
The Land van den Bergh was a lordship in
Zutphen
Zutphen () is a city and municipality located in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It lies some northeast of Arnhem, on the eastern bank of the river IJssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. First mentioned in the 11th centur ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and included
's-Heerenberg,
Didam
Didam (locally, Diem) is a town in the eastern part of Netherlands in the region of "De Kleverlandish, Liemers", province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Montferland about 18 km east of Arnhem, which is the capital of the ...
,
Etten,
Zeddam
Zeddam is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Montferland, about 7 km south of Doetinchem.
Zeddam was a separate municipality until 1821, when it was merged with Bergh.
History
Zeddam was ...
,
Gendringen,
Netterden, and the
Westervoort
Westervoort () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The town has two rivers inside its borders, the Rhine and the IJssel. It is a commuter town closely linked to Arnhem, the capital of Gelderland, which is situated on the west b ...
fiefdom
A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
. It was previously ruled over by the
counts van Bergh.
berghapedia.nl
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History
The first known Count van Bergh was Constantinus de Monte who settled in the region between 1100-1125. The counts
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
initially resided in Montferland
Montferland () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Gelderland. It was created on 1 January 2005 from the amalgamation of the former municipalities of Bergh and Didam.
Population centres
Fo ...
until the construction of the castle Huis Bergh. In 1416, House Monte went extinct and was succeeded by House van der Leck. Oswald I van der Bergh was made an Imperial Count
Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince wh ...
, but Land van den Bergh did not become sovereign.
The most famous counts were Willem IV van den Bergh
Willem IV, Count van den Bergh (1537-1586) was the Dutch Stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen from 1581 until his arrest for treason in 1583.
Biography
Early years
Willem was the son of Count Oswald II van den BerghThe name "Van den Bergh" i ...
, Herman van den Bergh
Herman, Count van den Bergh (2 August 1558 in Huis Bergh, 's-Heerenberg, Gelderland – 12 August 1611 in Spa) was a Dutch soldier in the Eighty Years' War, knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece and stadtholder of Spanish Guelders.
Life
In ...
(1558-1611), and Hendrik van den Bergh (1573-1638). During the Eighty Years' War
The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...
, they initially fought on the Staatse side, later siding with the Spanish, and finally switching back to the Staatse faction.
With Oswald III van den Bergh, the Van der Leck House went extinct, on the male side, in 1712. Oswald III appointed his great-nephew, Prince Franz Wilhelm von Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...
, as his successor and sole heir. A condition for the succession was that Frans Wilhelm would take the name and coat of arms Van den Bergh, with which he founded the new family Hohenzollern-Bergh, and the Land van Bergh passed to the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen () was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the junior House of Hohenzollern#Swabian branch, Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 162 ...
. In 1737, he was succeeded by his son Johan Baptist, nicknamed the Mad Count.
In 1795, following the foundation of the Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...
, the glorious rights were abolished. After the foundation 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 1815, the glorious rights were partially restored. Land van den Bergh was later incorporated into Gelderland
Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...
. In 1912, Willem August van Hohenzollern sold his property to Jan Herman van Heek.
References
{{Reflist
History of Gelderland
Bergh
Bergh is a former municipality in the Dutch province of Gelderland. The municipality included the villages of 's-Heerenberg, Zeddam, and Stokkum.
In 2005, it merged with Didam to form the new municipality of Montferland
Montferland () i ...