Duchy of Cleves

 

  • Simplified country name
    • Cleves (1521-1614; 1701-1803)
    • Cleves-Brandenburg (1614-1701)
  • Nation
  • Chronology
    • 1092: County first created in the vicinity of the cities of Kleve (the German rendition of Cleves) and Kalkar
    • 1368: Acquired by the House of Mark upon the extinction of the original Cleves line
    • 1392: Entered into a personal union with the County of Mark
    • 1417: Promoted to a duchy (making it the primary member of the personal union, because Mark was not similarly promoted)
    • 1449: Sovereignty dispute with the Electorate of Cologne resolved in favor of Cleves
    • 1521: Entered into a personal union with the Duchies of Jülich & Berg and the County of Ravensberg/beginning of database (1)
    • 1614: Entered into a personal union with Brandenburg (along with Mark, but not Jülich, Berg, or Ravensberg) upon the extinction of the Mark line in 1609 and resolution of a succession dispute with the House of Wittelsbach
    • 1701: Absorbed into the Kingdom of Prussia upon its formation (2)
    • 1803: Occupied by Napoleonic France/end of database
  • Personal unions
    • as primary
    • as secondary
      • Electorate of Brandenburg (1614-1701)
  • Out/insourcings

 

  1. 1510, the duke’s son married the daughter of the Duke of Jülich-Berg (pursuant to a 1496 contract entered into while the principals were still minors). Thus, when both of the contracting dukes were dead (1521), the existing Cleves-Mark union expanded to include Jülich, Berg, and Ravensberg. Historians occasionally treat the five-way personal union as a distinct country called the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, but I treat all five entities as separate countries.
  2. When the Elector of Brandenburg established the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Cleves became a subdivision thereof. Keep in mind, however, that my convention is to recognize the Kingdom of Prussia as a nation, not a country. Thus, Cleves retains its status as a country after 1701.

 

As it accumulated territory, the County/Duchy of Cleves formed Ämter as subdivisions. Some of those were further subdivided into smaller units called “Richterämter” (judicial offices). Even many places that had been granted city status (Städte), and thus were largely autonomous, were recognized as belonging to those Ämter and Richterämter. However, there remained places outside of the Ämter. Such places were part of hereditary jurisdictions called “Herrlichkeiten”. Some of those existed in 1521 when the database begins, but others were formed later, particularly in the mid-1600s. In 1753, the Prussians imposed a local government reform in which the Richterämter were abolished (although some were promoted to full-fledged Ämter), and the Ämter and Herrlichkeiten (but not the Städte) were assigned to one of three higher-level subdivisions called “Kreise”.

 

Pre-1753 subdivisions of Cleves
Post-1753 subdivisions of Cleves