Canton of Cologne
The canton of Cologne , formed within the boundaries of the imperial city of Cologne , was one of the ten administrative units and later the seat of the Arrondissement de Cologne , established in 1798 in the Département de la Roer . This structure, which was planned and carried out by Commissioner François Joseph Rudler on behalf of the French directorate , was a further step towards uniformly shaping the administrative levels of the departments on the left bank of the Rhine, which had been conquered as early as 1794 . The département with its cantons and arrondissements existed from 1801 to 1814 as a recognized territory of France.
history
Cologne before the occupation
In the second half of the 18th century, the imperial city of Cologne found itself in a phase of cultural and economic stagnation. The surrounding cities of Düsseldorf , Aachen and Bonn had ousted the city from its former leadership position. The city was in financial distress due to the billing costs of the Seven Years War (1756–1763) and was further burdened by the following natural events, such as crop failures or the worst flood disaster ever recorded in the winter of 1783/84 . Unlike the clerical dignitaries ( orders and cathedral chapters ) or the economically successful ( guild and banner lords ) as well as the councilors and their families who belonged to the political authorities , who had magnificent palaces surrounded by gardens , the majority of the growing bourgeoisie lived in small, carelessly built and poorly maintained apartment buildings . At the same time, the number of beggars and alms recipients grew enormously in the city , so that the discontent in the population, similar to a hundred years earlier under Nikolaus Gülich , led to constant unrest. It was the ideal time for the French revolutionary troops to march in and the end of the autocratic city administration.
City administration and occupiers
When, in the summer of 1794, French troops of the Armée de Sambre-et-Meuse under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan had advanced far to the left of the Rhine and were inexorably gaining further territory, the German imperial units withdrew under the Austrian General Clerfait , as well as one subordinate to him Contingent of Cologne city soldiers from Riehl via the "flying" predecessor of the Mülheim ship bridge to the right bank of the Rhine. On October 6, 1794, a Cologne delegation under Mayor Reiner Josef Klespé and Nikolaus DuMont tried to please the French by offering a non-fighting surrender of Cologne to the French. A French delegation under General Jean-Étienne Championnet , who was advancing over Aachener Strasse, symbolically handed over the city keys at the turnpike of the Hahnentor , whereupon the city was occupied by enemy troops for the first time in 900 years.
Within a few days (and for an indefinite period of time) around 12,000 soldiers had to be accommodated and fed. Even if the people's representative René Mathurin Gillet had proclaimed in a proclamation of October 8, 1794 that France wanted to protect Cologne's laws and customs as well as the property of the citizens, the procedure was different a little later. The day after Gillet's appeal, a tree of freedom decorated with flags and a Jacobin cap was set up on Neumarkt . For the time being, the previous administration of the city by the French military remained untouched. A committee made up of eight Cologne and four Frenchmen was set up to supervise the implementation of French orders and uncover anti-revolutionary conspiracies .
However , there was no way of revolting against the contributions imposed on the city or against the confiscation of buildings and works of art which then began; they had to be accepted. This time with no prospects for the city was to last three years.
Municipal administration
In September 1795, Mayor DuMont had asked the Welfare Committee to maintain the Cologne constitution, but the possibility of influencing it ended the following month when it was abolished. In 1796 the city council was dissolved by the French government because of alleged incapacity, in particular because of constantly delayed contribution payments, and temporarily replaced by a municipal administration based on the French example, a measure that was revised again after a year by General Lazare Hoche . The imperial city council, which was then briefly reinstated, was finally abolished in September 1797 at the urging of the Bonn-based military commission (with the support of a Cologne "anti-patrician movement"). Its functions were taken over by a provisional 13-member magistrate . On January 23, 1798, French legislation and administration was introduced in Cologne.
Town hall under French sovereignty
Shortly after the city was taken over by the French, in 1794, the tower gallery, which was recognized as damaged, was removed. The work, which was highlighted as a technical achievement, in which the helmet was lifted with winches in order to remove the brittle masonry, was carried out under the direction of the city master builder Peter Schmitz.
In 1798, old wall decorations from the Senate Hall were removed and replaced with grisaille paintings on canvas, which had been created by the artist Josef Hoffmann, a later favorite of Goethe . The furnishings of the magistrate's hall were also renovated around 1798, with the decoration being designed by the Cologne painter “Seyfried”. Black boards containing the texts of human rights had been put up on the walls. They were supplemented by the busts of Voltaire and Rousseau .
The Hansa Hall later served as a courtroom, the Chamber of Prophets as a secretariat, and the Muschelsaal became the “Mairie Hall” in which the meetings of the parish council took place. The "Spanish Building" served as the seat of various courts.
All the town hall buildings had become the property of the French state, but were returned to the city by imperial decree in April 1811.
Transitional Office Holders
Nikolaus DuMont already had an important role as a high official of the city and was later given a new task in the department. Baron Franz Jakob von Hilgers (1745–1821) was also able to officiate under the new rule. Hilgers was mayor of the imperial city several times, but during this time he had represented liberal views that had led to the so-called Cologne tolerance dispute because he vehemently advocated more rights for Protestants. Maximilian von Kempis (1757-1823) resigned in 1793 because of differences with the Elector Max Franz (because of different views on the neutrality of the imperial city of Cologne) from his services and became a member of the district administration established by the French in Cologne. In 1795 he worked for six months as a member of the central administration of the département in Aachen and was then a member of the municipal administration in Cologne until June 1796.
Liberty tree on the Neumarkt. In the background St. Aposteln and the monastery church St. Gertrud, which was closed in 1802
Gülich shame column, which was erected from 1686 to 1797 to deter the citizens
Preserved head of the monument, around 1686 (Zeughaus Köln)
Appeal by the President of the Kempis Magistrate
In 1797 he was appointed president of the provisional magistrate and in this capacity published an appeal to the citizens of Cologne on September 10, 1797, in which he affirmed his loyalty to the city. After the erection of a tree of freedom and the destruction of Nikolaus Gülich's column of shame , he resigned in protest. Nevertheless, von Kempis later received another office in Aachen. Peter Joseph Zurhoven (born around 1750) became an associate professor at the University of Cologne in 1785 after studying law at the University of Göttingen . He was appointed President of the Magistrate from 1797–1798.
| Terms of office | Surname | Notes on official activity |
|---|---|---|
| May 1796 - March 1797 | Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein | President of the municipal administration |
| March - June 1797 | Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein, Heinrich Josef von Groote |
mayor |
| June - September 1797 | Franz Jakob von Hilgers | mayor |
| June - July 1797 | Johann Arnold Theodor von Stadtlohn | mayor |
| July - September 1797 | Goswin von Heinsberg | mayor |
| September 1797 | Max von Kempis | President of the Magistrate and author of the appeal to the citizens |
| September 1797 - April 1798 | Peter Josef Zurhoven | President of the Magistrate |
| April - December 1798 | Johann Baptist Fuchs | President of the municipality |
| December 1798 - December 1800 | Gerhard Engelbert Simons | President of the municipality |
| Source reference |
Moving away from medieval structures
In the first “French” years, the city experienced a radical change in terms of its constitution and administration. The council , the gaffs and guilds were abolished, but the merchants were able to set up a trade board (1797). The same thing happened to the courts, the higher schools, the old 400-year-old university , which was closed by decree (1798) as in France, and most of the ecclesiastical communities. Clearly structured authorities took over a bureaucratic apparatus that was lost in obscure areas of competence. For example, an annual budget plan was introduced for the city , a novelty for the administration at the time. After the introduction of a civil status register (it replaced in 1798 the church books ) there were no longer the parish , birth, marriage, divorce or death of a person registered, but the civil registry authorities as a precursor of later introduced registry offices. Jurisprudence and administration were now strictly separated from each other.
As in other regions affected by the revolution, the cult of reason found its way into Cologne . Along with other well-respected forms of belief, he saw himself as the religious component of a political culture, the aim of which was to achieve a majority in society. From 1794 to 1796, the supporters of this movement served the previous Jesuit church as a temple for the goddess of reason . For the purpose of paying off debts to the French state, the buildings and goods of the Jesuit college were auctioned in 1797 and after a short lease period in 1798 became the property of Cologne's Laurenz Fürth, who saved them from being demolished.
The denominations were put on an equal footing and Protestants were able to receive citizenship in Cologne (1797).
Today's Antoniterkirche was the first Protestant church in Cologne
The Jesuit Church, completed in 1678, around 1702. It became the “Temple of Reason” among the French
Torah crown and shield, early 19th century (permanent loan from the Zeughausmuseum to the RLM Bonn)
The Antoniterkloster, a branch of the Antonite Order that had been located in Cologne since the end of the 13th century , was abolished in 1802. By decree of the prefect on June 29th of the same year, the church of the order and part of the monastery complex became the Protestants , whose congregation in Cologne consisted of both Lutherans and Reformed , were transferred for common use. Under Wallraf's direction, structural changes were made especially for the form of Protestant worship. Two of the three inner side pillars were removed, so that only the two central pillars remained. The pulpit was placed in the middle of the choir polygon , the side aisles were given galleries and an organ was installed in an annex on the west side . The roof turret, classified as dilapidated at the time , was removed and replaced by a small turret crowned with a dome . The inauguration of the converted church took place on May 19, 1805.
Josef Isaak from Mülheim was the first Jew to return to Cologne (1798), and from then on every inhabitant of the city was considered a citizen. Also in 1798, the only 17-year-old Salomon Oppenheim junior moved his business location from Bonn to Cologne. He was one of the families that formed the first modern Cologne Jewish community in 1799. Oppenheim traded in cotton , linen , oil, wine and tobacco . His main business, however, was credit. As early as 1810 he ran the second largest bank in Cologne after Abraham Schaaffhausen . Within the new Cologne Jewish community, Oppenheim held a prominent position in both social and political life. He was under the supervision of the community schools, but he also acted as a delegate of his Cologne community, which sent him to a congress of Jewish notables in Paris .
Money economy
In October the new led authorities to replace the Livre also in Cologne during the French Revolution has become a common means of payment of the Republic of paper money , called assignats , a. The previously circulating metal money and the stocks of the public coffers of the occupied area were confiscated and exchanged for the replacement money, which was already inflationary at that time . It was now made legal tender for everyone, and violating it was made a criminal offense.
After the total loss of value of the assignats decided Board , this at a price of 30: 1 by mandate territoriaux to replace the character at any time realizable mortgages had. The permanent depreciation of the substitute currency, which the citizens and especially the business world no longer wanted to accept, led to the abolition of this means of payment. In 1795 the franc was introduced, which was given a certain stability with the French national bank created by Consul Napoléon Bonaparte in January 1800 . This introduced decimal currency was later followed by another innovation with the introduction of the metric system for measures and weights.
Commerce, banks and companies
The relocation of the customs line to the Rhine had only had a negative effect at the beginning, since now the established trade relations with the "right bank of the Rhine" were made more difficult. Another effect was the smuggling of goods of all kinds, which was carried out by the inhabitants of both sides of the Rhine. As the economic situation improved, smuggling subsided, and many of the companies on the right bank of the Rhine saw their prospects in relocating their production to Cologne. There the merchants, with their insistence on the reintroduction of the stacking right, had again received this privilege by circumventing the noble principle of equality of the revolution and establishing the Cologne free port. Cologne still had a large share in the Rhenish wool and cloth trade (the first mechanical loom was introduced in 1755). The gap that had arisen in the wine trade, which had been dominated by the abbeys, was quickly filled by private merchants, and large French tobacco manufacturers had sprung up in some districts of the city (such as in Blankenheimer Hof at Neumarkt 2) . Since the first snuff production in 1735 by the manufactories of Heinrich Joseph DuMont (father of the later mayor JM Nikolaus DuMont) on the street “In der Höhle” and that of the manufacturer Franz Foveaux in the “Bolzengasse”, these goods were coveted and founded their own branch of industry . In this pre-industrial period, however, the greatest economic factors remained regional and international trade and shipping on the Rhine.
In Cologne, meanwhile, some citizens laid the foundation stone for the further development of the city: Johann Theodor Felten was still the banner owner of the Cologne rope makers (and thus also councilor) until the guilds were abolished . Due to its independence in the procurement of raw materials, Feltens company developed into the market leader in the region and later grew into an internationally operating group. The later painter, art collector and writer Matthias Joseph de Noël took over his parents' trading house in Cologne in 1803 after his return from Paris. Wilhelm Mülhens , the later manufacturer of Cologne water , who moved from Troisdorf , had the business idea of his life and created the name of a global brand from house number 4711 given by the French . Peter Heinrich Merkems from Mülheim (later founder of the forerunner of the Cologne Düsseldorfer Dampfschifffahrtgesellschaft ), who initially operated a spice and wine trade and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce from 1810, began his career as a 14-year-old apprentice in Cologne in 1791. It was he who, after the "foreign rule", was instrumental in advocating free trade on the Rhine, so that the right of stacking was abolished. Salomon Oppenheim , who moved his place of business from Bonn to Cologne in 1798, was one of the city's great bankers as early as 1810.
Commercial court
On April 1, 1798, Cologne was provisionally designated as the seat of the commercial court in order to legally safeguard the resurgent trade in the department. All commercial legal matters of the department should be dealt with in this chamber . From a group of merchants and traders, bankers and smaller traders, elected judges should then be appointed by Commissioner Rudler. Abraham Schaaffhausen , Peter Joseph Cassinone, Peter Bemberg, Conrad Möll and Johann David Herstatt were appointed judges of this chamber on October 13, 1798 . Möll, who declined his nomination , was replaced by Melchior Birkenstock. On March 4, 1799, the court began its work under President Schaafhausen, who was elected by himself. Deputies (substitutes) were Melchior Birkenstock, DEKern, Ludwig Foveaux and Heinrich Joseph Weyer.
The commercial court, which was set up as a provisional arrangement in 1798 , was confirmed in the court reform of 1802. With the introduction of a commercial code , the commercial courts were also reorganized; the new provisions came into force in the Roerdepartement on October 6, 1809. The court consisted of a president, four judges and four assessors . At their service were a clerk appointed by the emperor and two bailiffs . The chamber's area of jurisdiction was the same as that of the lower courts. The judges and assessors were elected by the notables of the merchants, who in turn chose them from their circles, the most respected families of Cologne merchants. A list of those elected was sent by the Aachen prefect to Paris for approval. Disputes were negotiated in which persons or companies in the commercial sector and the bankers involved in this through financing were involved. The court ruled up to a value in dispute of 1000 francs and referred appeals to the Court of Appeal in Liège. On August 10, 1810, the Cologne Commercial Court was acted with an almost completely new line-up. It consisted of the President Eberhard Caspar Schull and the judges Jacob Lyversberg , Hermann Loehnis, Peter Engelbert Ludwigs and Ludwig van den Westen. Heinrich Foveaux, Jakob Goedecke, Peter Hahn and Thomas Jakob Tosetti were appointed as deputies.
Education, language
The plan to integrate the population of the departments into the state through the introduction of the French language should take place gradually. To this end, Rudler issued an ordinance in 1798 that made French the sole official language , but this was limited to the documents of the authorities. Bringing the population closer to the native language of the republic also served to promote the expansion of schools. With it, the existing potential was modernized and increased and thus created the necessary educational requirements for the next generation.
- School Act of 11th Floreal (May 1, 1802)
In the preamble of the School Act, school education and the promotion of the spirit were described as the "most important and noblest task of the state". Title 1, Article 1 of the Law read as follows:
Lessons are given
- in the Écoles Primaires set up by the municipalities,
- in the Écoles Secondaires , which are established by the municipalities and taught by special teachers,
- in lyceums and special schools that are maintained at the expense of the public treasury.
In addition, it was determined: The teachers are elected by the Maires and Municipal Councils, and their salaries are made up as follows:
- a) Free accommodation in an apartment to be provided by the municipality
- b) A salary to be set by the municipality and paid by the parents
However, the enacted law did not yet introduce compulsory education . It was a progressive approach to improving education, but privileged wealthy families. With this legal form, the French rule was partially unfaithful to the claim of the revolution contained in the words "Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité".
In the city, a new feature was the establishment of the central school for the upper classes and students. In 1802 it was decided to keep the Ursuline facility for teaching female youth and in 1809 the facility of the Weißfrauenkloster am Blaubach was converted for school purposes.
In the rural suburbs, the school conditions remained poor apart from some improvements. French school legislation called for the establishment of primary schools. The dwarf schools as well as the number and salary of the teachers could aptly be described as "miserable" well into the Prussian era. For example, children from the Krieler and Lindenthaler areas continued to go to school in Efferen or Müngersdorf for a period of over 30 years until 1836.
Health care
In addition to the monastery parishes , the small convents founded by the Beguines had devoted themselves to remedying the various forms of misery of the poor . These facilities, mostly referred to as hospitals , sometimes also looked after the sick, but were also hostels for pilgrims , functioned as orphanages or as old people's homes and fed starving people like the “poor shelves” of the churches. These forms of charity were usually financed by donations from wealthy citizens, who, however, often linked their foundations with specific requirements. A hospital in the sense of a medical facility was reported late in Cologne. Previously it was the so-called "wise women" who stood by a woman in labor as midwives , so it was reported in 1787 that a penniless pregnant woman was admitted to the "Ipperwald" facility by order of the council, where she was in the presence of the entire medical staff Faculty was delivered by caesarean section .
Franz Peter Hendrick stipulated in his will in 1791 that the inheritance of his two capitals with a total of 2500 thalers should go to the Ipperwald Hospital on the condition that a special "sick hospital" was set up in their facility. If this condition were not met within a period of four years, the sum mentioned would go to the poor of the parish of St. Alban. The testator's specifications were met, and Ipperwald was to benefit from this investment in the future.
These states roughly illustrate the level of urban health care it was at at the time of the French occupation.
| First mention | Name, place, street | Notes on development |
|---|---|---|
| around 1056 | Hospital of the Holy Spirit, Domhof | The Holy Spirit House was probably subordinate to the cathedral monastery, abolished in 1802 and later resigned to build the cathedral hotel . |
| 1142 | Hospital St. Brigiden, Alter Markt | The hospital (ante porticum St. Martini), once donated for poor sick people in the parish, was sold in 1807 and its property transferred to the administration of the civil hospitals. |
| 1163/68 | Hospital St. Heribert, Schmierstrasse (Komödienstraße) | The hospital with the St. Heribert chapel was subordinate to the St. Andreas monastery. In French times transferred to the poor administration. |
| around 965 | Hospital St. Quirinus, Waisenhausgasse / Martinsfeld | Hospital of the St. Pantaleon Abbey. The institution's chapel was closed in 1802, and all buildings fell to the poor administration, which then maintained it as the so-called Quirinus Convention. |
| 1218 | Deutschorden Hospital, Severinstrasse | St. Catherine |
| 1251 | Hospital St. Georg, Waidmarkt | Hospital and Convention |
| 1259 | Hospital St. Maria Magdalena and St. Alexius, Quintinstrasse, today's Steinfelder Gasse | The hospital, which is subordinate to the St. Gereon Abbey, survived the French era and was placed under the administration of the poor. |
| 1288 | Hospital Holy Cross, Breite Strasse | Established as a foundation under canon Hermann von St. Gereon. The facility, which was enlarged in the 17th century, survived the French era. It was sold in 1866 and canceled the following year. |
| 1299 | Hospital St. Maria im Kapitol, Malzbüchel | The hospital mainly served older servants of the Marienstift and was run by the beguines who lived on the upper floor. During the French era, the hospital was referred to the poor administration. |
| 1308/09 | Hospital St. Agnes (also called Agnetenstift), Mittelstrasse / Gertrudenstrasse / Neumarkt | The facility for 50 “house arms”, located next to the St. Aposteln Abbey, was transferred by the French authorities to the municipal poor administration. The chapel belonging to the hospital was converted into a guard room for the military. |
| 1323 | Hospital Hof Ipperwald, Kattenbug | The hospital for poor pilgrims was converted into a midwifery school around 1807/08 (demolished in 1888). |
| 1396 | Hospital Ertzelbach, Aachener- or (possibly) Breite Straße | Founder Peter von der Hellen. Pilgrim hospital under the direction of St. Johann Baptist . |
| 1417/19 | Hospital "Zur Porzen", also called "zo der weyder Duyr", Severinstrasse between Waidmarkt and St. Jan | The hospital was mentioned for the first time in connection with a foundation by the mayor of Cologne, Lambert van Duren . Donor Peter Koylgin provided the hospital with a chapel. 1474 new building, 1603 new building of the St. Laurentius Chapel, donated by the mayors of Beyweg and Lyskirchen . The hospital was closed in 1797 and in 1807 transferred to the administration of the bourgeois hospitals. |
| 1427/28 | Hospital Wevelkoven or St. Revilien, Stolkgasse | Donor Daem von Loeven. In 1462/65 the facility was expanded to include a department for insane people from the estate of Johann Rinck from Cologne . The property was sold by the French administration to Peter Sürth from Cologne. |
| swell |
Hospital Heribert in front of St. Andreas (1840)
Hospital St. Quirinus, Waisenhausgasse (1844)
Hospital Hl. Geist (also Heiliggeisthaus ) Cologne, Domhof before 1840
- First military and hospital facilities
With the French takeover of the city, a restructuring of the confusing hospital system soon began. Due to the war the establishment of a previously unnecessary military hospital took place . For this purpose, shortly after the French invasion, the Cologne Charterhouse and the establishment of the nearby hospital “Zur weiten Tür” were confiscated. The Carthusian monastery recommended itself to the military for hygienic reasons due to its cloister buildings, which are clearly separated from the outside world . The management of this first hospital, in which surgery and wound treatment were part of everyday life in addition to the care of patients with "normal" diseases, was taken over by Professor Best from Cologne University in October 1794 until the hospital was closed in 1801. Although it was not yet under civil administration, it was a first hospital in the true sense of the word.
The consequences of the new legal ordinances enacted in the Rhenish departments in July 1798 included the hospice commission established in Cologne in 1799 and the charity office. This forced the city administration to integrate its tangle of social institutions into these commissions, which initially led to rivalries between the two organizations.
After the old grammar schools and the university were closed in 1798, the central school (a mixture of high school and university) took over in 1800. She continued her teaching activities in the field of clinical medicine in a special department at Ipperwald. The house Ipperwald was a very small facility with a capacity of twelve beds, which initially served as a midwifery training and in a later period (1809) advanced to become a school for obstetrics .
In 1801 the hospital system was combined with civilian health care. The Charterhouse hospital was closed and its patients had been distributed to civil institutions. The surgeon Gottfried Joseph Brach was appointed "officier de santé" for the sick soldiers who were then placed in civil institutions.
With increasing secularization, the state created final access to the real estate of the clergy. Now the possibilities of long-term planning were given to carry out a spatial improvement in the hospital system. The city itself proposed to convert the abolished St. Cäcilien monastery and the smaller St. Michael upstream to the north into a large hospital complex. The buildings of the smaller monastery were supposed to be used to accommodate the insane patients, and the other buildings were to accommodate patients of both sexes and soldiers. After the completion of individual units, the patients were successively transferred from the old facilities in the city. Professor Best, who had continued his teaching activities in the clinical department of Ipperwald, had been appointed head of all municipal hospitals as "Médecin en chef" in 1804.
Jean Henry Hensay (1765–1832), a young doctor who was one of the last to do his doctorate at the old Cologne University , worked for the Cologne “bureaus de bienfaisance”. Based on his proposal, the prefecture set up a vaccination facility for the “needy classes” in Cologne as the first place in the Roerdépartement, in order to carry out smallpox vaccinations .
With the commissioning of all buildings on the Cäciliengelände in around 1805, the Cologne hospital system was initially connected to modern conditions, but the redesigned monastery complexes (St. Cäcilien and St. Michael) were soon replaced by the construction of the community hospital (in Prussian times on the same area) overtaken. Professor Paul Best died in 1806 and was succeeded by Jean Henry Hensay.
Social image
Citizenship
During the French period, the population consisted of roughly three layers, the upper, middle and lower classes. In Cologne's population, which increased from around 40,000 to 46,000 during this period, the upper class accounted for 1% of the population, around 10% for the middle class, and the rest of the lower class, the poor.
The front of the entry of the French occupation by religious institutions supply the partially acquired in extreme poverty living of the population had collapsed by the impact of the occupation. Only some of the charitable institutions belonging to the monasteries and foundations, which were mainly involved in the field of social activity, were spared the restrictive measures of French rule, represented by the Bonn district administration. The hospitals and orphanages run by the order , which also received financial support from the wealthy citizens of Cologne, remained important institutions for social engagement . Even before the foreseeable invasion of the French, many of the higher ecclesiastical dignitaries had left the city and taken to safety on the right bank of the Rhine. They had also at least partially succeeded in securing important and precious treasures of sacred art from being accessed by the French.
military
With the occupation of the city, about 12,000 troops were quartered. For this purpose private, public, but above all church buildings were requisitioned , with the large monastery complexes of the Franciscans and Dominicans being converted into barracks. However, the popular sympathy initially shown for the revolutionary troops was soon lost. In public, they were primarily perceptible as the occupation of the city gates now held by them and on the fortifications on the banks of the Rhine. In addition, the military confiscated warehouses, slaughterhouses and grain stores and took over other buildings such as the Cologne armory , which had previously been used as a warehouse . The stacked house that was taken over was later used as a customs building and continued to be used as such in Prussian times. Gürzenich and town hall were also confiscated . Contrary to the announcement that the property and rights of Cologne residents would not be affected, there were massive looting, against which the military administration did not intervene for a long time.
The city's situation began to calm down in 1797 after the Peace of Campo Formio , as the uncertainty about the political future of the Rhineland and the city now came to an end for everyone involved. In 1798, French legislation and administration were introduced in Cologne, and the arbitrariness of the military came to an end. With the election of Napoleon in 1799, which made him the first consul of the republic, the revolution came to an end, which also stabilized conditions in Cologne.
Clergy
In 1796 the Paris directorate issued new administrative regulations for the conquered areas on the left bank of the Rhine. In this it was also determined that all income of the churches, like the previously customary from leasing and interest income through loaned capital, should flow as national income to the domain administration of the state. The clergy should be compensated by pension payments according to a list of persons to be specified. The hoped-for major reduction in the number of members of the convents did not take place for the time being, so that in 1797 the clergy were reinstated in their previous possession. However, this decision was repealed a year later.
- Monasteries and churches affected by secularization (selection)
Dominican monastery, converted into barracks
Minorite Church of the Franciscans, the monastery complex became a barracks
St. Jakob shortly before their laying down, used by the French as a magazine
Machabäerkirche during the demolition in 1808
Around 1,800 of the 42,150 citizens of the city accounted for around 2,500 members of the clergy. They worked in 11 monasteries and 19 parish churches, as well as in 19 male and 39 female monasteries, and they looked after 49 chapels. The large and small buildings that arose over the centuries were richly endowed with art treasures according to their importance and have now been looted.
However, many of these monuments filled with cultural assets were lost. Some of the valuable inventory was able to survive in parish churches that were still approved, others got out of the country and remained there in private property or museums. A large part of the works of art “saved” during this time, such as pictures and sculptures, written material and other art, remained in the city thanks to the commitment of Messrs Sulpiz Boisserée , Adolf von Hüpsch and Ferdinand Franz Wallraf .
A final reorganization was created with the 1801 Concordat between Napoléon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII . It authorized the French government to reorganize the ecclesiastical situation in France as well as to abolish the spiritual institutions and to nationalize their property. At the same time, at the end of November 1801, the dioceses were reorganized with the creation of the Aachen diocese and a new division of the parishes in the Département de la Roer, which was completed in 1803.
Reorganization of the parishes
After the concordat agreements, a new regulation of the church organization was carried out in the city of Cologne. The urban area was divided into four sections, each with a main parish and several subsidiary parishes. The order thus created offered the following picture:
First section:
- The main parish was St. Maria im Kapitol with the subsidiary parishes St. Severin , St. Johann Baptist , St. Georg and St. Alban
Second section:
- The main parish was St. Peter , with the subsidiary parishes St. Pantaleon , St. Mauritius , St. Maria in der Schnurgasse , St. Maria Magdalena am Blaubach (White Women Monastery)
Third section:
- The main parish became the monastery church of the Minorites , with the subsidiary parishes of St. Apostles , St. Gereon , St. Maria in the Kupfergasse and St. Ursula
Fourth section:
- The main parish was the cathedral , with the secondary parishes of St. Andreas , St. Kunibert , Groß St. Martin , St. Maria Himmelfahrt (Jesuit Church)
The other previous parishes were abolished and their parish churches gradually closed. These were the churches of St. Brigida , St. Christoph , St. Jakob , St. Johann Evangelist , St. Laurenz , St. Lupus , St. Maria Ablass (whose chapel was preserved), St. Maria im Pesch , Klein St. Martin (whose tower is still standing) and St. Paul .
An imperial decree of 1804 forbade burials within the medieval city. Furthermore, the funeral right that had been exercised for centuries was removed from the Catholic Church and transferred to the civil parish. The church yards previously adjoining the churches were replaced by the city's first central cemetery, the Melaten cemetery .
Cologne, Canton and Mairie
In 1800 the population was 42,150 people, who were distributed among the living space of 7,404 houses. The area of the city ended only insignificantly behind the medieval wall on the Bischofsweg that ran around the city . The definition of the borders of Cologne was decided on February 5, 1799 by the central administration in Aachen. It took place in view of the agreements of the cantons of Cologne and Weiden of December 29, 1798, as well as the previous one of October 2, 1798 between the cantons of Cologne and Brühl, which fixed the Bischofsweg between Rheinufer and Bonner Strasse as the border. Due to its size, Cologne was designated as a canton with one municipality; the canton administration corresponded to the city administration.
With the Lunéville Agreement on February 9, 1801, Cologne also became a legal part of the French state. The canton of Cologne formed from the urban area was divided into five sections, which were given the names Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, Réunion and Frontière.
On June 22nd, 1800, August Sybertz, who had previously been appointed as section president at the civil tribunal of the Roerdepartements, was appointed sub-prefect of the arrondissement of Cologne. However, Sybertz was recalled on September 15, 1804 and transferred to the Arrondissement of Sens. He was succeeded as sub-prefect of the arrondissement by decree of October 2, 1804, the former Cologne mayor and canton president Reiner Joseph Klespé.
The sub-prefect's official building was located in the former town hall of the Cistercian monastery Altenberg (curia ecclesie de veteri-monte) in the Altenberger Hof in the northern suburb of Niederich .
Officials of the Mairie
| Terms of office | Surname | Notes on official activity |
|---|---|---|
| December 1800 - April 1801 | Friedrich Heinrich Herstatt | provisional mayor |
| April 1801 - April 1803 | Josef Peter Kramer | Maire |
| April 1803 - August 1803 | Friedrich Heinrich Herstatt | executive alderman |
| August 1803 - May 1814 | Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein | Maire and then mayor |
| Source reference |
Development to old size
Projects and measures of the city administration
A large number of the measures required and largely implemented in the city to improve the infrastructure were documented by the French administration and archived by the Prussian city administration under the heading "French holdings". After the collapse of the Cologne archive in 2009, parts of it may be preserved or recoverable.
- Existence: 3001. Between 1801 and 1809 repairs were carried out at the port of Cologne (the stretch of shore between Mühlengasse in the north and the “flying bridge” to Deutz, which was later declared a free port).
- Existence: 2992. In the years 1801, 1810 and 1813 (probably in connection with the port operations) the paving of streets in the Cologne districts of Groß-St. Martin with Mühlengasse and St. Maria im Kapitol and Agrippa-Platz were made .
- Existence: 2978. Between 1801 and 1807 the old butter scales on the Kohlmarkt were demolished in 1801 and the fire wall of the meat hall was rebuilt in 1803. In 1807 a part of the canal (called Bach ) was rebuilt.
- Existence: 2996. Building material of the city 1801 and 1810: Demolition of the old "guard houses", repair of the cranes, the riding school, the wall on Neckelskaule (next street), the stairs in Lubricating Street (Komödienstraße) on the old wall (castle wall).
- Existence: 2995. Between 1801 and 1813 the canalization was undertaken.
- Existence: 2990. Between 1802 and 1813 a slaughterhouse was set up on the Kamperhof site in Cologne.
- Existence: 2988. Between 1808 and 1810 part of the Carmelite monastery on St. Georg Street was handed over to the city for the construction of a primary school .
- Existence: 2991. From 1809 to 1810, Wingertsgasse in Cologne was widened.
Porte des Coqs (1812/13), Hahnepooz ( Kölsch ), Hahnenpforte or Hahnentorburg, the rest of the weathered gate designation
Street marking at the Cologne City Museum
Rue de l'Écrevisse - Cancer Alley. Preserved street name at the Cologne theater
- Existence: 2997. Between 1810 and 1813 a new naming of the streets was ordered for the urban area. The correspondence on this subject considered a bilingual version and offered lists of names.
- Existence: 2977. From 1812 to 1813 repairs were carried out on the church of St. Jakob in Cologne, which was converted into a fruit hall (with plan and cost estimates).
- Existence: 2982. In the years from 1802 to 1809 a free port was set up and the goods pile was approved for Cologne. The documents concern u. a. the decision of the General Government Commissioner regarding the relocation of the customs line to the port of Cologne of 22 prairial X (June 11, 1802) as well as compensation for expropriations with regard to the construction of the free port (1797)
Cultural life
The driving forces behind cultural life at that time were citizens like Ferdinand Franz Wallraf. Its influence was of inestimable value for the preservation of the city's remaining cultural assets due to its later better relationship with the French administration. The “Comödienhaus” on “Lubricating Road”, built in 1782/83 in the northern suburb of Niederich , continued to be a social meeting place. The French took the Comedy House as an opportunity to name the street “Rue de la Comédie”. Wallraf, a collector and patron associated with art and his city, later successfully campaigned for the changed name to be retained. Matthias Joseph de Noël , who had attended the École Centrale de Cologne, was a student at the Paris Art Academy for a short time, he later became the city's curator. After taking over his father's company in Cologne in 1803, he founded the Olympic Society. Painters, poets and other art lovers gathered at the meetings organized by this association, in which Wallraf also took part. With Friedrich Schlegel , a co-founder of modern stayed Humanities in the city where he gave lectures in 1804. De Noël, who received drawing lessons at an early age, also painted the theater hall. He was also interested in the history of his hometown, for which he published the first travel guide, "Karl Georg Jacob" and Johann Jacob Nöggerath, in 1928, which contained informative details about the "French times" of the city.
Developments in the Cologne Carnival
The considerable restructuring under the French occupation brought about a reflection on Cologne traditions and values, especially in the bourgeoisie , which also affected the merrymaking needs on the occasion of Carnival. The Cologne Olympic Society also set the first accents for later reforms of the carnival festival with literary carnival celebrations .
At the same time, respected merchants, lawyers and occupation officers in the first Redouten societies organized masked balls as social events. The structures of the later carnival societies , which were to organize the masked balls in Gürzenich , which were widespread from 1822 , were already apparent here. The middle- class middle class , who could afford the "masking fees" levied by the French, organized the first small, thematically defined parades in which the staging aspect of the later big Rose Monday procession could already be recognized.
The common people, on the other hand, celebrated the carnival during this time unmasked and under the simplest conditions in the inns.
Bonne ville de l'Empire français
In September 1804, Napoléon and his wife Josephine paid a first visit to the city and stayed in what was then the “Blankenheimer Hof” hotel on “Place des Victoires”, today's Neumarkt. The people of Cologne received him when he entered the Eigelsteintor with bells ringing and the thunder of cannons. Ferdinand Franz Wallraf led the celebrations in honor of Napoléon, which were held in the city, which was decorated at great expense. The four-day visit was filled with several audiences , a tour of the city wall and an inspection of the Cologne garrison . To say goodbye, the distinguished visitor was offered a great firework display on the banks of the Rhine, combined with the illumination of all ships in the free port and on the river. Napoléon enjoyed the event during a reception given in his honor from the tower hall of the former fishmonger's guild , which was located in a basalt tower (demolished in 1808) on the banks of the Rhine next to the Salzgassepfote.
With the clearer conditions in the empire, the perspective of the city changed in a positive direction. The city's new legal system, based on the Civil Code , its new municipal constitution, a now efficient school system, the promotion of trade and the introduction of freedom of trade , the continued maintenance of the stacking right made possible by the establishment of a free port , the construction of a security port (parallel to the walling between the Eigelsteintor and the Rhine), the creation of a newly organized police and poor administration, the introduction of sick treatment for everyone, the reorganization of the church administration within the framework of the Concordat and the establishment of Protestant and Jewish places of worship for the congregations of these denominations were revolutionary Innovations, the basics of which were partially adopted beyond the next century.
The Cologne scholar Heinrich Gottfried Wilhelm Daniels , who among other things worked out the first translation of the “Code Napoléon”, made significant contributions to the new legislation in French .
Shortly after Napoléon's visit, the former councilor and mayor of the former imperial city of Cologne, Reiner Josef Klespé, succeeded Sub-Prefect A. Sybertz in November 1804.
In 1811 the widow of Baron Engelbert Heereman von Zuydtwyck made her palace at Gereonstrasse 12 available to Napoléon Bonaparte and his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise of Austria , as an apartment on the occasion of their visit to Cologne. Napoléon, who, like on his first visit, was impressed by the affection shown by the Cologne residents, elevated the city to the Bonne ville de l'Empire français , the “good cities” of his empire. It should be his last visit to the city of Cologne.
From French Cologne to Prussian Cologne
With the catastrophic defeat of Napoleon in the Russian campaign in 1812 , in which a number of soldiers recruited from the Cologne population lost their lives, the French emperor's loss of power began to appear. With Napoléon's further defeat in the Battle of Leipzig , the Allied Prussian and Russian units gained the upper hand in Germany. After the news had spread that Field Marshal Blücher had crossed the Rhine with units at Kaub and was pushing the French further back, Major Boltenstern, stationed in Mülheim am Rhein, attempted from there in January 1814 to form a bridgehead on the left bank of the Rhine . Where the last imperial city soldiers left Riehl for Mülheim about 20 years ago in 1794 and left Cologne to the revolutionary troops without a fight, the process was repeated in the opposite direction. Boltenstern, who was subordinate to a company of guardsmen with 150 Berg recruits and 20 Russian dragoons , crossed the Rhine in barges. On his advance from the Riehler Aue, where he could take a French hill , he reached the Eigelsteintor, but was then repulsed. He, as well as 75 recruits, were killed in this withdrawal.
Only a short time later, on January 14, 1814, the French military left their garrison and withdrew in front of the advancing Allies without leaving scorched earth behind. The fact that the city survived the change of power completely unscathed was thanks to the instructions of the French commander. This General Horace-François Sébastiani , at the head of the 5th Army Corps, who covered the left bank of the Rhine , had instructed his subordinates in Cologne to leave the city and its facilities unharmed, believing that he had only withdrawn temporarily. Even the flying bridge to Deutz, the anchored ships and the food depots remained untouched when the train withdrew. The soldiers said goodbye with Adieu jusqu 'à la belle Saison , announcing that they were convinced that they would be back in the spring. The départements with their arrondissements and cantons were initially merged into a central administration department and then divided into the territories of the Generalgouvernement Mittelrhein and the Generalgouvernement Niederrhein . Only after months of negotiations did the Rhineland, and with it its largest city , fall to the Prussian state in 1815 with the agreements of the Congress of Vienna .
literature
- Hans Vogts , Fritz Witte: The art monuments of the city of Cologne. on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province and the City of Cologne. Published by Paul Clemen, Vol. 7, Section IV: The profane monuments of the city of Cologne. Düsseldorf 1930. Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf. Reprint Pedagogischer Verlag Schwann, 1980. ISBN 3-590-32102-4
- Ludwig Arentz, H. Neu and Hans Vogts: Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln. Volume II, extension volume on the former churches, monasteries, hospitals and school buildings of the city of Cologne. Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1937. Reprint 1980, ISBN 3-590-32107-5
- Joseph Hansen (Ed.): Sources on the history of the Rhineland in the age of the French Revolution 1780–1801
- Paul Clemen (ed.): The art monuments of the city of Cologne. First volume, IV. Section The Church Monuments of the City of Cologne . Printed by and published by L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1916
- Eduard Hegel: The Archdiocese of Cologne between the Baroque and Enlightenment from the Palatinate War to the end of the French period 1688–1814. Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1979, pp. 512-513
- Arnold Stelzmann: Illustrated history of the city of Cologne. 11th improved edition. Bachem-Verlag, Cologne 1990
- Jakob Obermanns, Hanns Clemens: The community of Lövenich in the mirror of history. Published by Otto Ritterbach, Köln-Weiden 1956
- Wilhelm Janssen : Small Rhenish History. Düsseldorf 1997, pp. 261-264
- Carl Dietmar: The Chronicle of Cologne. Chronik-Verlag, Dortmund 1991, ISBN 3-611-00193-7
- Arnold Stelzmann: Illustrated history of the city of Cologne. Verlag Bachem, Cologne 1958, publisher number 234758
- Wolfgang Herborn: On the reconstruction and edition of the Cologne mayor list until the end of the ancien regime. In: Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter. 36 (1972)
- Ulrich S. Soénius (Hrsg.), Jürgen Wilhelm (Hrsg.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon. Greven, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 .
- Werner Schäfke, Kölnischer Bildersaal: The paintings in the holdings of the Cologne City Museum including the Porz collection and the Cologne high school and foundation fund. Publisher: Cologne: Kölnisches Stadtmuseum (January 1, 2006), ISBN 3-927396-94-X
- Monika Frank, Friedrich Moll (ed.): Cologne hospital stories. In the beginning there was Napoleon ... Cologne City Museum, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-940042-00-5
- Fritz Wündisch : Brühl - mosaic stones on the history of an old city in Cologne. Cologne 1987
- Konrad Adenauer, Volker Gröbe: Lindenthal, the development of a Cologne suburb. ISBN 3-7616-1603-1
- Sabine Graumann: French administration on the Lower Rhine, the Roerdepartement 1798–1814. Essen 1990
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Janssen: Small Rhenish History, Düsseldorf 1997. Page 262
- ^ Hans Vogts, Fritz Witte: Overview of the history of the city of Cologne. In: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , p. 22 ff
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Carl Dietmar: Die Chronik Kölns , p. 215 ff
- ↑ "René Mathurin Gillet" (fr. Wiki), * June 28, 1762 in Broons, Cotes du Nord, † November 4, 1795 in Paris, was représentant du peuple in the Armée de la Moselle for one year and lastly after the 9. Thermidor is still a member of the new welfare committee . Dictionnaire historique et biographique de la révolution et de l'empire, 1789-1815. Ouvrage redigé pour l'histoire générale (1899)
- ^ Vogts, Witte: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province and the City of Cologne. (Ed.) Paul Clemen, Vol. 7, Section IV: The profane monuments of the city of Cologne , pp. 194 and 258
- ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon. Pp. 244, 278.
- ↑ Reference to: F .: public law; Son .: M. Stolleis: History of Public Law in Germany , Volume 1, Reichspublizistik und Policeywissenschaft 1600–1800 . 1988, p. 249. koeblergerhard.de
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Herborn: “On the reconstruction and edition of the Cologne mayor list”. In: Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter, 36/1972
- ↑ Werner Schäfke, Kölnischer Bildersaal: The paintings in the holdings of the Cologne City Museum including the Porz Collection and the Cologne High School and Foundation Fund , p. 91
- ^ Vogts, Witte: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province and the City of Cologne. (Ed.) Paul Clemen, Vol. 7, Section IV: The profane monuments of the city of Cologne , p. 95f
- ^ Carl Dietmar, Die Chronik Kölns, page 255
- ^ Arnold Stelzmann, in section “under the tree of freedom and tricolor”, p. 247 f
- ^ Carl Dietmar, Die Chronik Kölns , p. 208
- ^ Vogts, Witte: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province and the City of Cologne. (Ed.) Paul Clemen, Vol. 7, Section IV: The profane monuments of the city of Cologne , p. 516
- ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon. P. 124
- ^ Carl Dietmar, Die Chronik Kölns , p. 206
- ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon. P. 359.
- ^ Sabine Graumann: French administration on the Lower Rhine, the Roerdepartement 1798-1814 , commercial courts p. 162 and p. 189
- ↑ Hansen, Volume IV No. 118 and No. 150
- ↑ Jakob Obermanns, Hanns Clemens: The community of Lövenich in the mirror of history , p. 36
- ↑ Archive holdings NRW archive.nrw.de
- ↑ Konrad Adenauer, Volker Gröbe: Lindenthal, the development of a Cologne suburb , p. 123
- ↑ a b Monika Frank, Friedrich Moll (ed.): Cologne hospital stories. In the beginning there was Napoleon ...
- ↑ Ludwig Arentz, H. Neu, Hans Vogts: Paul Clemen (Ed.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , Volume II
- ↑ Tabular data : Keussen: Topography of the City of Cologne in the Middle Ages , Volume I, p. 154 ff
- ^ Hans Vogts, Fritz Witte: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , p. 313
- ↑ Bellot, page 230, with reference to: HAStK Französische Verwaltung no.1613, no.1609, no.1615
- ↑ Ludwig Arentz, H. Neu and Hans Vogts: Paul Clemen (ed.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , p. VI
- ^ Arnold Stelzmann: Illustrated history of the city of Cologne . 11th improved edition. Bachem-Verlag, Cologne 1990, p. 241
- ^ The French Years , catalog for the exhibition at the HAStK from October 6, 1997-16. December 1994, p. 33. HAStK Cologne
- ^ Sabine Graumann: French administration on the Lower Rhine, the Roerdepartement 1798–1814 , sub-prefects p. 69
- ^ Eduard Hegel: The Archdiocese of Cologne between the Baroque and Enlightenment from the Palatinate War to the end of the French period 1688–1814 . Pp. 512-513
- ↑ Holdings NRW archive.nrw.de
- ↑ Holdings NRW archive.nrw.de
- ↑ Adam Wrede, Volume III, page 45. From the 12th century, settlers there are called "smerrenger" after the designation "smer" (fat, tallow), hence schmierstraße, the street of the fat dealers.
- ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon. P. 113.
- ↑ Michael Euler-Schmidt: Cologne mask trains: 1823-1914 . Ed .: Werner Schäfke . Greven-Verlag, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7743-0260-X . Pp. 8-12
- ^ Vogts, Witte: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province and the City of Cologne. (Ed.) Paul Clemen, Vol. 7, Section IV: The profane monuments of the city of Cologne , p. 374 f
- ^ Karl Georg Jacob, Matthias Joseph de Noël , Johann Jacob Nöggerath (anonymous): Cologne and Bonn with their surroundings. For strangers and locals. Edited from the best and especially from unused sources . Cologne, JP Bachem Verlag, 1928. Quoted and commented in: Uwe Westfehling: The first Cologne city guide from 1828 . JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1982, p. 160 ff.
- ^ Hans Vogts, Fritz Witte: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , p. 23 f.
- ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon. P. 110.
- ^ Hans Vogts, Fritz Witte: The art monuments of the city of Cologne , ed. on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province. The profane buildings , p. 450 ff
- ↑ Cologne Personal Lexicon. P. 72.
- ^ Arnold Stelzmann, in section "under the tree of freedom and tricolor", p. 257 f
- ^ Fritz Wündisch: Brühl mosaic stones on the history of an old city in Cologne , p. 253
Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) with the cantons of
Aix-la-Chapelle |
Burtscheid (Borcette) |
Düren (Duren) |
Eschweiler |
Froitzheim |
Geilenkirchen |
Gemünd (Gemund) |
Heinsberg |
Linnich |
Monschau (Montjoie) |
Sittard
Kleve (Clèves) with the cantons of
Clèves |
Geldern (Gueldres) |
Canton of Gemert |
Goch |
Horst |
Kalkar (calcar) |
Kranenburg (Cranenbourg) |
Canton of Ravenstein |
Wankum (Wanckum) |
Wesel |
Xanten
Cologne (Cologne) with the cantons of
Cologne |
Bergheim |
Brühl |
Dormagen |
Elsen |
Jülich (Juliers) |
Kerpen |
Lechenich |
Pastures |
Zuelpich (Zulpich)
Krefeld (Crévelt) with the cantons of
Crévelt |
Bracht |
Erkelenz (Erkelens) |
Kempen |
Moers (Meurs) |
Neersen |
Neuss |
Odenkirchen |
Rheinberg |
Uerdingen (Urdingen) |
Viersen
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 22.8 " N , 6 ° 57 ′ 27.5" E