Duchy of Bouillon

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The coat of arms of the Duchy of Bouillon is similar to that of Austria.

The Duchy of Bouillon was a small territory in the Ardennes in present-day Belgium , north of the French city of Sedan , which existed from the High Middle Ages until 1795 . It belonged first as a county to the Holy Roman Empire , later as a duchy de facto to France . The area covered an area of ​​about 375 km² with 22,000 inhabitants, who were spread over the main town of Bouillon and 25 villages.

From 1559 to 1634 (from Henri-Robert de La Marck to Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne ) the duchy was ruled by Reformed Protestants .

history

prehistory

In the Middle Ages, the territory of the future duchy belonged to the Duchy of Lower Lorraine and was an allodial property of the Ardennes Gaugrafen , who took over control of Lower Lorraine at the beginning of the 11th century. Duke Gottfried II had a castle built in Bouillon for the first time around 1020 , which during the revolt of his nephew Duke Gottfried III. des Bearded Man was destroyed by an imperial army in 1045. But Gottfried the Bearded had it rebuilt in 1065 after his reinstatement in Lower Lorraine.

At the end of the 11th century Bouillon was owned by the later famous crusader leader Gottfried von Bouillon . This was a grandson of Duke Gottfried the Bearded, the youngest son of his daughter Ida, who was probably given bouillon as a dowry in her marriage to Count Eustach II of Boulogne . Although the Count House of Boulogne belonged to the feudal world of the French kingdom, Gottfried became a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire through his possession of Bouillon and as such was a loyal supporter of Emperor Henry IV. He was also appointed Duke of Lower Lorraine in 1088.

When Gottfried decided to participate in the first crusade around 1095 , he pawned bouillon with the consent of his mother for 1,300 marks silver and 3 marks gold to the bishop of Liège . Since neither Gottfried nor his older brothers left behind any male heirs, the contractual provision, according to which the three closest relatives of Gottfried was given the right to buy bouillon, became obsolete. The diocese was therefore able to keep the castle and its surroundings.

In 1129, however, the Count of Bar , Rainald I the One-Eyed , who was largely related to the old Lower Lorraine ducal house on his mother's side, claimed bouillon and captured the castle. In 1141 the bishop succeeded in reconquering the town, and in 1155 the emperor confirmed his ownership rights to Bouillon.

Duchy

It is uncertain since when the bishops of Liège actually held the title of Duke of Bouillon, but as early as 1291 several vassals are named as pairs for Bouillon. Only after Bishop Johann von Heinsberg in 1456 is the title secured for all subsequent bishops. The reason why and when the rule of Bouillon was upgraded to a duchy is not known; the similarity of the arms of Bouillon with that of Austria can therefore only be taken as an indication of an increase in rank by King Rudolf I of Habsburg . In any case, Bouillon was the third duchy on the territory of the former Lower Lorraine after Brabant and Limburg .

Count Wilhelm I von der Mark , Lord of Sedan, governor and pledge holder of Bouillon, withdrew it from the diocese in 1482.

In 1521 the bishop took possession of Bouillon again, in 1552 the King of France conquered it and gave it to Robert IV. De La Marck as a duchy. In 1559, Bouillon was returned to the bishop in the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis .

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

Republic of Bouillon 1791–1795

In 1791 the duke was deposed and Bouillon was declared a republic. On October 26, 1795 (4th Brumaire IV), the 52 municipalities of this area were distributed to the neighboring French-Republican departments:

  • The canton of Bouillon with 17 municipalities became part of the Ardennes department ;
    Municipalities: The town of Bouillon and the villages of Bellevaux, Botassart,? Briahant, Corbion, Curfox, Dohan, Frahan, Les Hayons, Laviot, Mogimont, Noirefontaine, Poupehan, Rochehaut, Senseruth, Ucimont, Vivy.
  • The canton Palisseux (Paliseul) with 20 municipalities came to the Forêts department ;
    Municipalities: Main town Paliseul and the villages Acremont, Anloy , Assenois, Aupont, Beth, Blanches-Oreilles, Carlsbourg, Fays-les-Veneurs, Fransous, Frêne, Glaumont, Jehonville, Lefart, Launoy, Merny, Nollesvaux, Offagne, Our , Plainevaux .
  • The canton of Gedinne with 5 municipalities came to the Sambre-et-Meuse department ;
    Municipalities: main town Gedinne and the villages Gembes , Malvoisin, Patignies, Le Sart-Custinne .
  • The canton of Orchimont with 7 municipalities also came to Sambre-et-Meuse;
    Municipalities: main town Orchimont and the villages Alle, Chairière-la-Grande, Cornimont , Gros-Fays, Six-Planes, Vagy.
  • The communes of L'Allou-des-Tellin and L'Allou-de-Porcheresse came to the canton of Rochefort and the commune of Auffe to the canton of Wellin in the department of Sambre-et-Meuse.
  • The municipalities of Bagimont, Pussemange and Sugny were attached to the canton of Neufmanil in the Ardennes department.

Restitution attempt in 1815 and post-history

On January 1, 1815, Bouillon was taken over by Philipp d'Auvergne, an adopted son of the penultimate duke, who had to surrender the duchy again in September of the same year. In the Congress of Vienna , the area around Bouillon fell to the restored Luxembourg , which was in fact linked (in personal union ) with the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands . In 1824 the Duchy of Bouillon was sold to the Netherlands. When the Netherlands was partitioned in 1839, Bouillon fell to Belgium.

On the other hand, the Congress of Vienna in 1816 awarded the title of Duke of Bouillon to the House of Rohan on the basis of old family law .

List of administrators and rulers

Lords of Bouillon

  • Gottfried 1076-1095
  • belongs to Liège 1095–1496

Governors

House de La Marck

La Tour d'Auvergne

When Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne married Charlotte von der Mark in 1591, the duchy passed to the House of La Tour d'Auvergne

  • 1594–1623: Henri (1555–1623), sovereign 5th Duke of Bouillon, 4 Prince of Sedan
  • 1623–1642: Frédéric Maurice (1605–1652), 6th Duke of Bouillon, 5th Prince of Sedan, 1651 Duc d' Albret et de Château-Thierry, Comte d'Auvergne , d' Evreux et de Beaumont-le-Roger
  • 1642–1678: Occupied by France in 1642, compensation in 1651, restitution of bouillon under French sovereignty in 1678
  • 1678–1696: Godefroy Maurice (1636–1721), 1652 2nd Duc d'Albret et de Château-Thierry, Comte d'Auvergne, d'Évreux et de Beaumont-le-Roger, 1665 Pair de France, 1678 7th Duc de bouillon
  • 1696–1730: Emmanuel Théodose (1668–1730) 1696 8th Duke of Bouillon, 1721 3rd Duc d'Albret et de Château-Thierry, Comte d'Auvergne, d'Évreux et de Beaumont-le-Roger, Pair de France
  • 1730–1771: Charles Godefroy (1706–1771), 9th Duke of Bouillon, 4th Duc d'Albret et de Château-Thierry, Pair de France etc.
  • 1771–1792: Godefroi Charles Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (1728–1792), 10th Duke of Bouillon (expropriated in 1791), 5th Duc d'Albret et de Château-Thierry, Pair de France
  • 1792–1802: Jacques Leopold (1746–1802), titular duke of Bouillon, 6th Duc d'Albret et de Château-Thierry
  • Philippe de La Tour d'Auvergne († 1816), adopted son of Godefroy Charles Henri, Prince de Bouillon

House Rohan

In 1816, the Congress of Vienna awarded the Rohan family the title of Duke of Bouillon on the basis of old kinship law.

  • 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 , his 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), his son
  • Alain Benjamin Arthur (1853–1914) 1892 Prince Rohan, 12th Duke of Montbazon, Duke of Bouillon, 13th Prince de Guéméné, Princ de Rochefort et de Montauban, his son
  • Alain Anton Joseph Adolf Ignaz Maria (1893–1976) 1914 Prince Rohan, 13th Duke of Montbazon, Duke of Bouillon, 14th Prince de Guéméné, Prince de Rochefort et de Montauban, his son
  • Karl-Alain Albert Maria (* 1934), 1976 Prince Rohan etc.

literature

  • Sven Vrielinck: De territoriale indeling van Belgie (1795-1963) ; Leuven 2000.