Jülich

The lords of Jülich began as counts west of the Rhine, first documented with Gerhard I in 1003; Gerhard III styled himself Count of Jülich from 1081. Count William IV granted Jülich its town charter in 1234, opening a rivalry with the archbishops of Cologne.

Emperor Charles IV raised Count William V to duke in 1356, and the house inherited Guelders in 1393. When Reinald IV died without heirs in 1423, Jülich passed to the Jülich-Berg branch and was united with Berg and Ravensberg.

The last male Jülich duke, William IV, died in 1511, and his daughter Maria carried the lands to the House of La Marck of Cleves, forming the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1521. The Treaty of Xanten in 1614 assigned Jülich to the Palatinate-Neuburg line of the Wittelsbachs; France annexed it in 1794 and Prussia received it in 1815.