Duchy of Geldria

This article is about the specific polity Duchy of Geldria and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.

If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics

Was a county, and later a duchy, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.

Establishment

January 1340: Establishment of the Duchy of Geldria.

Chronology

Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

1. Wars of the Guelderian Succession

Were a series of wars over the succession of the Duchy of Gueldria.

1.1.First War of the Guelderian Succession

Was the first war over the succession of the Duchy of Gueldria.

August 1372: On August 22, 1371, after the Battle of Baesweiler, the reigning Duke of Geldern Eduard was shot in the eye by a final bow shot and died two days later. The two sisters of the last dukes […] Mechthild, wife of the deceased Count Johann von Kleve, and Maria, wife of Duke Wilhelm von Jülich, were now entitled to inherit. [...] The capital Nijmegen and most other cities turned to Maria von Jülich with the Bronkhorsten. She was able to legally assert her son's claim to funds on June 22, when Emperor Karl enfeoffed Wilhelm, who was still a minor, with the duchy of Geldern and at the same time appointed his father Wilhelm von Jülich as regent. The Duke of Jülich first occupied the closest part of the duchy, the upper quarter of Geldern with the cities of Roermond (quarter capital), Venlo and Geldern as well as Montfort Castle. Jean de Châtillon and the Utrecht bishop Arnold II von Horn besieged the city of Geldern for 16 weeks in vain, which secured the upper quarters for Wilhelm von Jülich for the time being.

January 1373: In 1372, John II of Blois, the Count of Blois and Lord of Avesnes, successfully captured the town of Lobith in the district of Nijmegen. The territory of Lobith then came under the control of the Duchy of Jülich.

January 1373: Arnheim is acquired by the Duchy of Jülich.

November 1377: The duchy of Geldria remained de facto independent, even if for some time it was in personal union with Jülich. Emperor Charles IV enfeoffed the now fourteen-year-old Wilhelm von Jülich with the Duchy of Geldern and the County of Zutphen in 1377.

1.2.Third War of the Guelderian Succession

Was the third war over the succession of the Duchy of Gueldria.

January 1523: Charles of Guelders conquered Overijssel in 1521-1522, with the support of Zwolle.

January 1525: In 1522, the Habsburg army under the command of Georg Schenck van Toutenburg resumed the offensive by pushing Guelders forces out of Friesland in the following years.

October 1528: Schenck van Toutenburg moved his army to Overijssel and Utrecht and managed to easily drive out the Guelders troops, who were already resented by the population. on October 20, 1528, Bishop Henry handed over power to Charles of Habsburg. The prince-bishopric of Utrecht ended and its lands were divided into the Lordship of Utrecht and the Lordship of Overijssel, ruled by a Habsburg stadolder.

2. Further events (Unrelated to Any War)

January 1379: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire in the XIV century.

January 1394: The Guelders War of Succession saw William I of Jülich emerge victorious. William was confirmed in the inheritance of Guelders in 1379, and from 1393 onwards held both duchies in personal union (in Guelders as William I, and in Jülich as William III).

January 1424: The northern portion of Jülich is acquired by Guelders.

January 1474: Charles of Burgundy bought the reversion (i.e., the right of succession to the throne) from Duke Arnold of Guelders for 300,000 Rhenish florins. Upon Arnold's death in 1473, Duke Charles added Guelders to the "Low Countries" portion of his Valois Duchy of Burgundy.

January 1515: Groningen fell to Guelders.