The Duchy of Limburg () was created in 1839 from parts of the Dutch Province of Limburg as a result of the Treaty of London. Its territory was the territory of the modern day province of Limburg with the exceptions of the cities of

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

and

Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...

. The Duchy of Limburg was also a member state of the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

History

Establishment

The

, as established by the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

in 1815, was a loose association of 39 German states to coordinate the economies of the member countries. Though not a part of the German Confederation at its founding, Limburg would join it in 1839 as a consequence of the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was a conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. The ...

. In 1830 several francophone, Catholic and liberal groups joined forces and proclaimed the independence of Belgium, whose territory prior to that had been part of the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

. In the subsequent peace settlement in 1839, the Dutch king ceded the western half of the

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg ...

to the newly formed Belgian state. Luxembourg, however, had been a member state of the German Confederation since the latter's creation and with the annexation of its western parts lost approximately 150,000 inhabitants. The German Confederation insisted the common market of the customs union would be compensated by the Netherlands elsewhere; the Dutch thus created the Duchy of Limburg (consisting of the Province of Limburg minus its two major cities,

and

, so as to not exceed the 150,000 number).Limburg (1839–1865)
/ref>

Dissolution and aftermath

The Seven Weeks' War between

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1866 led to the collapse of the German Confederation. To clarify the position of the

and the Duchy of Limburg, which were possessions of the Dutch king but also member states of the Confederation, the Second Treaty of London in 1867 affirmed that Limburg was an "integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands", while Luxembourg was and had been an independent state in

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

with the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1839. The style "Duchy of Limburg" continued to be used in some official capacities until February 1907. An idiosyncrasy that survives to this day is that the

King's Commissioner A King's commissioner (, ''CvdK'') is the head of government and legislature in a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands. When the List of monarchs of the Netherlands, reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's commission ...

for the province is still informally addressed as "Governor" in Limburg, although his formal style does not differ from that used in other provinces.

References

External links

History of Limburg during the German Confederation
Website of the History of the Netherlands by historian Dr. J. W. Swaen. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duchy Of Limburg (1839-1867) 1839 establishments in Europe 1867 disestablishments in Europe Limburg States and territories established in 1839 Limburg (region) History of Limburg (Netherlands) German revolutions of 1848–1849 States and territories disestablished in 1867 Former states in the Low Countries

History

Establishment

Dissolution and aftermath

See also

References

External links