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'Berg' was a medieval territory in today's North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was roughly located between the rivers Rhine, Ruhr and Sieg. Today this territory is still named after the medieval state and is called Bergisches Land.

Contents

History

Rulers of Berg

House of Jülich(-Heimbach), Counts

House of Jülich(-Heimbach), Dukes

House Mark, Dukes

House of Wittelsbach, Dukes

French Dukes

French revolution, Grand Duchy of Berg

Notable persons from Berg and Juelich

External links

History

The Counts of Berg, emerged in 1101 as a junior line to the dynasty of the Ezzonen which traced it's prominence back to the Kingdom of Lotharingia, and in time, became the most powerful dynasty in the region. In 1160 the territory was divided 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 power of Berg was further enlarged in the 14th century. The County of Jülich was united with the County of Berg in 1348. In 1380 the counts of Berg were elevated to dukes creating the Duchy of Jülich-Berg.
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 (Woman could not hold property without a husband or guardian). With the death of her father in 1521 the Dukes of Jülich-Berg became extinct, and the estate thus came to be ruled by John III, Duke of Cleves along with his birth territories, the County of the Mark and the Duchy of Cleves (''Kleve'') in a personal union. As a result of this union, much of present North Rhine-Westphalia (except for the clerical states of the Archbishop of Cologne and Bishop of Münster) was ruled by the dukes of Jülich-Berg-Kleve-Mark.
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 territories were partitioned in 1614: Jülich and Berg were annexed by the Count Palatine of Neuburg, who had converted to Catholicism, 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.

Rulers of Berg

'House of Ezzonen'

★ Hermann I "Pusillus" count palatine of Lotharingia

★ Adolf I of Lotharingia, Vogt of Deutz

★ Adolf II of Lotharingia, Vogt of Deutz
'Berg'

★ 1077-1082 Adolf I of Berg, 1st count of Berg

★ 1082-1093 Adolf II of Berg-Hövel (Huvili), count of Berg

★ 1093-1132 Adolf III, count of Berg

★ 1132-1160 Adolf IV, count of Berg

★ 1160-1189 Engelbert I, count of Berg

★ 1189-1218 Adolf VI, count of Berg

★ 1218-1225 Engelbert II of Berg, Archbishop of Cologne, Regent of Berg

★ 1218-1248 Irmgard, heiress of Berg
'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 since 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

– ''since 1521 a part of the duchy of Jülich-Cleves-Berg''–

★ 1511–1539 Johann

★ 1539–1592 William III.

★ 1592–1609 Johann Wilhelm I.

House of Wittelsbach, Dukes

– ''in union with Jülich und Palatinate-Neuburg, since 1690 also with the Electoral Palatinate, since 1777 also with Bavaria–

★ 1614–1653 Wolfgang Wilhelm

★ 1653–1679 Phillip Wilhelm

★ 1679–1716 Johann Wilhelm II.

★ 1716–1742 Karl Phillip

★ 1742–1799 Karl Theodor

★ 1799–1806 Maximilian Josef

French Dukes

★ 1806–1808 Joachim Murat

★ 1808–1809 Napoléon Bonaparte

★ 1809–1813 Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (under regency of Napoléon Bonaparte)

French revolution, Grand Duchy of Berg

The French annexation of Jülich during the French revolutionary wars separated the two duchies, and in 1803 Berg was separated from the other Bavarian territories and given to 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. The arms combined the red lion of Berg with the arms of the duchy of Cleves. The anchor and the batons were added because Murat was Grand Admiral and Marshall of the Empire. Being married to Napoleon's sister Murat was also entitled to the imperial eagle.
In 1809, one year after Murat has been promoted 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, and the territory was administered by French bureaucrats. The Grand Duchy's short existence came to an end with Napoleon's defeat in 1813, and in the peace settlement that followed, Berg, along with much of the Westphalian region, was annexed to Prussia, forming a part of the Rhine province.

Notable persons from Berg and Juelich

★ Philippine Bausch - Born July 27th, 1940 in Solingen. Famous choreographer.

★ Friedrich Bayer - Born June 6th, 1825 in Wuppertal-Barmen. Chemist and Industrialist.

★ Joseph Beuys - Born May 12th, 1921 in Krefeld. German Conceptual artist.

★ Friedrich Carl Duisberg - Born September 29, 1861 in Wuppertal-Barmen. Chemist and Industrialist.

★ Konrad Alexander Friedrich Duden - Born January 3rd, 1829 near Wesel. German orthographer, educator, and reformer of the German language

★ Adolf Eichmann - Born March 19, 1906 in Solingen. Nazi war criminal.

★ Friedrich Engels - Born 28. November 28th, 1820 in Wuppertal-Barmen. Industrialist, Economist, Philosopher, Historian, Politician, and Social Scientist.

★ Johanna Ey - Born March 4th, 1864 in Mönchengladbach Wickrath - Famous Art Gallery Owner, and anti-Nazi activist, known as "Mother Ey".

★ Paul Joseph Goebbels - Born October 29th, 1897 in Mönchengladbach Rheydt. Infamous Nazi Party Leader, demagogue, and Hitler's Propaganda Minister.

★ Gustaf Gründgens - Born December 22nd, 1899 in Düsseldorf. Famous German actor.

★ Christian Johann Heinrich Heine - Born in December 13, 1797 in Düsseldorf. Famous German poet and writer.

★ Conrad Heresbach - Born August 28th, 1496 near Mettmann. Calvinist Reformer and Educator.

★ Felix Christian Klein - Born April 25th, 1849 in Düsseldorf - Famous Mathematician. Worked on the Theory of Functions and the Erlang program.

★ Heidi Klum - born June 1st, 1973 in Bergisch Gladbach. German model. Married to the British musician Seal.

★ Peter Kurten - Born May 26, 1883 in Cologne-Mülheim. The vampire of Düsseldorf. Serial killer.

★ Else Lasker-Schüler - Born Februar 11th, 1869 in Wuppertal-Elberfeld - Famous German writer and lyricist.

★ Reinhard Mannesmann - Born May 13th, 1856 in Remscheid. Industrialist and Inventor.

★ Gerardus Mercator - Born March 5th, 1512 in Rupelmonde, Belgium to Bergian parents. Cartographer. Lived and taught in Duisburg.

★ Neanderthal man - Born between ca. 50,000 - 20,000 BC. Fossilised remains of a ''Homo neanderthalensis''.

★ Julius Plücker - Born June 16th, 1801 near Wuppertal-Elberfeld - Famous Mathematician and inventor of Line Geometry

★ Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen - Born in March 27, 1845 in Remscheid Lennep. Discovered X-rays and gained the first Nobel Prize in Physics.

★ Claudia Schiffer - Born August 25th, 1970 in Rheinberg near Düsseldorf. German model. Married to the British film producer Matthew Vaughn.

External links

★ Edicts of Jülich, Cleves, Berg, Grand Duchy Berg, 1475-1815 (Coll. Scotti) online

★ Historical Map of Northrhine-Westphalia 1789