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GELDERLAND, GELDERS

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 557 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GELDERLAND, GELDERS , Or GUELDERS, formerly a duchy of the See also:Empire, on the See also:lower See also:Rhine and the Yssel, bounded by See also:Friesland, See also:Westphalia, See also:Brabant, See also:Holland and the Zuider Zee; See also:part of which has become the See also:province of Holland, dealt with separately below. The territory of the later duchy of Gelderland was inhabited at the beginning of the See also:Christian era by the See also:Teutonic tribes of the Sicambri and the Batavi, and later, during the See also:period of the decline of the See also:Roman empire, by the Chamavi and other See also:Frank peoples. It formed part of the Caroling See also:kingdom of See also:Austrasia, and was divided into pagi or gauen, ruled by See also:official See also:counts (comites-graven). In 843, by the treaty of See also:Verdun, it became part of Lotharingia (See also:Lorraine), and in 879 was annexed to the kingdom of See also:East See also:Francia (See also:Germany) by the treaty of Meerssen. The See also:nucleus of the later See also:county and duchy was the See also:gau or See also:district surrounding the See also:town of Gelder or Gelre, lying between the See also:Meuse and the Niers, and since 1715 included in Rhenish See also:Prussia. The See also:early See also:history is involved in much obscurity. There were in the rith See also:century a number of counts ruling in various parts of what was afterwards known as Gelderland. Towards the See also:close of that century See also:Gerard of Wassenburg, who besides the county of Gelre ruled over portions of Hamalant and Teisterbant, acquired a dominant position amongst his neighbours. He is generally reckoned as the first hereditary See also:count of Gelderland (d. 1117/8). His son, Gerard II.—the Long—(d. 1131), married Irmingardis, daughter and heiress of See also:Otto, count of See also:Zutphen, and their son, See also:Henry I.

(d. 1182), inherited both countships. His successors Otto I. (1182–1207) and Gerard III. (1207–1229) were lovers of See also:

peace and strong supporters of the See also:Hohenstaufen emperors, through whose favour they were able to increase their territories by acquisitions in the districts of Veluwe and Betuwe. He acted as See also:guardian to his See also:nephew See also:Floris IV. of Holland during his minority. Otto II., the Lame (1229-1271), fortified several towns and bestowed privileges upon them for the purpose of encouraging See also:trade. He became a See also:person of so much importance that he was urged to be a See also:candidate for the dignity of See also:emperor. He preferred to support the claims of his See also:cousin, See also:William II. of Holland. In return for the See also:loan of a considerable sum of See also:money William gave to him the See also:city of See also:Nijmwegen in See also:pledge. His son Reinald I. (d.

1326) married Irmingardis, heiress of See also:

Limburg, and in right of his wife laid claim to the duchy against Adolf of See also:Berg, who had sold his rights to See also:John I. of Brabant. See also:War followed, and on the 5th of See also:June 1288 Reinald, who meantime had also sold his rights to the count of See also:Luxemburg, was defeated and taken prisoner at the See also:battle of Woeringen. In this battle the count of Luxemburg was slain, and Reinald had to surrender his claims as the See also:price of his defeat to John of Brabant. In 1310, in return for his support, Reinald received from the emperor Henry VII. for all his territories privilegium de non evocando, i.e. the exemption of his subjects from the liability to be sued before any See also:court outside his See also:jurisdiction. In 1317 he was made a See also:prince of the Empire. A See also:wound received at the battle of Woeringen had affected his See also:brain, ' and an insurrection against him was in 1316 headed by his son Reinald, who assumed the See also:government under the See also:title of " Son of the Count." Reinald I. was finally in 1320 immured in See also:prison, where he died in 1326. Reinald II., the See also:Black (1326–1343), was one of the foremost princes in the See also:Netherlands of his See also:day. He married (1) See also:Sophia, heiress of Mechlin, and (2) in 1331 Eleanor, See also:sister of See also:Edward III. of See also:England. By See also:purchase or See also:conquest he added considerably to his territories. He did much to improve the See also:condition of the See also:country, to See also:foster trade, to promote the prosperity of the towns, and to maintain See also:order and See also:security in his lands by See also:wise See also:laws and See also:firm See also:administration. In 1338 the title of See also:duke was bestowed upon him by the emperor See also:Louis the Bavarian, who at the same See also:time granted to him the See also:fief of East Friesland. He died in 1343, leaving three daughters by his first See also:marriage, and two sons, Reinald and Edward, both minors, by Eleanor of England.

His See also:

elder son was ten years of See also:age, and succeeded to the duchy under the guardianship of his See also:mother Eleanor. Declared of age two years later, the youthful Reinald III. found himself involved in many difficulties through the struggles between the See also:rival factions named after the two See also:noble families of Bronkhorst and Hekeren. What was the See also:quarrel between them, and what the causes they represented, cannot now be ascertained with certainty. There is See also:good See also:reason, however, to believe that they were the counterparts of the contemporary See also:Cod and See also:Hook parties in Holland, and of the Schieringers and Vetkoopers in Friesland. In Gelderland the quarrel between them was converted into a dynastic struggle, the Hekeren recognizing Duke Reinald, while the Bronkhorsten set up his younger See also:brother Edward. At the battle of See also:Tiel (1361) Reinald was defeated and taken prisoner, and Edward held the duchy till 1371. He was a good and successful ruler, and his See also:death by an arrow wound, after a brilliant victory over the duke of Brabant near Baesweller (See also:August 1371), was a loss to his country. He was in his See also:thirty-fifth See also:year and See also:left no heirs. Reinald was now taken from the prison in which he had been confined to reign once more, but his See also:health was broken and he died childless three years afterwards. The war of factions again See also:broke out, the See also:half-sisters of Reinald III. and Edward bothclaiming the See also:inheritance; the elder, See also:Matilda (Machteld), in her own right, the younger Maria on behalf of her seven-year-old boy William of See also:Julich, as the only male representative of the See also:family. The Hekeren supported Matilda, the Bronkhorsten William of Julich. The war of See also:succession lasted till 1379, and ended in William's favour, the emperor Wenceslas (See also:Wenzel) recognizing him as duke four years later.

Duke William was able, restless and adventurous, an ideal See also:

knight of the palmy days of See also:chivalry. He took part in no less than five See also:crusades with the Teutonic order against the See also:heathen See also:Lithuanians and Prussians. In 1393 he inherited the duchy of Julich, and died in 1402. He was succeeded by his brother, Reinald IV. (d. 1423), in the See also:united See also:sovereignty of Gelderland, Zutphen and Julich, who, in accordance with a promise made before his See also:accession, ceded the town of See also:Emmerich to Duke Adolf of See also:Cleves. He took the part of his brother-in-See also:law, John of Arkel, against William VI. of Holland, and in a war of several years' duration was not successful in preventing the Arkel territory being incorporated in Holland. On his death without legitimate issue, Gelderland passed to the See also:young See also:Arnold of See also:Egmont, See also:grand-son of his sister Johanna, who had married John, See also:lord of Arkel, their daughter Maria (d. 1415) being the wife of John, count of Egmont (d. 1451). Arnold was recognized as duke in 1424 by the emperor See also:Sigismund, but in the following year the emperor revoked his decision and bestowed the duchy upon Adolf of Berg. Arnold in See also:retaliation laid claim to the duchy of Julich, which had likewise been granted to Adolf by Sigismund, and a war followed in which the cities and nobles of Gelderland stood by Arnold; it ended in Arnold retaining Gelderland and Zutphen, and Gerard, the son of Adolf (d.

1437), being acknowledged as duke of Julich. To gain the support of the estates of Gelderland in this war of succession, Arnold had been compelled to make many concessions limiting the ducal prerogatives, and granting large See also:

powers to a See also:council consisting of representatives of the nobles and the four See also:chief cities, and his extravagance and exactions led to continual conflicts, in which the prince was compelled to yield to the demands of his subjects. In his later years a See also:conspiracy was formed against him, headed by his wife, the violent and ambitious See also:Catherine of Cleves, and his son Adolf. Arnold was at first successful and Adolf had to go into See also:exile; but he returned, and in 1465, having taken his See also:father prisoner by treachery,. interned him in the See also:castle of Buren. See also:Charles the Bold of See also:Burgundy now seized the opportunity to intervene. In 1471 he forced Adolf to See also:release his father, who sold the reversion of the duchy to the duke of Burgundy for 92,000 See also:golden gulden. On the 23rd of See also:February 1473 Arnold died, and Charles of Burgundy became duke of Gelderland. His succession was not unopposed. Nijmwegen offered an heroic resistance and only See also:fell after a See also:long See also:siege. After Charles's death in 1477 Adolf was released from the captivity in which he had been held, and placed himself at the See also:head of a party in the powerful city of See also:Ghent, which sought to See also:settle the disputed succession by forcing a match between him and See also:Mary, the heiress of Burgundy. On the 29th of June 1477, however, he was killed at the siege of See also:Tournai; and Mary gave her See also:hand to See also:Maximilian of See also:Austria, afterwards emperor. Catherine, Adolf's sister, made an See also:attempt to assert the rights of his son Charles to the duchy, but by 1483 Maximilian had crushed all opposition and established himself as duke of Gelderland.

Charles of Egmont, however, did not surrender his claims, but with the aid of the See also:

French collected an See also:army, and in the course of 1492 and 1493 succeeded in reconquering his inheritance. The efforts of Maximilian to recover the country were vain, and the successive See also:governors of the Netherlands, See also:Philip the See also:Fair and his sister See also:Margaret, fared no better. In 1507 Charles of Egmont invaded Holland and Brabant, captured Harderwijk and Bommel in 1511, threatened See also:Amsterdam in. 1512, and took See also:Groningen. It was, undoubtedly, a See also:great and heroic achievement for the ruler of a See also:petty See also:state like Gelderland thus to assert and maintain his See also:independence for a long period against the overwhelming See also:power of the See also:house of Austria. It was not till 1528 that the emperor Charles V. could force him to accept the See also:compromise of the treaty of Gorichen, by which he received Gelderland and Zutphen for See also:life as fiefs of the Empire. In 1534 the duke, who was childless, attempted to See also:transfer the reversion of Gelderland to See also:France, but this project was violently resisted by the estates of the duchy, and Charles was compelled by them in 1 538 to appoint as his successor William V.-the Rich—of Cleves (d. 1592). Charles died the same year, and William, with the aid of the French, succeeded in maintaining his position in Gelderland for several years. The See also:Habsburg power was, however, in the end too great for him, and he was forced to cede the duchy to Charles V. by the treaty of Venloo, signed on the 7th of See also:September 1543, Gelderland was now definitely amalgamated with the Habsburg dominions in the Netherlands, until the revolt of the See also:Low Countries led to its See also:partition. In 1579 the See also:northern and greater part, comprising the three " quarters " of Nijmwegen, See also:Arnhem and Zutphen, joined the See also:Union of See also:Utrecht and became the province of Gelderland in the Dutch See also:republic. Only the See also:quarter of Roermonde remained subject to the See also:crown of See also:Spain, and was called See also:Spanish Gelderland.

By the treaty of Utrecht (1715) this was ceded to Prussia with the exception of Venloo, which fell to the United Provinces, and Roermonde, which, with the remaining Spanish Netherlands, passed to Austria. Of this, part was ceded to France at the peace of See also:

Basel in 1795, and the whole by the treaty of See also:Luneville in 1801, when it received the name of the See also:department of the Roer. By the peace of See also:Paris of 1814 the bulk of Gelderland was incorporated in the United Netherlands, the See also:remainder falling to Prussia, where it forms the circle of See also:Dusseldorf. The rise of the towns in Gelderland began in the 13th century, See also:river See also:commerce and markets being the chief cause of their prosperity, but they never attained to the importance of the larger cities in Holland and Utrecht, much less to that of the great Flemish municipalities. They differed also from the Flemish cities in the nature of their privileges and immunities, as they did not possess the rights of communes, but only those of " See also:free cities " of the Rhenish type. The power of the feudal lord over them was much greater. The states of Gelderland first became a considerable power in the See also:land during the reign of Arnold of Egmont (1423-1473). Their claim to large privileges and a considerable See also:share in the government of the county were formulated in a document See also:drawn up at Nijmwegen in See also:April 1436. These the duke had to concede, and to agree further to the See also:appointment of a council to assist him in his administration. From this time the See also:absolute authority of the See also:sovereign in Gelderland was broken. The states consisted of two members—the See also:nobility and the towns. The towns were divided into four See also:separate districts or " quarters " named after the chief town in each—Nijmwegen, Arnhem, Zutphen and Roermonde.

In the time of the republic, as has been stated above, the province of Gelderland comprised the three first-named " quarters " only. The three quarters had each of them, See also:

peculiar rights and customs, and their representatives met together in a separate See also:assembly before taking part in the See also:diet (landdag) of the states. The nobility possessed great See also:influence in Gelderland and retained it in the time of the republic. (G.

End of Article: GELDERLAND, GELDERS

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