Duke of Bouillon

The Duchy of Bouillon was a existing from the Middle Ages to 1795 small territory in the Ardennes in present-day Belgium, north of the French city of Sedan. It was first as a county of the Holy Roman Empire, later as a duchy de facto France. The area covered an area of about 375 km ² with 22,000 inhabitants, distributed among the main town of Bouillon and 25 villages.

History

Prehistory

The territory of the future Duchy belonged in the Middle Ages the Duchy of Lower Lorraine and was an allodial possession of Ardennengaugrafen, which took over at the beginning of the 11th century, the rule in Lower Lorraine. Duke Godfrey II had first to build a castle in Bouillon, the. During the revolt of his nephew Duke Godfrey III in 1020 the Bearded was destroyed in 1045 by an imperial army. But Godfrey the Bearded let them rebuild after its re-establishment in Lower Lorraine in 1065.

At the end of the 11th century Bouillon was later owned by the famous crusader leader Godfrey of Bouillon. This was a grandson of Duke Godfrey the Bearded, the youngest son of his daughter Ida, who Bouillon was probably given as a dowry in her marriage to Count Eustace II of Boulogne. Although the Count House of Boulogne the feudal world of the French kingdom belonged, Gottfried was his possession of broth into a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire, and as such was a faithful follower of Emperor Henry IV From this he was in 1088 appointed also to a Duke of Lower Lorraine.

As Gottfried decided to 1095 his participation in the First Crusade, he pawned Bouillon with the consent of his mother, for 1300 marks of silver and 3 Mark Gold to the Bishop of Liege. Since both Gottfried as well as his older brothers left behind no male heir, the contract provision was invalid, in which the three neighbors are members of Godfrey has been granted a right of repurchase on Bouillon. The diocese could therefore keep the castle and its surroundings.

However, 1129 brought the Count of Bar, Rainald I. the one-eyed man, who was the mother distantly related with the old niederlothringischen Duke House, a claim for Bouillon and captured the castle. 1141 succeeded the bishop reclaiming who got confirmed in 1155 by the Emperor his ownership rights to Bouillon.

Duchy

It is uncertain how long the bishops of Liege the title of Duke of Bouillon actually wore, but already in 1291 are for soup several vassals known as Pairs. Only from Bishop John of Heinberg 1456, the title for all subsequent bishops, is secured. Also the reason why and when the rule of Bouillon was upgraded to a Duchy, is not preserved; the similarity of the arms of Bouillon with that of Austria can therefore be taken only as an indication of a higher rank by King Rudolf I of Habsburg. Anyway Bouillon was to Brabant and Limburg the third Duchy on the floor of the former Lower Lorraine.

Count William I of the Mark, Lord of Sedan, governors and lien holders of broth, it revoked the diocese in 1482nd

In 1521 the Bishop sat down again into the possession of Bouillon, 1552 captured it the king of France and gave it to Robert IV de La Marck as a duchy. 1559 Bouillon was returned to the bishop in the Peace of Cateau- Cambrésis.

On September 30, 1676 France Bouillon conquered again and gave it on May 1, 1678 Godefroy Maurice de La Tour d' Auvergne as a duchy, which was confirmed in the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1679. Only formally remained part of the Holy Roman Empire, in fact, it became a French protectorate.

Republic of Bouillon 1791-1795

1791 the Duke was deposed and declared broth for the Republic. On October 26, 1795 it became part of the republican French departments Forêts. The dukedom became extinct.

Restitution attempt in 1815 and post-

On January 1, 1815 Bouillon was taken for Philip d' Auvergne in possession, an adopted son of the penultimate duke who had to issue the dukedom in September of the same year again. In the Congress of Vienna, the region fell to Bouillon in the restored Luxembourg, which was in fact connected ( in personal union ) with the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1824, the Duchy of Bouillon was sold to the Netherlands. In the division of the Netherlands in 1839 fell to Bouillon Belgium.

The title of Duke of Bouillon, however, said the Congress of Vienna in 1816 due to old relationship right to the house of Rohan.

List of administrators and rulers

Lords of Bouillon

  • Gottfried 1076-1095
  • Belongs to Liege 1095-1496

Governors

  • Gerard de Jambe about 1267
  • Eberhard von der Marck ( Bouillon ) 1430-1445
  • Ludwig von der Marck 1445-1457
  • Arnold of Conwaren 1457-1479
  • William I of the Mark 1479-1483
  • Robert I. de La Marck 1483-1489
  • Robert II de La Marck 1489-1496

House of La Marck

  • Robert III. de La Marck 1496-1522
  • Belongs to Liege 1522-1552
  • Robert IV de La Marck 1552-1556 Bouillon receives from the king of France awarded as a duchy

House of La Tour d' Auvergne

Through marriage of Henry of broth with Charlotte von der Mark 1591 the duchy went to the house of La Tour d' Auvergne

  • Henri 1594-1623
  • Frédéric Maurice 1623-1652
  • Godefroy Maurice 1652-1696, † 1721
  • Emmanuel Théodose 1696-1730
  • Charles Godefroy 1730-1771
  • Godefroy Charles Henry 1771-1791
  • Jacques Leopold († May 3, 1802 ), pretender
  • Philippe d' Auvergne, adopted son Godefroy Charles Henry († 1816), Duke of Bouillon January - September 1815

House of Rohan

The Congress of Vienna in 1816 spoke of the house due to old Rohan kinship law the title of Duke of Bouillon.

  • Charles Alain Gabriel de Rohan (1764-1836) 1808 Prince of Rohan, 10th Prince de Guéméné, 9th Duke of Montbazon, 1816 Duke of Bouillon
  • Louis Victor Mériadec (1766-1846) Prince of Rohan Guéméné 1836 10th Duke of Montbazon, Duke of Bouillon, 11th Prince de Guéméné, Count of Saint-Pol, whose brother
  • Camille Philippe Joseph Idesbald (1800-1892) 1846 Prince Rohan, 11th Duke of Montbazon, Duke of Bouillon, 12th Prince de Guéméné, Prince de Rochefort et de Montauban, his adopted son Arthur de Rohan (1826-1885), whose son
  • Secular Empire Principality
  • Historical territory (Belgium )
  • Duchy
  • Duke ( Bouillon )
  • Ardennes
High Middle Ages Sedan, Ardennes Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine Bouillon Castle Eustace II, Count of Boulogne Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Reginald I, Count of Bar Robert III. de La Marck
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