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County of Luxembourg Grofschaft Lëtzebuerg (Luxembourgish) Grafschaft Luxemburg (German) Comté de Luxembourg (French) Comitatus Luxemburgensis (Latin) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 963–1353 | |||||||||
.svg) Luxembourg within theLow Countries, 1350 | |||||||||
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Luxembourg | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||
| Count of Luxembourg | |||||||||
• 963-998 | Siegfried, Count of the Ardennes (first) | ||||||||
• 1346–1353 | Charles IV (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Obtained bySigfried | 963 | ||||||||
• Acquired byHouse of Ardenne–Luxembourg | 1059 | ||||||||
• Raised tocounty | 1214 | ||||||||
• Raised toduchy by the Emperor | 1353 | ||||||||
• Held by theDukes of Burgundy | 1443 | ||||||||
• ToHabsburg | 1482 | ||||||||
• Occupied byFrance | 1797 | ||||||||
• Grand Duchy re-established | 1815 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | LU | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||
TheCounty of Luxembourg (French:Luxembourg;Luxembourgish:Lëtzebuerg) was aState of theHoly Roman Empire. It arose from medievalLucilinburhuc ("Little Fortress")[1] Castle in the present-dayCity of Luxembourg, purchased bySiegfried, Count of the Ardennes in 963. His descendants of theArdennes–Luxembourg dynasty began to call themselvesCounts of Luxembourg from the 11th century onwards. TheHouse of Luxembourg, acadet branch of theDukes of Limburg, became one of the most important political forces of the 14th century, contending with theHouse of Habsburg for supremacy in theHoly Roman Empire.
The historic region of Luxembourg was settled byCeltic tribes in the 2nd Century BC. After the conquests ofJulius Caesar during theGallic Wars from 58 to 51 BC, it was incorporated into theRoman province ofGermania Inferior. Upon the invasion of GermanicFranks from the East during theMigration Period in the 5th century, the Luxembourg region became part ofFrancia and theCarolingian Empire. In 843, Luxembourg became part ofMiddle Francia (Treaty of Verdun), thenLotharingia in 855 (Treaty of Prüm) and, finally, ofUpper Lorraine in 959. Since 925, it has belonged toEast Francia, predecessor of theKingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, and large parts were held by theAbbey of Echternach.
From theEarly Middle Ages to theRenaissance, authors attributed different names to Luxembourg, such as:Lucilinburhuc,Lutzburg,Lützelburg,Luccelemburc,Lichtburg. The name is usually translated from the Latin as "little castle". However, modern historians believe that the etymology of the wordLuxembourg is a derivation of the wordLetze, meaning fortification,[citation needed] which might have referred to either the remains of a Roman watchtower or to a primitive refuge of the Early Middle Ages. The first known reference to the territory was by Julius Caesar in hisCommentaries on the Gallic War.[2]
The ruined, supposedly Roman, fortification calledLucilinburhuc was first mentioned in 963, when CountSiegfried acquired it from Wikerus,Abbot ofSt. Maximin's Abbey inTrier. Siegfried first appeared about 950. He was possibly a son ofGilbert, Duke of Lorraine, and his motherCunigunda was a granddaughter of theWest Frankish KingLouis the Stammerer. 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 oldRoman road linkingReims,Arlon andTrier that provided prospects for trade and taxation. Although the history of Luxembourg began with the castle's construction, it seems that Siegfried and his immediate successors did not make the castle their primary residence.
During the following years, a small town and market grew around the new castle. Its first inhabitants were probably servants of Count Siegfried and clergy of Saint Michael's Church. The settlement soon received additional protection by the construction of a partialcity wall andmoat. In addition to the small town near theBockfiels and the Roman road, a further settlement was established in the Alzette Valley, today theGrund quarter of Luxembourg.
By 1060 the fortress had been extended by Siegfried's descendants.Conrad I (d. 1086) 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, he is referred to as "comes Henricus de Lutzeleburg". By 1083, this lower town contained two churches and bridges over theAlzette andPetruss rivers. Its inhabitants' occupations included fishing, baking, and milling. In the same year, theBenedictine abbey ofAltmünster was founded on the hill behind the castle byConrad I, Count of Luxembourg.
In 1136 when CountConrad II of Luxembourg died without heirs, the Ardennes–Luxembourg branch became extinct and the county, by order of EmperorLothair II, passed to Conrad's maternal cousinHenry the Blind from theHouse of Namur. When Henry the Blind died in 1196,Count Otto I of Burgundy (a son of theHohenstaufen emperorFrederick Barbarossa) raised claims to the throne. Henry the Blind's daughter,Ermesinde, marriedCount 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 theLow Countries. 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 theDukes of Brabant in the 1288Battle of Worringen. Nevertheless, CountHenry VII, whose fatherHenry VI had been killed in battle, settled the quarrel by marryingMargaret of Brabant in 1292. In 1308, he was electedKing of the Romans and was crownedHoly Roman Emperor in 1312, the first of three emperors provided by the House of Luxembourg. His son,John the Blind, becameKing of Bohemia in 1310, whereafter the dynasty moved their seat of power toPrague Castle.
TheDuchy of Luxembourg was formed when the counties of Luxembourg,Durbuy,Laroche andVianden (avassal county since 31 July 1264), theMarquisat ofArlon, and the districts ofThionville,Bitburg andMarville were combined. Luxembourg was an independentfief of theHoly Roman Empire until 1353, when the Luxembourg emperorCharles IV elevated it to the status of a duchy for his half-brother,Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg.
Upon the extinction of the Luxembourg dynasty, the duchy passed to theHouse of Valois-Burgundy in 1443, and then to theArchduchy of Austria in 1482. It was integrated into theBurgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, by EmperorCharles V in thePragmatic Sanction of 1549. During theFrench Revolutionary Wars, Luxembourg was annexed to thedepartment ofForêts. Following agreement at the 1815Congress of Vienna, some of the former duchy's territory became theGrand Duchy of Luxembourg under the rule of, but not part of, theKingdom of the Netherlands, after which it joined theGerman Confederation.
