Duchy of Guelders
The Duchy of Guelders (Dutch: Gelre, French: Gueldre, German: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.
"Guelders" redirects here. For the modern Dutch province, see Gelderland.
Duchy of Guelders
Duchy
Feudal monarchy
Middle Ages, Renaissance
1339
1096
1393–1423
1473
1543
1581
1795
The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (Gelder) in present-day Germany. Though the present province of Gelderland (English also Guelders) in the Netherlands occupies most of the area, the former duchy also comprised parts of the present Dutch province of Limburg as well as those territories in the present-day German state of North Rhine-Westphalia that were acquired by Prussia in 1713.
Four parts of the duchy had their own centres, as they were separated by rivers:
spatially separated from the Lower Quarters (Gelderland):
History[edit]
Wassenberg and Jülich dynasties (c.1096–1423)[edit]
The county emerged about 1096, when the first documented reference to Gerard III of Wassenberg as "Count of Guelders" occurred. It was then located on the territory of Lower Lorraine, in the area of Geldern and Roermond, with its main stronghold at Montfort (built 1260). Count Gerard's son Gerard II in 1127 acquired the County of Zutphen in northern Hamaland by marriage. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Guelders quickly expanded downstream along the sides of the Maas, Rhine, and IJssel rivers and even claimed the succession in the Duchy of Limburg, until it lost the 1288 Battle of Worringen against Berg and Brabant.
before 1236
from 1236
from 1276
Jülich-Guelders after 1393
The coat of arms of the region changed over time.
Guelders in popular culture[edit]
William Thatcher, the lead character in the 2001 film A Knight's Tale played by Heath Ledger, claimed to be Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein from Gelderland so as to appear to be of noble birth and thus qualify to participate in jousting.
Set in the late 1460s, the main character in Rafael Sabatini's 1929 novel The Romantic Prince is Count Anthony of Guelders, elder son of Duke Arnold and brother to Adolf "since then happily vanished". Sabatini weaves the historical characters and events of the period through the story.
The folk/metalband Heidevolk, based in Gelderland, composed and performs a range of songs about Gelre/Guelders, among them a contemporary anthem "Het Gelders Volklied".