Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves
| County (Duchy) of Berg | ||||||||||
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Grafschaft (Herzogtum) Berg (de) Graafschap (Hertogdom) Berg (nl) |
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| State of the Holy Roman Empire (until 1806) | ||||||||||
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.svg) Map of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle around 1560,
Duchy of Berg highlighted in red |
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| Capital |
Schloss Burg (1101-1280) Düsseldorf (1280-1815) |
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| Languages | German | |||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Emergence from Lotharingia | 1101 | ||||||||
| • | Split with County of Mark | 1160 | ||||||||
| • | United with County of Cleves | 1368 | ||||||||
| • | United with Jülich and Cleves | 1521 | ||||||||
| • | United with Palatinate-Neuburg and the Electorate of the Palatinate | 1609 and 1690 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 9 June 1815 | ||||||||
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Coat of arms
Berg was a state – originally a county, later a duchy – in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.
The Counts of Berg emerged in 1101 as a junior line of the dynasty of the Ezzonen, which traced its roots back to the 9th-century Kingdom of Lotharingia, and in the 11th century became the most powerful dynasty in the region of the lower Rhine.
In 1160, the territory split into two portions, one of them later becoming the County of the Mark, which returned to the possession of the family line in the 16th century. In 1280 the counts moved their court from Schloss Burg on the Wupper river to the town of Düsseldorf. The most powerful of the early rulers of Berg, Engelbert II of Berg died in an assassination on November 7, 1225. Count Adolf VIII of Berg fought on the winning side in the Battle of Worringen against Guelders in 1288.
The power of Berg grew further in the 14th century. The County of Jülich united with the County of Berg in 1348, and in 1380 the Emperor Wenceslaus elevated the counts of Berg to the rank of dukes, thus originating the Duchy of Jülich-Berg.
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Wikipedia