Gelre and Gelderland: How a County Named After Geldern Became a Dutch Province (AD 100 – 2026)

A Province Named After a German Town

Gelderland takes its name from Geldern, a small town on the Niers that has been German since 1713. The story of Gelre is the story of a territory that moved north: a county that began around Geldern and Roermond grew across the Rhine into Zutphen, the Veluwe and Nijmegen, became a duchy with four quarters, lost its independence in 1543, and was torn apart by the Revolt. Its southern quarter was split four ways in 1713, and what remained became the Dutch province we know.

This map follows Gelre through 57 keyframes, from the Roman frontier around AD 100 to 2026. The four quarters keep their own shades of green, so you can watch each of them join the duchy, change hands in war and finally merge into one province.

Romans, Franks and Gouwen

Around AD 100 the Rhine was the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. The Batavians farmed the river land of the Betuwe as allies of Rome, and Nijmegen grew into Ulpia Noviomagus, the first town in the Netherlands. In AD 69 the Batavian Julius Civilis led a revolt against Rome from this region. When Roman rule faded in the fifth century, Franks held the river land and the south, Frisians the coast and Saxons the east. Around 690 the Frankish mayor Pepin of Herstal defeated the Frisian king Radbod near Dorestad, and the Franks organised the land into gouwen: Hamaland around the IJssel, the Veluwe, the Betuwe, Teisterbant, and the Duffelgouw and Hettergouw east of Nijmegen. In 1026 Teisterbant went to the Bishop of Utrecht.

From County to Duchy

In 1096 a count Gerard is first named after Geldern. His family married into the County of Zutphen, and around 1138 their son Henry ruled both Gelre and Zutphen, an awkward pair of lands far apart on either side of the Rhine. The Veluwe followed around 1182 as a fief of the Bishop of Utrecht, and in 1247–48 the King of the Romans pledged the imperial town of Nijmegen to Otto II, joining the northern and southern lands. Otto, known as the founder of towns, gave charters to Arnhem, Harderwijk and other places.

The defeat at Worringen in 1288 ended Gelre's hopes of the Duchy of Limburg. On 19 March 1339 Emperor Louis the Bavarian made Reinald II a duke. By then the duchy was divided into four quarters: the Upper Quarter around Roermond, the Quarter of Nijmegen with the Betuwe, Maas en Waal and the Bommelerwaard, the Quarter of Arnhem on the Veluwe, and the County of Zutphen. Cleves held enclaves in the middle of it, such as Zevenaar, Huissen and the Duffelt, and lordships like Culemborg, Buren and Bergh kept their own lords. From 1379 to 1423 Guelders and Jülich shared a duke, and in 1423 the estates chose Arnold of Egmond.

Charles of Egmond and Maarten van Rossum

Charles the Bold of Burgundy conquered Guelders in 1473. After his death in 1477 the duchy rose again, but Maximilian of Habsburg brought it under his control by 1481. In 1492 Charles of Egmond, born in Grave in 1467 and raised at the Burgundian court, returned as duke. For forty-six years he fought the Habsburgs: Philip the Fair took Arnhem and half the duchy in 1505, Charles won most of it back by 1513 and Arnhem in 1514. He became lord of the city of Groningen in 1514, took Drenthe in 1522, supported the Frisian rebels, and in 1527 his troops held the city of Utrecht.

His marshal Maarten van Rossum became notorious. On 8 March 1528 he sacked The Hague. The Peace of Gorinchem in October 1528 cost Charles Utrecht and Overijssel, and after the Battle of Heiligerlee in 1536 the Peace of Grave took Groningen and Drenthe. Charles died in Arnhem on 30 June 1538, and the estates chose William of Cleves, who also ruled Jülich and Berg. In July 1542 Van Rossum crossed the Maas near Cuijk, burned his way through the Meierij and stood before Antwerp on 24 July, then camped at Leuven on 1 August. Charles V answered in 1543 with an overwhelming army: by the Treaty of Venlo of 7 September 1543 William gave up Guelders, and the Tractaat van Venlo of 12 September fixed the duchy's privileges until 1795.

The Revolt and the Partition of Upper Guelders

In 1579 Guelders joined the Union of Utrecht. Spanish troops recaptured Zutphen in 1583 and Nijmegen in 1585, until Maurice of Nassau took them back in 1591. Groenlo changed hands until Frederick Henry's siege of 1627, and Venlo and Roermond were Dutch only from 1632 to 1637. The three lower quarters became the province of Gelderland in the Dutch Republic, while the Upper Quarter stayed Spanish. In 1672, the Disaster Year, French troops crossed the Rhine at Lobith and occupied most of Gelderland, and the Bishop of Münster took the Achterhoek, until they withdrew in 1674.

During the War of the Spanish Succession the allies took Venlo and Roermond in 1702 and Prussia took Geldern in 1703. The Peace of Utrecht of 1713 divided Upper Guelders four ways: Prussia took Geldern, Straelen and the Land of Kessel, the Dutch Republic took Venlo and Montfort, Roermond became Austrian, and Erkelenz went to Jülich.

French Rule, New Borders and the Twentieth Century

In 1795 the quarters ended and Gelderland became a department of the Batavian Republic. In 1808 the Kingdom of Holland received Zevenaar, Huissen and Malburgen, and in 1810 Napoleon annexed the whole country. After his fall the border with Prussia was fixed by the Treaty of Kleve of 1816: the former Cleves enclaves joined Gelderland in 1816 and 1817, while Geldern stayed Prussian. On the map Belgium appears in 1839, when the Treaty of London is signed.

In May 1940 the German army broke through the Grebbe line on the Gelderland–Utrecht border. In September 1944 Operation Market Garden freed Nijmegen and the Betuwe, but not Arnhem, and the river land stayed a front line all winter. Arnhem was liberated on 14 April 1945, and on 5 May the German surrender in the Netherlands was agreed at Hotel De Wereld in Wageningen. In 1949 the Netherlands annexed Elten and the Duivelsberg; Elten went back to Germany in 1963, the Duivelsberg stayed Dutch. The last change came in 1986, when Asperen and Heukelum moved from South Holland to Gelderland.

How to Read the Map

Shades of green are Guelders: one shade for each quarter, a pale green for the lordships inside the duchy, and a light green for the lands Charles of Egmond conquered outside it. When the whole duchy was ruled by Burgundy or the Habsburgs, its quarters take on a purple or golden tint. Gold is the Burgundian, Habsburg, Spanish and Austrian Netherlands, orange the Dutch Republic and the Netherlands, brick red Cleves, blue France and grey Prussia and Germany. The dark green dot is the army of Maarten van Rossum. Markers show battles, sieges, treaties and other events; small dots are minor actions.

Borders follow the Dutch municipalities of 1812 and modern municipalities in Germany and Belgium, so they are accurate to a few kilometres. Neighbouring states are drawn coarsely, and the borders of the Roman and early medieval periods are reconstructions.

How the Map Was Made

The map is built from the NLGis municipal borders of 1812–1997 (O.W.A. Boonstra, DANS, CC0), German municipalities from the BKG (VG250) and Belgian communes from Statbel. Each municipality was assigned to its quarter, lordship or neighbouring state at every keyframe, with more than 800 test places checking the result. Sources include A. Schoemaker's Gelre en zijn grenzen (historischetopografie.nl), G.H.A. Venner on the institutions of Spanish and Austrian Guelders, the Neue Deutsche Biographie, M. Witteveen's biography of Maarten van Rossem, and Dutch, German and English Wikipedia articles on the quarters, ambten, towns, sieges and treaties.

Chronological Timeline

• c. AD 100 — The Rhine is Rome's frontier; Batavians in the Betuwe
• c. 690 — Pepin of Herstal defeats the Frisian king Radbod at Dorestad
• 1026 — Teisterbant goes to the Bishop of Utrecht
• 1096 — Gerard, first count named after Geldern
• c. 1138 — Gelre and Zutphen united
• 1182 — The Veluwe passes to Gelre
• 1247–48 — Nijmegen pledged to Gelre
• 1288 — Defeat at Worringen
• 1339 — Reinald II becomes Duke of Guelders
• 1379–1423 — Guelders and Jülich under one duke
• 1473 — Charles the Bold conquers Guelders
• 1481 — Maximilian of Habsburg takes Guelders
• 1492 — Charles of Egmond returns as duke
• 1505 — Philip the Fair takes Arnhem and half the duchy
• 1514 — Groningen chooses Charles as its lord
• 1522 — Drenthe falls to Charles
• 1528 — Maarten van Rossum sacks The Hague; Peace of Gorinchem
• 1536 — Battle of Heiligerlee; Peace of Grave
• 1538 — Charles dies; William of Cleves becomes duke
• 1542 — Van Rossum before Antwerp and Leuven
• 1543 — Treaty and Tractaat of Venlo: Guelders to Charles V
• 1579 — Union of Utrecht
• 1585 — Nijmegen goes over to Spain
• 1591 — Maurice takes Zutphen and Nijmegen
• 1627 — Siege of Grol
• 1632–1637 — Venlo and Roermond Dutch
• 1648 — Peace of Münster
• 1672–1674 — French and Münster occupation
• 1713 — Peace of Utrecht divides Upper Guelders
• 1795 — Batavian Republic; the quarters end
• 1808 — Zevenaar and Huissen to the Kingdom of Holland
• 1810 — Annexed to the French Empire
• 1816 — Treaty of Kleve fixes the border
• 1940 — Battle of the Grebbeberg; German occupation
• 1944 — Battle of Arnhem
• 1945 — Liberation; German surrender agreed at Wageningen
• 1949 — Elten and the Duivelsberg annexed
• 1963 — Elten returned to Germany
• 1986 — Asperen and Heukelum join Gelderland