1.
War of the Limburg Succession
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The War of the Limburg Succession, was a series of conflicts between 1283 and 1289 for the succession in the Duchy of Limburg. The cause of the War of the Limburg Succession was the death of Waleran IV, Duke of Limburg in 1280, Waleran IV had no sons and Ermengarde had no children. Ermergarde had married Reginald I of Guelders, who now claimed the Duchy of Limburg, however, Walerans nephew Adolf VIII of Berg, son of his elder brother Adolf VII of Berg, also claimed the Duchy. Unable to assert his claims, he sold them in 1283 to the mighty John I, between 1283 and 1288, several smaller confrontations occurred between both sides, none of them decisive. Meanwhile, most of the local powers chose sides. The citizens of the City of Cologne, eager to emancipate themselves from the Archbishops rule, after the decisive Battle of Worringen in 1288, won by Duke John I of Brabant and his allies, the Duchy of Limburg came in the possession of the Duke of Brabant. The City of Cologne gained its independence from the Archbishopric and finally the status of an Imperial city in 1475
2.
Brabantsche Yeesten
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The Brabantsche Yeesten is a rhyming chronicle of some 46,000 verses written in the 14th and 15th centuries in the Middle Dutch language. It provides a history of the Duchy of Brabant, and the five volumes were written by Jan van Boendale of Antwerp. Van Boendales text was written between around 1318 and around 1350, commissioned for a member of the Antwerp patriciate, Boendales main sources were the Chronica de origine ducum Brabantiae of 1294 and Spieghel Historiael of Jacob van Maerlant. Much of the text of the first three books are taken from van Mearlant almost verbatim, the events in book five are from Boendales own lifetime. Books six and seven, which extend the scope of the events to 1440, are anonymous. Book six is dated 1432 and book seven is dated 1440, there are seven extant manuscript copies. Two 15th-century manuscripts are held by the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels, the text was first edited by Jan Frans Willems and Jean Henri Bormans beginning in 1839. Jan Frans Willems, De Brabantsche Yeesten, katell De Groote, Jan Van Boendaele, Brabantse Yeesten, XXIV. M. A. dissertation at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,2003
3.
Cologne
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Cologne is the largest city in the German federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-largest city in Germany. It is located within the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, one of the major European metropolitan areas, and with more than ten million inhabitants, Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine River, less than eighty kilometres from Belgium. The citys famous Cologne Cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne, the University of Cologne is one of Europes oldest and largest universities. Cologne was founded and established in Ubii territory in the first century AD as the Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, Cologne, the French version of the citys name, has become standard in English as well. The city functioned as the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior, during the Middle Ages it flourished on one of the most important major trade routes between east and west in Europe. Cologne was one of the members of the Hanseatic League and one of the largest cities north of the Alps in medieval. Up until World War II the city had several occupations by the French. Cologne was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Germany during World War II, the bombing reduced the population by 95%, mainly due to evacuation, and destroyed almost the entire city. With the intention of restoring as many buildings as possible. Cologne is a cultural centre for the Rhineland, it hosts more than thirty museums. Exhibitions range from local ancient Roman archeological sites to contemporary graphics, the Cologne Trade Fair hosts a number of trade shows such as Art Cologne, imm Cologne, Gamescom, and the Photokina. The first urban settlement on the grounds of modern-day Cologne was Oppidum Ubiorum, founded in 38 BC by the Ubii, in 50 AD, the Romans founded Colonia on the Rhine and the city became the provincial capital of Germania Inferior in 85 AD. The city was named Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium in 50 AD, considerable Roman remains can be found in present-day Cologne, especially near the wharf area, where a notable discovery of a 1900-year-old Roman boat was made in late 2007. From 260 to 271 Cologne was the capital of the Gallic Empire under Postumus, Marius, in 310 under Constantine a bridge was built over the Rhine at Cologne. Roman imperial governors resided in the city and it one of the most important trade. Cologne is shown on the 4th century Peutinger Map, maternus, who was elected as bishop in 313, was the first known bishop of Cologne. The city was the capital of a Roman province until occupied by the Ripuarian Franks in 462, parts of the original Roman sewers are preserved underneath the city, with the new sewerage system having opened in 1890. Early medieval Cologne was part of Austrasia within the Frankish Empire, Cologne had been the seat of a bishop since the Roman period, under Charlemagne, in 795, bishop Hildebold was promoted to archbishop
4.
Duchy of Limburg
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The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its main territory including the capital Limbourg is today located within the Belgian province of Liège, with a part in the neighbouring province of Belgian Limburg. However finally, after the failed Brabant Revolution in 1789, the history was terminated with the occupation by French Revolutionary troops in 1793. These lands were reunited within modern Belgium only after World War I, the duchy was multilingual, being the place where Dutch, French, and German dialects border upon each other and coexist at their geographical extremes, both now and in medieval times. Its northern and eastern borders are the boundaries of the modern state of Belgium with the Netherlands and Germany. The eastern part, which includes Eupen, is the administrative capital, of the various places known as Limburg, it is the Duchy of Limburg which is the origin of the pungent-smelling soft cheese known as Limburger, and today made in many places. The states territory was situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse in the west and the Imperial city of Aachen in the east and its most important cities were Limbourg, the capital, and Eupen. In the west and south, Limburg bordered on the territory of the Liège Prince-Bishops, in the north, linguistically Limburg was situated on the border of Germanic with Romance Europe. While in the northern and eastern districts Limburgish and Ripuarian dialects were spoken and they were in contact with both Gaulish and Germanic peoples. The language they spoke is not certain, and it is not certain to what extent these earlier tribes can be equated to the Tungri. By this time the area had become integrated into the Civitas Tungrorum and this was a frontier area, which took in soldiers and settlers from across the Rhine in Germany and from around the empire. The region to the north of the Duchy was dominated by Salian Franks, under the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, Frankish rule expanded from the region around Limbourg to cover larger areas, and eventually began to replace Roman imperial rule. By the time of Charlemagne, the first Frank to be called an emperor of Rome, the Duchy of Limburg, like most of modern Belgium, was within Lower Lorraine. For a while, Lower Lorraine had its own single Duke and it is from this Duchy that the Duchy of Limbourg derived its Ducal status. The territory of the duchy of Limburg was formed in the 11th century around the town of Limbourg in present-day Wallonia, about 1020, Duke Frederick of Lower Lorraine, a descendant of Count Palatine Wigeric of Lotharingia, had Limbourg Castle built on the banks of the Vesdre river. His estates then comprised the districts of Baelen, Herve, Montzen, Walhorn, and they were inherited by Fredericks son-in-law Count Waleran of Arlon, who about 1065 began to call himself a count of Limburg. Waleran also claimed Fredericks ducal title, which was acknowledged by Emperor Henry IV in 1101 in favour of Walerans son Henry. This meant that Lower Lorraine now had two Duchies, that of Brabant, and that of Limburg, and the title of Duke of Lothier, still held by Brabant, eventually became ineffective
5.
Duchy of Brabant
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The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. Today all the former territories, apart from exclaves are in Belgium except for the Dutch province of North Brabant. The Duchy of Brabant was historically divided into four parts, each with its own capital, the four capitals were Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp and s-Hertogenbosch. Before s-Hertogenbosch was founded, Tienen was the fourth capital and its most important cities were Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, Breda, s-Hertogenbosch, Lier and Mechelen. The modern flag of Belgium takes its colors from Brabants coat of arms, probably first used by Count Lambert I of Louvain, the lion is documented in a 1306 towns seal of Kerpen, together with the red lion of Limburg. Up to the present, the Brabant lion features as the charge on the coats of arms of both Flemish and Walloon Brabant, and of the Dutch province of North Brabant. The regions name is first recorded as the Carolingian shire pagus Bracbatensis, upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun it was part of Lotharingia within short-lived Middle Francia, and was ceded to East Francia according to the 880 Treaty of Ribemont. In earlier Roman times, the Nervii, a Belgic tribe and they were incorporated into the Roman province of Belgica, and considered to have both Celtic and Germanic cultural links. At the end of the Roman period the region was conquered by the Germanic Franks, in 959 the East Frankish king Otto I of Germany elevated Count Godfrey of Jülich to the rank of duke of Lower Lorraine. In 962 the duchy became a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Here, the counts of Leuven rose to power, when about 1000 Count Lambert I the Bearded married Gerberga, the daughter of Duke Charles of Lower Lorraine, and acquired the County of Brussels. About 1024 southernmost Brabant fell to Count Reginar V of Mons, in 1190, after the death of Godfrey III, Henry I also became Duke of Lower Lotharingia. By that time the title had lost most of its territorial authority, according to protocol, all his successors were thereafter called Dukes of Brabant and Lower Lotharingia. After the Battle of Worringen in 1288, the dukes of Brabant also acquired the Duchy of Limburg, in 1354 Duke John III of Brabant granted a Joyous Entry to the citizens of Brabant. In 1430 the Duchies of Lower Lotharingia, Brabant and Limburg were inherited by Philip the Good of Burgundy, in 1477 the Duchy of Brabant became part of the House of Habsburg as part of the dowry of Mary of Burgundy. At that time the Duchy extended from Luttre, south of Nivelles to s Hertogenbosch, the subsequent history of Brabant is part of the history of the Habsburg Seventeen Provinces. The Eighty Years War brought the parts under military control of the northern insurgents. The southern part remained in Spanish Habsburg hands as a part of the Southern Netherlands and it was transferred to the Austrian branch of the Habsburg monarchy in 1714
6.
Imperial City of Cologne
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The German city of Cologne was founded in the 1st century as the Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. It was taken by the Franks in the 5th century and became an important city of Medieval Germany, the seat of an Archbishop, as the Free Imperial City of Cologne it was one of the centers of the Hanseatic League in the early modern period. Most of the city was destroyed in the bombing of Cologne in World War II and it had returned to its pre-war population by 1959, by which time Düsseldorf was the political center of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Bonn was the capital of the Federal Republic. In 39 BC the Germanic tribe of the Ubii entered into an agreement with the forces of the Roman General Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and their headquarters was Oppidum Ubiorum and at the same time an important Roman military base. In 50 AD the Cologne-born Agrippina the Younger, wife of the Emperor Claudius and it was then renamed Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis, shortened to Colonia Agrippina. In 80 AD the Eifel Aqueduct was built and it was one of the longest aqueducts of the Roman Empire, delivering 20,000 cubic metres of water to the city every day. Ten years later, the became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Germany, Germania Inferior. In 260 AD Postumus made Cologne the capital of the Gallic Empire, which included the Gallic provinces, the German provinces to the left of the Rhine, Britannia, the Gallic Empire lasted only fourteen years. By the 3rd century, only some 20,000 people lived in, in 310 AD, Emperor Constantine I had a bridge constructed over the Rhine, guarded by the castellum Divitia. Divitia later became a part of Cologne with the name Deutz, the presence of Jews in Cologne was documented in AD321. When exactly the first Jews arrived in the Rhineland area cannot now be established, as early as 321 AD, an edict by the Emperor Constantine allowed Jews to be elected to the City Council. Colonia was pillaged several times by the Franks in the 4th century, two lavish burial sites located near the Cathedral date from this period. In 355 AD the Alemanni tribes besieged the town for 10 months, at the time, the garrison of Colonia Agrippina was under the generalship of Marcus Vitellus. Cologne served as a base for the Carolingian conversion of the Saxons and Frisians, in 795 the chaplain to Charlemagne, Hildebold, was elevated to the newly created archbishopric of Cologne. After the death of Charlemagne, Cologne became part of Middle Francia, Archbishop Gunther was excommunicated in 863 for his support of the divorce and remarriage of Lothair II. In 873 Gunthers successor Wilbert consecrated what would become known as the Alter Dom, with the death of Lothair in 876, Cologne fell to East Francia under Louis the German. The city was burnt down by Vikings in the winter of 881/2, in the early 10th century, the dukes of Lorraine seceded from East Francia. Cologne passed to East Francia but was reconquered by Henry the Fowler
7.
Electorate of Cologne
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The Electorate of Cologne, sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne, was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the Hochstift — the temporal possessions — of the Archbishop of Cologne, the Electorate should not be confused with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne, which was larger and over which the Elector-Archbishop exercised only spiritual authority. There were only two other ecclesiastical prince-electors in the Empire, the Electorate of Mainz and the Electorate of Trier, the capital of the electorate was Cologne. Conflicts with the citizens of Cologne caused the Elector to move to Bonn, the Free Imperial City of Cologne was recognized after 1475, thus removing it from even the nominal secular authority of the Elector. Cologne and Bonn were occupied by France in 1794, the right bank territories of the Electorate were secularized in 1803 during the German mediatization. The territory of the Electorate of Cologne was smaller than the Archdiocese of Cologne, Cologne was the ancient Roman city of Colonia Agrippina in the province of Germania Inferior, and has been a bishops see since Roman times. In 953, the archbishops of Cologne first gained noteworthy secular power, to weaken the secular nobility, who threatened his power, Otto endowed Bruno and his successors in the bishops see with the prerogatives of secular princes. This was the beginning of the state of Cologne. By the end of the 12th century, the Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Emperor, besides being prince-elector, he was Arch-chancellor of Italy as well, technically from 1238 and permanently from 1263 until 1803. In the Battle of Worringen, the archbishop was captured by soldiers of the city, eventually, the archbishop moved to Bonn to escape jurisdiction conflicts with the city government. In 1475, Cologne became a Free Imperial City, independent from the archbishop, the first pogrom against the Jews was in 1349, when they were used as scapegoats for the Black Death, and therefore burnt in an auto-da-fé. Political tensions arose from issues of taxation, public spending, regulation of business, long-distance trade in the Baltic grew, as the major trading towns came together in the Hanseatic League, under the leadership of Lübeck. The chief cities were Cologne on the Rhine River, Hamburg and Bremen on the North Sea, during the 16th century, two Archbishops of Cologne converted to Protestantism. The first, Hermann von Wied, resigned the archbishopric on converting, but Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, the war ruined most of the Electoral economy, and many villages and towns were besieged and destroyed. The Siege of Godesberg in November–December 1583 ended with the destruction of Godesberg Castle, after several more sieges, von Waldburg gave up his claim to the see and retired to Strasbourg with his wife. Ernst became archbishop–the first major success of the Counter-Reformation in Germany, under Ernsts direction, Jesuits supervised the reintroduction of Catholicism in the Electorate. From 1583 to 1761, the archbishopric was effectively a secundogeniture of the Bavarian branch of the House of Wittelsbach, as the archbishop in this period usually also held the Bishopric of Münster, he was one of the most important princes of northwestern Germany. From 1597 until 1794, Bonn was the residence the Elector, after 1795, the electorates territories on the left bank of the Rhine were occupied by France, and were formally annexed in 1801
8.
Guelders
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Guelders or Gueldres is a historical county, later duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. The duchy was named after the town of Geldern in present-day Germany, the county emerged about 1096, when Gerard III of Wassenberg was first documented as Count of Guelders. It was then located on the territory of Lower Lorraine, in the area of Geldern and Roermond, Count Gerards son Gerard II in 1127 acquired the County of Zutphen in northern Hamaland by marriage. Guelders was often at war with its neighbours, not only with Brabant, but also with the County of Holland, however, its territory grew not only because of its success in warfare, but also because it thrived in times of peace. For example, the part of the Veluwe and the city of Nijmegen were given as collateral to Guelders by their cash-strapped rulers. In 1339 Count Reginald II of Guelders, of the House of Wassenberg, was elevated to the rank of Duke by Emperor Louis IV of Wittelsbach, William was confirmed in the inheritance of Guelders in 1379, and from 1393 onwards held both duchies in personal union. The first Egmond Duke, Arnold, suffered the rebellion of his son Adolf and was imprisoned by the latter in 1465, 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 from Duke Arnold, who, against the will of the towns, the bargain was completed in 1472–73, and upon Arnolds death in 1473, Duke Charles added Guelders to the Low Countries portion of his Valois Duchy of Burgundy. Subsequently, Guelders was ruled by Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, husband of Charles the Bolds daughter and heir, 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 by France, fought Maximilians grandson Charles of Habsburg in the Guelders Wars and expanded his realm further north and 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 Duke William the Rich of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, following in the footsteps of Charles of Egmond, Duke William formed an alliance with France, an alliance dubiously cemented via his political marriage to French King Francis Is niece Jeanne dAlbret. Charles united Guelders with the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands, Charles V abdicated in 1556 and decreed that the territories of the Burgundian Circle should be held by the Spanish Crown. In 1795 Guelders was finally conquered and incorporated by the French First Republic, the coat of arms of the region changed over time. Guelder is also possibly the basis for the kingdom of Guilder in The Princess Bride. Dukes of Guelders Prussian Guelders Spanish Guelders Diana Robin, Anne R. Larsen, encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance, Italy, France, and England. CS1 maint, Uses editors parameter Strage, Mark, Women of Power, the Life and Times of Catherine dé Medici. Pp. xiv,368 p. ill,16 leaves of plates, Francis the First, First Gentleman of France. Map of Upper Guelders in 1789 – Northern Part Map of Upper Guelders in 1789 – Southern Part
9.
County of Luxemburg
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The County of Luxemburg was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It arose from medieval Lucilinburhuc Castle in the present-day City of Luxembourg and his descendants of the Ardennes-Verdun dynasty began to call themselves Counts of Luxembourg from the 11th century onwards. The historic region of Luxembourg was settled by Celtic tribes in the 2nd Century, after the conquests of Julius Caesar during the Gallic Wars from 58 to 51 BC, it was incorporated into the Roman province of Germania Inferior. Upon the invasion of Germanic Franks from the East during the Migration Period in the 5th century, the Luxembourg region became part of Francia, in 843, Luxembourg became part of Middle Francia, then Lotharingia in 855 and, finally, of Upper Lorraine in 959. Since 925, it has belonged to East Francia, predecessor of the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, from the Early Middle Ages to the Renaissance, authors attributed different names to Luxembourg, such as, Lucilinburhuc, Lutzburg, Lützelburg, Luccelemburc, Lichtburg. The name is translated from the Latin as little castle. He was possibly a son of Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine, in the following years, Siegfried built a new castle on the site of the ruins, on a rock later called Bockfiels. The castle dominated a stretch of the old Roman road linking Reims, Arlon and Trier that provided prospects for trade, although the history of Luxembourg began with the castles construction, it seems that Siegfried and his immediate successors did not make the castle their primary residence. During the following years, a town and market grew around the new castle. Its first inhabitants were probably servants of Count Siegfried and clergy of Saint Michaels Church, the settlement soon received additional protection by the construction of a partial city wall and moat. In addition to the town near the Bockfiels and the Roman road. By 1060 the fortress had been extended by Siegfrieds descendants, Conrad I was the first to call himself a Count of Luxembourg. His son, Henry III, was the first count known to have established his permanent residence there, as in a 1089 document, by 1083, this lower town contained two churches and bridges over the Alzette and Petruss rivers. Its inhabitants occupations included fishing, baking, and milling, in the same year, the Benedictine abbey of Altmünster was founded on the hill behind the castle by Conrad I, Count of Luxembourg. When Henry the Blind died in 1196, Count Otto I of Burgundy raised claims to the throne, Henry the Blinds daughter, Ermesinde, married Count Theobald I of Bar, thus securing her own succession as Countess of Luxembourg. The town of Luxembourg became the centre of a state of strategic value in the Low Countries and its fortifications were steadily enlarged and strengthened over the years by successive owners, which made it one of the strongest fortresses in Europe. Through its formidable defences it became known as the Gibraltar of the North, the Luxembourg counts lost the Limburg heritage when they were defeated by the Dukes of Brabant in the 1288 Battle of Worringen. Nevertheless, Count Henry VII, whose father Henry VI had been killed in battle, in 1308, he was elected King of the Romans and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1312, the first of three emperors provided by the House of Luxembourg
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