Guelders
Duchy of Guelders | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1096–1795 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms
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 Duchy of Guelders with Gelderland, about 1477 | |||||||||
| Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Geldern | ||||||||
| Government | Principality | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages, Renaissance | ||||||||
| 1096 | |||||||||
• Raised to duchy | 1339 | ||||||||
• Held by Jülich | 1393-1423 | ||||||||
• Acquired by Burgundy | 1473 | ||||||||
| 1581 | |||||||||
• Annexed by France | 1795 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Guelders or Gueldres (Dutch: Gelre, German: Geldern) is the name of a historical county. This became a duchy (lands ruled by a duke or duchess) of the Holy Roman Empire, in the Low Countries.
Geography
[change | change source]The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (Gelder) in what is now called Germany. The present province of Gelderland (English also Guelders) in the Netherlands occupies most of the area. However, the former duchy also included parts of the present Dutch province of Limburg and the territories in the present-day German state of North Rhine-Westphalia that were acquired by Prussia in 1713.
The duchy had four special parts, which had their own centres:
- the quarter of Roermond, also called the Overkwartier (Upper Quarter) or Upper Guelders. This was upstream on both sides of the Maas. It included the town of Geldern as well as Erkelenz, Goch, Nieuwstadt, Venlo and Straelen;
and was separated from the Lower Quarters (Gelderland):
- the quarter of Zutphen, also called the Achterhoek. This was east of the IJssel and north to the Rhine. It included towns like Doesburg, Doetinchem, Groenlo and Lochem;
- the quarter of Arnhem, also called the Veluwe. This is west of the IJssel and north to the Rhine, with Elburg, Harderwijk, Hattem and Wageningen;
- the quarter of Nijmegen, also called the Betuwe. This part is south of the Rhine and north to the Maas (in between the rivers). It included Gendt, Maasbommel, Tiel and