Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a former

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, principality and finally duchy that was located in what is now

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian noble family.

History

First mentioned in the 12th century, it was named after the village of Aremberg in the

Ahr Hills The Ahr HillsElkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . (german: Ahrgebirge or ''Ahreifel'' ) are a range of low mountains and hills up to and long in the Eifel region of Germany, which lie roughly southwest of ...

, located in today's

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

region of Germany.

1549–1645

Aremberg was originally a

. It became a state of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

('' reichsunmittelbar'') in 1549, was raised to a princely county in 1576, then became a duchy in 1645.

1789

The territorial possessions of the Dukes of Arenberg varied through the ages. Around 1789, the duchy was located in the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

region on the west side of the

Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...

and contained, amongst others, Aremberg, Schleiden and Kerpen. However, although the duchy itself was in Germany, from the 15th century onward, the principal lands of the Dukes of Arenberg have been in what is now

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. The pre-Napoleonic duchy had an area of 413 km² and a population of 14,800. It belonged to the

Electoral Rhenish Circle The Electoral Rhenish Circle (german: Kurrheinischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, created in 1512. The circle derived its name from four of the seven prince-electors whose lands along the Middle Rhine comprise ...

and was bordered by the

duchy of Jülich The Duchy of Jülich (german: Herzogtum Jülich; nl, 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 th ...

, the

Archbishopric of Cologne The Archdiocese of Cologne ( la, Archidioecesis Coloniensis; german: Erzbistum Köln) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. History The Electorate of Colog ...

, the Archbishopric of Trier, and the

county of Blankenheim Blankenheim Castle (german: Burg Blankenheim) is a '' schloss'' above the village of Blankenheim in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It was built as a hill castle around 1115 by Gerhard I and became the family seat of the House of Blankenhei ...

1798

After the French occupation of the west bank of the

around 1798 (see

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...

and

Treaty of Lunéville The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary do ...

), the Duke of Arenberg received new lands: the county of Vest Recklinghausen, the county of Meppen, and the lordship of Dülmen.

1810

Arenberg joined Napoleon's

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria a ...

, although that did not prevent it from being mediatised in 1810, with France annexing Dülmen and

Meppen Meppen (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Möppen'') is a town in and the seat of the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, Germany, at the confluence of the Ems, Hase, and Nordradde rivers and the Dortmund–Ems Canal (DEK). The name stems from the word ' ...

, and the duchy of Berg annexing Recklinghausen.

1814

After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 and the dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine, the former Arenberg territories were divided between the

kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: ...

and the

kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of H ...

. In both Prussia and Hanover, the dukes became local peers subordinate to the king.

1826

In 1826, the Arenberg territory in Hanover was named the duchy of Arenberg-Meppen, and it had an area of 2,195 km² and a population of 56,700. The county of Recklinghausen, in Prussia, had an area of 780 km² and a population of 64,700. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian aristocratic family. The immediate family members of the dukes are called by the nominal title of Prince of Arenberg. The ducal family descends

agnatic Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

ally from the

House of Ligne The House of Ligne is one of the oldest Belgian noble families, dating back to the eleventh century.''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser'' XIV. "Ligne". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1991, pp. 495-500. . The family's name comes from the v ...

. The Forest of Arenberg is located in northeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, and it is famous for its cobbled roads used in the classic road cycle race

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional road bicycle racing, bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling m ...

. Its areas saw extensive

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

in the past.

Counts, Princely Counts and Dukes

Counts of Arenberg (1117–1576)

* Franko (1117–1129) * Henry I (1129–1187) * Eberhard I (1188–1202) * Eberhard II (1202–1229) * Henry II (1220–1250) * Gerard (1252–1260) * John I (1260–1279) * Mathilde (1282–1299) * Eberhard ''(Count of

Marck Marck may refer to: Surname * Érard de La Marck (1472–1538), prince-bishop of Liège * Jan van der Marck (1929–2010) Dutch-born American art historian, and museum curator. * John T. Marck, Beatles biographer who suggested that "Real Love", ...

)'' (1282–1308) * Engelbert II (1308–1328) * Eberhard I (III) (1328–1387) * Eberhard II (1387–1454) ''Partition into Arenberg and

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

'' * John II (1454–1480) * Eberhard III (1480–1496) * Eberhard IV (1496–1531) * Robert I (1531–1541) * Robert II (?–1536) * Robert III (1541–1544) *

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

(1544–1576) * John III (1547–1568) * Charles (1568–1576)

Princely Counts of Arenberg (1576–1645)

(1576–1596) ''with'' Jean de Ligne *

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

(1576–1616) * Philip Charles (1616–1640) * Philip Francis (1640–1645)

Dukes of Arenberg (1645–1810)

* Philippe François, 1st Duke of Arenberg (1645–1675) *

Charles Eugene, 2nd Duke of Arenberg Charles Eugene, 2nd Duke of Arenberg (1633–1681), a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece since 1678, became 2nd Duke of Arenberg in 1674 on the death of his half-brother Philippe François, 1st Duke of Arenberg. The original title had bee ...

(1675–1681) * Philip Charles Francis, 3rd Duke of Arenberg (1681–1691) * Leopold, 4th Duke of Arenberg (1691–1754) * Charles Marie Raymond, 5th Duke of Arenberg (1754–1778) * Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg (1778–1803) * Prosper Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg (1803–1810) '' Mediatised 1810''

References

Sources

Official site of the House of Arenberg

''Meyers Konversationslexikon''

External links

* This has a detailed account of the inheritance of the noble titles from the 13th century onward.

{{coord, 50.8792, N, 4.7019, E, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:DE, display=title 1549 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1810 disestablishments in Europe States and territories established in 1549 House of Ligne States of the Confederation of the Rhine Electoral Rhenish Circle History of the Eifel Counties of the Holy Roman Empire Duchies of the Holy Roman Empire