Duchy of Gelre
| Duchy of Guelders | ||||||||||
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Hertogdom Gelre (nl) Herzogtum Geldern (de) |
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| State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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 Coat of arms
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.svg) Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen, about 1350
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| Capital | Geldern | |||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages, Renaissance | |||||||||
| • |
Gerard I first Count of Guelders |
1096 | ||||||||
| • | Raised to duchy | 1339 | ||||||||
| • | Held by Jülich | 1393–1423 | ||||||||
| • | Acquired by Burgundy | 1473 | ||||||||
| • | Lower Quarters to Dutch Republic |
1581 | ||||||||
| • | Annexed by France | 1795 | ||||||||
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Guelders or Gueldres (Dutch: Gelre, German: Geldern) 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 (Gelder) in present-day Germany. Though the present province of Gelderland (English also Guelders) in the Netherlands occupies most of the area, the former duchy also comprised parts of the present Dutch province of Limburg as well as those territories in the present-day German state of North Rhine-Westphalia that were acquired by Prussia in 1713.
Four parts of the duchy had their own centres, as they were separated by rivers:
spatially separated from the Lower Quarters (Gelderland):
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, with its main stronghold at Montfort (built 1260). Count Gerard's son Gerard II in 1127 acquired the County of Zutphen in northern Hamaland by marriage. In the 12th and 13th century, Guelders quickly expanded downstream along the sides of the Maas, Rhine, and IJssel rivers and even claimed the succession in the Duchy of Limburg, until it lost the 1288 Battle of Worringen against Berg and Brabant.
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Wikipedia