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duchy of Cleves

 
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: duchy of Cleves
Cleves, duchy of, former state, W Germany, on both sides of the lower Rhine, bordering on the Netherlands. Cleves was the capital. A county from late Carolingian times, it acquired (late 14th cent.) the county of Mark, in Westphalia, and in 1417 was made a duchy. In 1521, Duke John III of Cleves inherited through marriage the duchies of Jülich and Berg and the county of Ravensberg. His daughter, Anne of Cleves, was married in 1540 to Henry VIII of England. In 1609 the male line became extinct, and a complicated dynastic quarrel for the succession followed. Brandenburg acquired (1614) Cleves, Mark, and Ravensberg; the Palatinate-Neuburg line of the Bavarian house of Wittelsbach took Jülich and Berg. The succession was not finally settled until 1666, when the Treaty of Cleves confirmed the division. Cleves was held by France during the French Revolutionary Wars and in 1815 was returned to Prussia.


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Coordinates: 51°47′N 6°8′E / 51.783°N 6.133°E / 51.783; 6.133

(Grafschaft) Herzogtum Kleve (de)
(Graafschap) Hertogdom Kleef (nl)
(County) Duchy of Cleves
State of the Holy Roman Empire
Image missing
ca 1020/25 – 1666 Margraviate of Brandenburg

Coat of arms of Cleves

Coat of arms

Location of Cleves
The Duchy of Cleves around 1350
Capital Cleves
Language(s) South Guelderish
Government Principality
Historical era Middle Ages
 - Partitioned from Hamaland ca 1020/25 the 11th century
 - United with Mark 1368
 - Cleves raised to duchy 1417
 - Joined Lower Rhenish
   Westphalian Circle
 
1500
 - United with Jülich and Berg 1521
 - John William died
   without issue
 
25 March 1609 1666
 - Partitioned at Xanten 12 November 1614
Map of duchies of Cleves, Berg, Mark and Jülich, 1477.

The Duchy of Cleves (German: Herzogtum Kleve; Dutch: Hertogdom Kleef) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in present Germany (part of North Rhine-Westphalia) and the Netherlands (parts of Limburg, Noord-Brabant and Gelderland). Its territory was part of the Low Countries, situated on both sides of the river Rhine, around its capital Cleves and roughly covering today's districts of Cleves, Wesel and the city of Duisburg. Linguistically and culturally Cleves was Dutch, being germanized after Prussia acquired the region in 1701.

Contents

History

The County of Cleves (German: Grafschaft Kleve; Dutch: Graafschap Kleef) was first mentioned in the 11th century. In 1417, the county became a duchy. Its history is closely related to that of its neighbours: the Duchies of Jülich, Berg and Guelders and the County of Mark. In 1368, Cleves and Mark were united. In 1521 Jülich, Berg, Cleves and Mark formed the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Anne of Cleves (1515–57), Queen Consort of England in 1540, was a daughter of Duke John III.

When the last duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died issueless in 1609, a war broke out for the succession. The duchy was divided between Palatinate-Neuburg (Jülich and Berg) and Brandenburg (Cleves and Mark) in the Treaty of Xanten (1614). However, large parts of the Duchy of Cleves were occupied by the United Provinces until 1672. Part of the Kingdom of Prussia after 1701, Cleves was occupied by France in the Seven Years' War (1757–62).

In 1795 the Duchy of Cleves left of the Rhine and Wesel was occupied by France, and became part of the French département of the Roer. The rest of the duchy was occupied between 1803 and 1805, and became part of the département of Yssel-Supérieur and the puppet-state Grand Duchy of Berg (after 1811, the département of Lippe). In 1815, after the defeat of Napoleon, the duchy became part of the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, which became part of the Prussian Rhine Province in 1822. The cities Gennep, Zevenaar, and Huissen became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as a result of the 1815 Congress of Vienna.

Rulers of Cleves

Cleves

Cleves-Mark

Cleves-Mark-Jülich-Berg-Ravensberg

External links


 
 
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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Duchy of Cleves" Read more