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Berg (state)
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The territory of Berg in today's North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany emerged as a separate domain in mediaeval times. It comprised roughly the area between the rivers Rhine, Ruhr and Sieg. Today this territory retains its medieval name in the form "Bergisches Land".
Counts of Berg emerged in 1101 as a junior line of the dynasty of the Ezzonen which traced its prominence back to the Kingdom of Lotharingia, and in time became the most powerful dynasty in the region.
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Encyclopedia
The territory of Berg in today's North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany emerged as a separate domain in mediaeval times. It comprised roughly the area between the rivers Rhine, Ruhr and Sieg. Today this territory retains its medieval name in the form "Bergisches Land".
History
Ascent
The Counts of Berg emerged in 1101 as a junior line of the dynasty of the Ezzonen which traced its prominence back to the Kingdom of Lotharingia, and in time became the most powerful dynasty in the region. In 1160 the territory split into two portions, one of them later becoming the County of the Mark, which returned to the 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 assassinatiom on November 7, 1225. The count of Berg fought on the winning side in the Battle of Worringen in 1288.
The power of Berg grew further in the 14th century. The County of Jülich united with the County of Berg in 1348. In 1380 the Emperor elevated the counts of Berg to the rank of dukes, thus originating the Duchy of Jülich-Berg.
Problems of succession
In 1509, John III, Duke of Cleves made a strategic marriage to Maria von Geldern, daughter of William VIII of Jülich-Berg, who became heiress to her father's estates: Jülich, Berg and County of Ravensberg, which under the Salic laws of the Holy Roman Empire caused the properties to pass to the husband of the female heir (women could not hold property except through a husband or guardian). With the death of her father in 1521 the Dukes of Jülich-Berg became extinct, and the estate thus came under the rule of John III, Duke of Cleves — along with his personal territories, the County of the Mark and the Duchy of Cleves (Kleve) in a personal union. As a result of this union the dukes of Jülich-Berg-Kleve-Mark controlled much of present North Rhine-Westphalia (except for the clerical states of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the Bishop of Münster).
However, the newest ducal dynasty also became extinct in 1609, when the last duke died insane, leading to a disputed succession of the various territories. A long dispute about the succession followed, before the partitioning of the territories in 1614: the Count Palatine of Neuburg, who had converted to Catholicism, annexed Jülich and Berg; while Cleves and Mark fell to the Elector of Brandenburg. Upon the extinction of the senior dynasty ruling the Palatinate in 1685, the Neuburg line inherited the Electorate, and generally made Düsseldorf their capital until the Elector Palatine inherited Bavaria as well in 1777.
French revolution, Grand Duchy of Berg
The French annexation of Jülich during the French revolutionary wars separated the two duchies, and in 1803 Berg separated from the other Bavarian territories and came under the rule of a junior branch of the Wittelsbachs. In 1806, in the reorganization of Germany occasioned by the end of the Holy Roman Empire, Berg became a Grand Duchy under the rule of Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat. Murat's arms combined the red lion of Berg with the arms of the duchy of Cleves. The anchor and the batons came to the party due to Murat's position as Grand Admiral and as Marshal of the Empire. As the husband of Napoleon's sister, Murat also had the right to use the imperial eagle.
In 1809, one year after Murat's promotion to the Kingdom of Naples, Napoleon's infant nephew, Prince Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831, elder son of Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland) became Grand Duke; French bureaucrats administered the territory in his name. The Grand Duchy's short existence came to an end with Napoleon's defeat in 1813, and in the peace settlements that followed.
Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
In 1815, after the Congress of Vienna, Berg became part of a province of the Kingdom of Prussia: the Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. In 1822 this province united with the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine to form the Rhine Province.
Rulers of Berg
House of Berg
House of Limburg
- 1218-1247 Henry IV Duke of Limburg, count of Berg
- 1247-1259 Adolf VII count of Limburg, count of Berg
- 1259–1296 Adolf V
- 1296–1308 William I
- 1308–1348 Adolf VI
House of Jülich(-Heimbach), Counts
– in union with Ravensberg –
- 1348–1360 Gerhard
- 1360–1380 Wilhelm II.; becomes duke in 1380
House of Jülich(-Heimbach), Dukes
– in union with Ravensberg (except 1389–1437) and after 1423 in union with the duchy of Jülich –
- 1380–1408 William I
- 1408–1437 Adolf
- 1437–1475 Gerhard
- 1475–1511 Wilhelm II
House Mark, Dukes
– from 1521 a part of the duchy of Jülich-Cleves-Berg–
House of Wittelsbach, Dukes
– in union with Jülich und Palatinate-Neuburg, from 1690 also with the Electoral Palatinate, from 1777 also with Bavaria–
administrator)
French Grand Dukes
External links
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