"Gulik" redirects here. For the surname, see Gulik (surname).
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Herzogtum Jülich]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Herzogtum Jülich}} to the talk page.
The Duchy of Jülich (German: Herzogtum Jülich; Dutch: Hertogdom Gulik; French: Duché de Juliers) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by the Electorate of Cologne to the east and the Duchy of Limburg to the west. It had territories on both sides of the river Rur, around its capital Jülich – the former RomanIuliacum – in the lower Rhineland. The duchy amalgamated with the County of Berg beyond the Rhine in 1423, and from then on also became known as Jülich-Berg. Later it became part of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.
In the 9th century a certain Matfried was count of Jülich (pagus Juliacensis).[1]
The first mention of a count in the gau of Jülich in Lower Lorraine, is Gerhard I, in 1003; his grandson Gerhard III began to call himself Count of Jülich in 1081.
William IV, who became count in 1219, significantly enlarged the territory and in 1234 granted Jülich town privileges. By 1240 his territorial expansion created conflict on the eastern side of his territory with the Archbishop of Cologne Konrad von Hochstaden, whose troops devastated the city five years later.
Gerhard died in 1328. His eldest son succeeded him as Count William V.[2] Gerhard's younger son Walram became Archbishop of Cologne in 1332. In 1336 Count William received the title of margrave from Emperor Louis IV, and in 1356 Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg raised William V to the rank of duke. His son Duke William II, however, became entangled in a fierce feud with the Emperor's half-brother Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, Duke of Brabant, whom he defeated at the Battle of Baesweiler in 1371.[3]
In 1402, Duke William I Guelders and Jülich died without any legitimate offspring. He was succeeded by his younger brother Reinald IV, Duke of Guelders and Jülich, who also died without heirs in 1423. The Gelderland estates chose Arnold of Egmond as duke, while Jülich amalgamated with Berg and passed to Adolf, Duke of Jülich-Berg, who belonged to a younger branch, and who had obtained Berg by virtue of the marriage of one of his ancestors.[1]
map of the Duchy of Jülich-Berg from Theater of the World, or a New Atlas of Maps and Representations of All Regions, edited by Willem and Joan Blaeu, 1645