Berg (state)

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Coat of arms of Berg, the red lion with a double tail and blue crown, tongue, and claws

Map of the duchies of Jülich, Cleves, and Berg circa 1477.

The territory of Berg in today's North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany became a distinct 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".

[edit] Coat of arms

The coat of arms displays the lion of Berg, specifically it is described as follows: Argent a lion rampant gules, queue fourchée crossed in saltire, armed, langued, and crowned Azure.

[edit] History

[edit] 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 assassination on November 7, 1225. Count Adolf V of Berg fought on the winning side in the Battle of Worringen against Guelders 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.

[edit] Problems of succession

In 1509, John III, Duke of Cleves, made a strategic marriage to Maria von Geldern, daughter of William IV, Duke 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 the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg controlled much of the present North Rhine-Westphalia, with the exception of the clerical states of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the Bishop of Münster.

However, the new 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 John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, who subsequently also became Duke of Prussia. 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 also inherited the Electorate of Bavaria in 1777.

[edit] French revolution, Grand Duchy of Berg

The Grand Duchy of Berg, shown within the Confederation of the Rhine

Arms of the grand Duchy of Berg

The French annexation of Jülich (French: Juliers) during the French 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 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 from Grand Duke of Berg to King of Naples, Napoleon's infant nephew, Prince Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831, elder son of Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland) became the Grand Duke of Berg; 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 the peace settlements that followed.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Rulers of Berg

[edit] House of Ezzonen

Hermann I "Pusillus" count palatine of Lotharingia
Adolf I of Lotharingia, Vogt of Deutz
Adolf II of Lotharingia, Vogt of Deutz

[edit] House of 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

[edit] 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

[edit] House of Jülich(-Heimbach), Counts

– in union with Ravensberg –

1348–1360 Gerhard
1360–1380 Wilhelm II.; becomes duke in 1380

[edit] 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

[edit] House Mark, Dukes

– from 1521 a part of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg–

1511–1539 Johann
1539–1592 William III
1592–1609 Johann Wilhelm I

[edit] House of Wittelsbach, Dukes

– in union with Jülich und Palatinate-Neuburg, from 1690 also with the Electoral Palatinate, from 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
- 1803-1806 William of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen, Duke in Bavaria (administrator)