession (one of the precursors to the Thirty Years' War) was settled at Xanten, the Protestant territories (Cleves, Mark and Ravensburg) passed to Brandenburg-Prussia with the Catholic lands (Jülich and Berg) being awarded to the Palatinate-Neuburg. Years of being trampled by armies had destroyed much of the lands' wealth that had been so renowned under John William's father, William the Rich.
Philip Louis' grandson Philip William became Elector Palatine in 1685, with the Bergish capital becoming the seat of the Electorate of the Palatinate, until the line inherited Bavaria in 1777. In 1701, the Margrave-Electors of Brandenburg became Kings in Prussia; with Cleves-Mark as their first possession in western Germany, it was the seed of the future Prussian Rhineland.
Dukes of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, House of La Marck
- 1521–1539: John III, Duke of Cleves
- 1539–1592: William the Rich
- 1592–1609: John William
See also
References
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (December 2016) |
External links
- Duchies of the Holy Roman Empire
- Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle
- Duchy of Cleves
- Duchy of Jülich
- House of Berg
- Early Modern history of Germany
- Early Modern Netherlands
- Former states and territories of North Rhine-Westphalia
- History of Düsseldorf
- History of Gelderland
- History of the Rhineland
- Real unions
- States and territories established in 1521
- States and territories disestablished in 1614
- 1521 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
- 1610s disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire
- Former duchies