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County (Duchy) of Berg | |||||||||
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| 1101–1806 | |||||||||
  Left:Arms of Bergins (from around 1225), who ruled the Duchy of Berg last Right:Coat of arms of theDuke of Berg | |||||||||
.svg) Map of theLower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle around 1560, Duchy of Berg highlighted in red | |||||||||
| Status | Duchy | ||||||||
| Capital |
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| Common languages | German | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||
| Duke of Berg | |||||||||
• 1360–1380 | Wilhelm II(first duke) | ||||||||
• 1809-1813 | Napoléon Louis Bonaparte(Grand Duke) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Emergence fromLotharingia | 1101 | ||||||||
• Split withCounty of Mark | 1160 | ||||||||
• United withCounty of Jülich | 1348 | ||||||||
• United withCounty of Mark andDuchy of Cleves | 1521 | ||||||||
• United withPalatinate-Neuburg and theElectorate of the Palatinate | 1609 and 1690 | ||||||||
• Elevated to Grand Duchy | 15 March 1806 | ||||||||
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Berg (German pronunciation:[bɛʁk]ⓘ) was a state—originally a county, later aduchy—in theRhineland ofGermany. Its capital wasDüsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries. It was amember state of theHoly Roman Empire.
The name of the county lives on in the modern geographic termBergisches Land, often misunderstood asbergiges Land (hilly country).
The Counts of Berg emerged in 1101 as a junior line of the dynasty of theEzzonen, which traced its roots back to the 9th-centuryKingdom 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 theCounty of the Mark, which returned to the possession of the family line in the 16th century. The most powerful of the early rulers of Berg,Engelbert II of Berg died in an assassination on November 7, 1225.[1][2] In 1280 the counts moved their court fromSchloss Burg on theWupper river to the town ofDüsseldorf. CountAdolf VIII of Berg fought on the winning side in theBattle of Worringen againstGuelders in 1288.
The power of Berg grew further in the 14th century. TheCounty of Jülich united with the County of Berg in 1348,[3] and in 1380 the EmperorWenceslaus elevated the counts of Berg to the rank of dukes, thus originating the Duchy of Jülich-Berg.
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In 1509,John III, Duke of Cleves, made a strategic marriage toMaria von Geldern, daughter ofWilliam IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg, who became heiress to her father's estates:Jülich,Berg and theCounty of Ravensberg, which under theSalic laws of theHoly Roman Empire caused the properties to pass to the husband of the female heir (women could not hold property except through a husband or a guardian). With the death of her father in 1511 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, theCounty of the Mark and theDuchy of Cleves (Kleve) in a personal union. As a result of this union the dukes of theUnited Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg controlled much of present-dayNorth Rhine-Westphalia, with the exception of the clerical states of theArchbishop of Cologne and of theBishop of Münster.
William the Rich was the second duke of the united Julich-Cleves-Berg. He introduced theGregorian Calendar into the duchies.
However, the new ducal dynasty also became extinct in 1609, when thelast duke died insane. This led to alengthy dispute over succession to the various territories before thepartition of 1614: theCount Palatine of Neuburg, who had converted to Catholicism, annexedJülich and Berg; while Cleves and Mark fell toJohn Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, who subsequently also becameDuke of Prussia.
Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, became duke. He was a member of the powerfulHouse of Wittelsbach, which ruledBavaria and theElectoral Palatinate. During his reign, Düsseldorf served as his center of court on occasion.
During theThirty Years' War, even though there were no significant battles around Berg, the territories still had to deal with the stresses of war.[4] At the end of the Thirty Years' War, Wolfgang Wilhelm tried to spread Catholicism in the duchies.Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, still claimed the Duchy of Berg, and declared war, claiming to be the defender of protestants in Berg. This led to theDüsseldorf Cow War. In the following years however, tension over Berg between Neuburg and Brandenburg greatly decreased.
Upon the extinction of the senior Wittelsbach dynasty ruling theElectorate of the Palatinate in 1685, the Neuburg line inherited theelectorate and generally made Düsseldorf its capital.Elector Charles III Philipp disliked Düsseldorf, because the estates there did not want to grant the funds he demanded. As such, he moved his capital from Düsseldorf toMannheim, where it remained until the Elector Palatine,Charles Theodore, inherited theElectorate of Bavaria in 1777.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Duchy of Berg became an early centre of continental industrialisation, withElberfeld andBarmen developing into a proto-industrial hub of textile production, whileSolingen andRemscheid specialised in ironmongery, particularly in the manufacture of blades.[5]
The French occupation (1794–1801) and annexation (1801) of Jülich (French: Juliers) during theFrench revolutionary wars separated the two duchies of Jülich and Berg, and in 1803 Berg separated from the other Bavarian territories and came under the rule of a junior branch of theWittelsbachs. In 1806, in the reorganization of the German lands occasioned by the end of theHoly Roman Empire, Berg became theGrand Duchy of Berg, under the rule of Napoleon's brother-in-law,Joachim Murat.[6] Murat's arms combined the red lion of Berg with the arms of theDuchy of Cleves. The anchor and the batons came to the party due to Murat's positions as Grand Admiral and asMarshal of the Empire. As the husband of Napoleon's sisterCaroline Bonaparte, Murat also had the right to use the imperial eagle.
In 1809, one year after Murat's promotion from Grand Duke of Berg toKing of Naples, Napoleon's young nephew, PrinceNapoleon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831, elder son of Napoleon's brotherLouis Bonaparte, King of Holland) became the Grand Duke of Berg; French bureaucrats administered the territory in the name of the child. The Grand Duchy's short existence came to an end with Napoleon's defeat in 1813 and the peace settlements that followed.
In 1815, after theCongress of Vienna, Berg became part of aprovince of theKingdom of Prussia: theProvince of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. In 1822 this province united with theGrand Duchy of the Lower Rhine to form theRhine Province.
.svg)
–in union with Ravensberg –
–in union withRavensberg (except 1404–1437) and after 1423 in union with the duchy of Jülich –
–from 1521 a part of theUnited Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg–
–in union withJülich undPalatinate-Neuburg, from 1690 also with theElectorate of the Palatinate, from 1777 also withBavaria –
.svg)
The historiccoat of arms of Berg shows a red lion with a double tail and blue crown, tongue, and claws – blazoned as: Argent a lion rampant gules, queue fourchée crossed in saltire, armed, langued, and crowned azure. This lion originates from the arms of the Duke of Limburg as the Berg title in the 13th century fell to the Limburg line.
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1 from 1648 2 until 1648 3 without seat inImperial Diet ? status uncertain Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon
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51°12′26″N6°48′45″E / 51.20722°N 6.81250°E /51.20722; 6.81250
