Altena is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern stretches of the Sauerland.
Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries. It was a member state of the Holy Roman Empire.
The County of Mark was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. It lay south of Lippe river on both sides of the Ruhr river along the Volme and Lenne rivers.
The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen, which is now part of Chorweiler, the northernmost borough (Stadtbezirk) of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succession, fought for the possession of the Duchy of Limburg between on one side the Archbishop Siegfried II of Cologne and Count Henry VI of Luxembourg, and on the other side, Duke John I of Brabant.
The Duchy of Jülich 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 the Electorate of Cologne to the east and the Duchy of Limburg to the west. It had territories on both sides of the river Rur, around its capital Jülich – the former Roman Iuliacum – in the lower Rhineland. The duchy amalgamated with the County of Berg beyond the Rhine in 1423, and from then on also became known as Jülich-Berg. Later it became part of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.
The Duchy of Cleves was a state of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the medieval Hettergau. It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the towns of Wesel, Kalkar, Xanten, Emmerich, Rees and Duisburg bordering the lands of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the east and the Duchy of Brabant in the west. Its history is closely related to that of its southern neighbours: the Duchies of Jülich and Berg, as well as Guelders and the Westphalian county of Mark. The Duchy was archaically known as Cleveland in English.
Count Engelbert II of Berg, also known as Saint Engelbert, Engelbert of Cologne, Engelbert I, Archbishop of Cologne or Engelbert I of Berg, Archbishop of Cologne was archbishop of Cologne and a saint; he was notoriously murdered by a member of his own family.
The House of La Marck was an ancient German noble family, which from about 1200 appeared as the Counts of Mark.
Sibylle of Cleves was electress consort of Saxony.
The House of Limburg-Stirum, which adopted its name in the 12th century from the immediate county of Limburg an der Lenne in what is now Germany, is one of the oldest families in Europe. It is the eldest and only surviving branch of the House of Berg, which was among the most powerful dynasties in the region of the lower Rhine during the Middle Ages. Some historians link them to an even older dynasty, the Ezzonen, going back to the 9th century.
Engelbert II of the Mark was Count of the Mark and through marriage, Count of Arenberg.
Henry of Berg, Lord of Windeck was the son of Adolf VII of Berg and Margaret of Hochstaden. He was the younger brother of Adolf VIII of Berg and William I of Berg.
Adolf VIII of Berg was the eldest son of Count Adolf VII of Berg and Margaret of Hochstaden.
The ruins of Nideggen Castle are a symbol of the town of Nideggen in Germany and are owned by the county of Düren. The rectangular hill castle was the seat of the powerful counts and dukes of Jülich and had a reputation in the Middle Ages of being impregnable.
The house of Limburg Hohenlimburg took its name in the 12th century from the county of Limburg on the river Lenne in today's Germany. After Diederick of Isenberg had claimed part of the former property of his father Frederik of Isenberg with the help of uncle Duke Hendrik of Limburg, he built the Hohenlimburg castle on the river Lenne. At fifty years of age, his third son Everhart, closest descendant of the original holder, succeeded him in the county. Mentioned count, in original kept charters, since 1276 together with his father. It was clear that the future male-line primogeniture was granted. Everhard is the ancestor of the family branch of the counts of Limburg Hohenlimburg and Broich. His first brother Henry died young and second Johan (1247–1277), died at the age of thirty, left three children. Johan is the ancestor of the house Lords of Limburg Stirum. The Counts of Limburg Hohenlimburg and Broich were not count by name with a late 17th century certified title but actually ruled the county of Limburg-Lenne since the 13th century, until the first quarter of the 16th century. The last count Johan (1464–1511) who had no descendants of his own. None of his only two male relatives, cousins Diederick and Adolf of Limburg, sons of his former godfather Johan of Limburg (1421–1472), had inheritance rights, as explained below. To prevent the family of his former wife Von Neuenahr from taking the county, Count Johan adopted his cousin Irmgard of Sayn at her marriage to Winrich of Daun. She and her husband inherited the county.
Diederik III of Limburg Hohenlimburg, born around 1328, was the eldest son of Everhard II van Limburg Hohenlimburg and Juta of Sayn. Twenty years later he followed the 9th of August 1364 his grandfather Diederik II count of Limburg Hohenlimburg. In 1366 Diederik III became the Amtmann of Angermünde, the district between Duisburg and Düsseldorf. As the successor to lord Diederik III of Broich, who five years later would become his father-in-law. He also was Voght of the Rellinghausen Abbey. On 3 July 1371 Diederik married Ludgardis (Lukarda) daughter of Diederik of Broich and Katharina of Steinfurt. Lukarda was heiress of the Lordship Broich. At his wedding, he received a dowry of 1,600 old gold shields.
The Düsseldorf castle at or in the Düsseldorfer Altstadt existed from 1260 to 1872 or 1896. The building was erected in 1260 as a lowland castle of the Counts of Düsseldorf. Berg at the Rhine mouth of the Düssel on a small island. Extensions as Duke and Court Schloss took place under William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1549), Jan Wellem and Charles Theodore (1755). The palace gained international attention above all for its Düsseldorf Picture Gallery, which was built from 1709 to 1712 as the first independent gallery building It exhibited a world-famous collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings until 1805. From 1817 to 1848, part of the palace housed a mint of the Kingdom of Prussia. From 1845 onwards, the former residential palace, which at that time had already housed the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf for several decades, was developed under Friedrich Wilhelm IV into the Parliament of the Rhine Province Provincial Diet. In the night of 19 to 20 March 1872, the palace, for centuries the landmark of the residential city of Düsseldorf as well as a centre in the life and urban fabric of the old town, was a prey to the flames. A remaining south wing was demolished in 1896.
Engelbert of Altena-Isenberg was appointed Propst at St. George's Church in Cologne around 1220 and then Dompropst von Osnabrück in 1222. On September 4, 1223 Engelbertus, Osnabrugensis ecclesie maior prepositus he became Engelbert I bishop of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück. and reigned during two periods, the first from 1224 - 1226 and the second from 1237 - 1250.
Dietrich IV of Limburg Hohenlimburg, born around 1375, was the second son Diederik III count of Limburg Hohenlimburg and Broich and Lukardis of Broich. He had an older sister Elisabeth and brother Willem I. Elisabeth married Dietrich IV of Volmestein. Willem married Metza of Reifferscheidt Erbin of Bedburg. Dietrich IV married Henrica of Wisch on 3 February 1415. Her father bannerlord Hendrik of Wisch and mother Elisabeth of Bronkhorst belonged to the most important nobility in Gelre. The bannerlords of Wisch had their castle Wisch on the old IJssel near Terborg.. Henrica had one younger sister Elisabeth married to Johan of Volmarstein. This created a double family ties between the Lower Rhine families Of Limburg, Of Volmarstein and the Gueldrian Of Wisch.
Frederick von Saarwerden was archbishop-elector of Cologne as Frederick III from 1370 to 1414. Through the promotion of his great-uncle, Archbishop Kuno II of Falkenstein of Trier, Frederick von Saarwerden was elected archbishop of Cologne at the age of 20, which the Pope in Avignon also confirmed two years later after some misgivings. Frederick found the archbishopric completely plundered by his two predecessors of the County of Mark, Adolf and Engelbert, and had himself promised high payments to the Curia on the occasion of his election. Nevertheless, with the help of his very rich great-uncle Kuno, he succeeded in paying off the debts of the archbishopric within a few years.
