DUCHY - 4 reference results
Moscow or Muscovy, grand duchy of, state existing in W central Russia from the late 14th to mid-16th cent., with the city of Moscow as its nucleus. Its formation and eventual ascendancy over other Russian principalities and over the Tatars of the Golden Horde (see Golden Horde, Empire of the) came about gradually and resulted particularly from its central location, its importance as a trade artery, its dynastic continuity, its circumspect loyalty to Tatar overlords, and its prestige as a religious center. After the decline of Kiev in the mid-12th cent., Russian territory broke up into a number of separate political units, among which the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal (see Vladimir) was the most important. The rulers of Vladimir were the only Russian princes who bore the title grand duke, and they were regarded as suzerains of the other princes. According to tradition, Moscow was founded on a strategic site on the Moskva River as a military outpost of Vladimir-Suzdal; by the mid-12th cent., when its existence is first mentioned in Russian chronicles, it had become a walled town. The first known prince of Moscow was Daniel (d.1303), son of Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. Daniel received Moscow as a separate appanage. His son, Yuri (1303-25), launched the struggle for Moscow's predominance in Russia, competing for leadership with the prince of Tver for both the title of grand duke and the allegiance of the less powerful Russian princes. Yuri was temporarily appointed grand duke of Vladimir by the khan of the Empire of the Golden Horde. His younger brother, Ivan I (Ivan Kalita; 1328-41), was not only granted the title of grand duke (1328) but was given the right to collect Tatar tributes from neighboring principalities. Moreover, during Ivan's reign Moscow became the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church. The adjacent areas were subdued or acquired, and Moscow's importance continued to increase, particularly under Ivan I's grandson, Dmitri Donskoi (1359-89), who was probably the first to bear the title grand duke of Moscow. Dmitri's successors, above all Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-33), laid the basis of Muscovite absolutism, built the Great Russian state, and threw off the Tatar yoke. By the mid-16th cent., therefore, the unification of the Great Russian lands had been completed under the princely dynasty. The Muscovite rulers now bore the title grand duke of Moscow and of all Russia, and the history of the grand duchy of Moscow became that of Russia.
See J. L. I. Fennell, The Emergence of Moscow, 1304-1359 (1968); S. Khromov, History of Moscow (1981).
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Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Cleves, duchy of, former state, W Germany, on both sides of the lower Rhine, bordering on the Netherlands. Cleves was the capital. A county from late Carolingian times, it acquired (late 14th cent.) the county of Mark, in Westphalia, and in 1417 was made a duchy. In 1521, Duke John III of Cleves inherited through marriage the duchies of Jülich and Berg and the county of Ravensberg. His daughter, Anne of Cleves, was married in 1540 to Henry VIII of England. In 1609 the male line became extinct, and a complicated dynastic quarrel for the succession followed. Brandenburg acquired (1614) Cleves, Mark, and Ravensberg; the Palatinate-Neuburg line of the Bavarian house of Wittelsbach took Jülich and Berg. The succession was not finally settled until 1666, when the Treaty of Cleves confirmed the division. Cleves was held by France during the French Revolutionary Wars and in 1815 was returned to Prussia.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Brabant, duchy of, former duchy, divided between Belgium (Brabant and Antwerp provs.) and the Netherlands (North Brabant prov.). Louvain, Brussels, and Antwerp were its chief cities. The duchy of Brabant emerged (1190) from the duchy of Lower Lorraine. In 1430 it passed to Philip the Good of Burgundy, and in 1477 it was taken by the Hapsburgs. (For the history of Brabant from 1477 to 1794 see Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish.) Like the rest of the S Low Countries, Brabant owed its extraordinary prosperity during the Middle Ages to its wool and other textile industries and to the commercial enterprise of the inhabitants of its cities and towns. Antwerp, its greatest city, was for a time the financial capital of Europe. The dukes of Brabant, who relied on the towns to finance their wars and luxurious lifestyles, granted them virtual self-government and an ever-increasing share in the management of the duchy. In 1356 this trend culminated in a charter of liberties known as the Joyeuse Entrée, so called because each subsequent duke had to swear to it when entering Louvain after acceding. According to the charter, the dukes could not declare war, conclude alliances, or coin money without the consent of delegates of the clergy, nobility, and towns, who together formed an assembly later known as the Estates of Brabant. The charter was abolished (1789) by Emperor Joseph II. In 1830, S Brabant led a revolt against Dutch rule that resulted in Belgium independence. Since 1840 the eldest son of the king of the Belgians has held the title duke of Brabant.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
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