Duchy of Guelders

Geldern Castle was built in the early 12th century and became the seat of a county that had already begun developing nearly 50km to its south. Initially, the county exercised no sovereignty, but administered territory under the sovereignty of other countries. Over the centuries, however, it began acquiring its own territory, particularly in what is now the Gelderland province of the Netherlands (well to the north of Geldern castle). By 1339, the county had acquired extensive territory and was elevated to a duchy. Soon thereafter, the administration of the duchy was divided among four quarters:

 

• An upper (southern) quarter consisting of territory around Geldern (in modern Germany) and Roermond (in the modern Netherlands).
• Three lower (northern) quarters, each centered on one of the following cities in the modern Netherlands:
  • Arnhem
  • Nijmegen
  • Zutphen

 

After becoming a duchy, however, Guelders began losing territory. Within modern Germany, the biggest losses were those of Emmerich and Goch, over which Cleves took administrative control in 1355. In 1473, Guelders was conquered by the Burgundians. At that time, Cleves permanently asserted full sovereignty over Emmerich and Goch. After the Burgundian defeat of 1477, the previous rulers of Guelders (with support from France) engaged in a prolonged struggle with the Hapsburgs for control of Guelders, succeeding in 1492 and even capturing some neighboring Netherlandic territory in the process. After the noble line died out in 1538, sovereignty passed to the Duke of Jülich, Cleves, and Berg, but he was forced to cede the duchy to the Spanish Hapsburgs in 1543. Guelders thus became part of the Spanish Netherlands.

 

I start the database for the portion of the upper quarter that is now in Germany at that point. (Whether I ever add the Netherlandic portions to the database remains to be decided.) Despite their current German status, however, I recognize places in Guelders as being outside of any definition of Germany until the upper quarter was partitioned in 1713, at which time places in the database became Prussian. By the time the French occupied the territory in 1794 (when the database ends), the Prussian portion of Guelders had become culturally German.

 

The only boundary change occurring during the period covered by the database involved the village of Hamb. Admininstrative responsibility for the village shifted to the Duchy of Cleves in 1708 (making its simplified country name “Guelders-Cleves”). In 1780, Cleves assumed full sovereignty over the Hamb.