GELDERLAND (Guelders), a province of Holland, bounded S. by Rhenish Prussia and North Brabant, W. by Utrecht and South Holland, N. by the Zuider Zee, N.E. by Overysel and S.E. by the Prussian province of Westphalia. It has an area of 1,940 sq.m. and a pop. (1933) of 829,293, the density per sq.m. being 411.
The main portion of Gelderland north of the Rhine and the Old Ysel forms an extension of the province of Overysel, being composed of diluvial sand and gravel, covered with heaths and patches of fen. South of this line, however, the soil consists of fertile river-clay. The northern portion is divided by the New (or Gelders) Ysel into two distinct regions, namely, the Veluwe ("bad land") on the west, and the former countship of Zutphen on the east. In this last division the ground slopes downwards from south-east to north-west (131 to 26 f t.) and is intersected by several fertilizing streams which flow in the same direction to join the Ysel. The extreme eastern corner is occupied by older Tertiary loam, which is used for making bricks, and upon this and the river-banks are the most fertile spots, woods, culti vated land, pastures, towns and villages. The highlands of the Veluwe lying west of the Ysel really extend as far as the Crooked Rhine and the Vecht in the province of Utrecht, but are slightly detached from the Utrecht hills by the Gelders depression, which forms the boundary between the two provinces. This extends from the Rhine along the Grift, the Luntersche Beek and the Eem to the Zuider Zee, and would still offer an outlet in this direction to the Rhine at high water if it were not for the river dikes. The two main ridges of the Veluwe hills (164 and 36o ft.) extend from the neighbourhood of Arnhem north-west to Harderwyk and north to Hattem. In the south they stretch along the banks of the Rhine, forming a strip made up of sandhills and trees, clay lands and pastures. All over the Veluwe are heaths, scantily culti ve.ted, with fields of rye and buckwheat, cattle of inferior quality, and sheep, and a sparse population. There is also a considerable cultivation of wood, especially of fir and copse, while tobacco plantations are found at Nykerk.
The southern division of the province is watered by the three large rivers, the Rhine, the Waal and the Maas, and has a level clay soil, varied only by isolated hills and a sandy, wooded stretch between Nijmwegen and the southern border. The region en closed between the Rhine and the Waal and watered by the Linge is called the Betuwe ("good land"), and gave its name to the Germanic tribe of Batavians. There is here a denser population, occupied in the cultivation of wheat, beetroot and fruit, the breeding of excellent cattle, shipping and industrial pursuits. The principal centres of population, such as Zutphen, Arnhem (the chief town of the province), Nijmwegen and Tiel, as well as smaller old towns lie along the rivers. (X.) History.—It was formerly a duchy of the empire, bounded by Friesland, Westphalia, Brabant, Holland and the Zuider Zee ; part of which has become the province of Holland. The territory of the later duchy of Gelderland formed part of the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia. In 843, by the treaty of Verdun, it became part of Lotharingia (Lorraine), and in 879 was annexed to the kingdom of East Francia by the treaty of Mersen. The nucleus of the later county and duchy was the district surrounding the town of Gelder or Gelre, lying between the Meuse and the Niers, and since 1715 included in Rhenish Prussia.
There were in the 11th century a number of counts ruling in various parts of what was afterwards known as Gelderland. Towards the close of that century Gerard of Wassenburg acquired a dominant position and is generally reckoned as the first hered itary count of Gelderland (d. 1117-18). His son, Gerard II. (d.
married Irmingardis, daughter and heiress of Otto, count of Zutphen, and their son, Henry I. (d. 1182), inherited both countships. His successors Otto I. (1182-1207) and Gerard III. (1207-29) were lovers of peace and strong supporters of the Hohenstaufen emperors, through whose favour they were able to increase their territories by acquisitions in the districts of Veluwe and Betuwe. Otto II. 0229-71) became a person of so much importance that he was urged to be a candidate for the dignity of emperor, but he preferred to support the claims of his cousin, William II. of Holland. In return for the loan of a considerable sum of money William gave to him the city of Nijmwegen in pledge. His son Reinald I. (d. 1326) married Irmingardis, heiress of Limburg, and in right of his wife laid claim to the duchy against Adolf of Berg, who had sold his rights to John I. of Bra bant. War followed, and on June 5, 1288, Reinald was defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of Woeringen and surrendered his claims to John of Brabant. In 1310, Reinald received from the emperor Henry VII. the exemption of his subjects from the liabil ity to be sued before any court outside his jurisdiction, and in 1317 he was made a prince of the empire.
Reinald II., his son (1326-43), was one of the foremost princes in the Netherlands of his day. He married (I) Sophia, heiress of Mechlin, and (2) in 1331 Eleanor, sister of Edward III. of England. By purchase or conquest he added considerably to his territories. He did much to improve the condition of the country, to foster trade, to promote the prosperity of the towns, and to maintain order and security in his lands by wise laws and firm administration. In 1338 the title of duke was bestowed upon him by the emperor Louis the Bavarian, who at the same time granted to him the fief of East Friesland. He died in 1343, leaving three daughters by his first marriage, and two sons, Reinald and Edward, by Eleanor of England. His elder son was ten years of age, and succeeded to the duchy under the guardianship of his mother Eleanor. Declared of age two years later, Reinald III. found himself involved in a struggle between two rival factions which only ended after his death in 1374, with the recognition as duke of his nephew William of Julich, son of his younger sister, Maria.
Duke William was able, restless and adventurous. He took part in no less than five crusades with the Teutonic order against the heathen Lithuanians and Prussians. In 1393 he inherited the duchy of Julich, and died in 1402. He was succeeded by his brother, Reinald IV. (d. 1423), in the united sovereignty of Gelderland, Zutphen and Julich. On his death, Gelderland passed to the young Arnold of Egmont, grandson of his sister Johanna, whose daughter Maria (d. 1415) was wife of John, count of Egmont (d. 1451). Arnold was recognized as duke in 1424 by the emperor Sigismund, but in the following year the emperor revoked his decision and bestowed the duchy upon Adolf of Berg. Arnold in retaliation laid claim to the duchy of Julich, which had like wise been granted to Adolf by Sigismund, and a war followed which ended in Arnold retaining Gelderland and Zutphen, and Gerard, the son of Adolf (d. 1437), being acknowledged as duke of Jillich. To gain the support of the estates of Gelderland in this war, Arnold had made many concessions limiting the ducal pre rogatives, and granting large powers to a council consisting of representatives of the nobles and the four chief cities; his extrava gance and exactions led to continual conflicts, and in his later years a conspiracy was formed against him, headed by his wife and his son Adolf, which gave an opportunity of intervention to Charles the Bold of Burgundy. For 92,000 golden gulden, Arnold sold the reversion of the duchy to Charles (1471) . On Feb. 23, Arnold died, and Charles became duke of Gelderland. His succession was not unopposed. Nijmwegen offered an heroic re sistance and only fell after a long siege. After Charles's death in 1477 Adolf was released from captivity in which he had been held, and placed himself at the head of a party in the powerful city of Ghent, which sought to settle the disputed succession by forcing a match between him and Mary, the heiress of Burgundy. On June 29, 1477, however, he was killed at the siege of Tournai; and Mary gave her hand to the archduke Maximilian. Catherine, Adolf's sister, made an attempt to assert the rights of his son, Charles, but by 1483 Maximilian had crushed all opposition and established himself as duke of Gelderland.
Charles of Egmont, however, did not surrender his claims, but with the aid of the French collected an army, and in the course of 1492 and 1493 succeeded in reconquering his inheritance. In 1 507 he invaded Holland and Brabant, captured Harderwijk and Bommel in 1511, threatened Amsterdam in 1512, and took Gron ingen. It was, undoubtedly, a great and heroic achievement for the ruler of a petty state like Gelderland thus to assert and main tain his independence against the overwhelming power of the house of Austria. It was not till 1528 that the emperor Charles V. could force him to accept the compromise of the treaty of Gorichen, by which he received Gelderland and Zutphen for life as fiefs of the empire. In 1534 the duke, who was childless, at tempted to transfer the reversion of Gelderland to France, but was compelled by the estates in 1S38 to appoint as his successor William V. of Cleves (d. 1592). Charles died the same year. William, with the aid of the French, succeeded in maintaining his position in Gelderland for several years, but was forced to cede the duchy to Charles V. by the treaty of Venloo (Sept. 7, 1543).
Gelderland was now definitely amalgamated with the Habsburg dominions in the Netherlands, until the revolt of the Low Countries led to its partition. In the northern and greater part, comprising the three "quarters" of Nijmwegen, Arnhem and Zutphen, joined the Union of Utrecht and became the province of Gelderland in the Dutch republic. Only the quarter of Roer monde remained subject to the crown of Spain, and was called Spanish Gelderland. By the treaty of Utrecht (1715) this was ceded to Prussia with the exception of Venloo, which fell to the United Provinces, and Roermonde, which, with the remaining Spanish Netherlands, passed to Austria. Of this, part was ceded to France at the peace of Basel in 1795, and the whole by the treaty of Luneville in 1801, when it received the name of the department of the Roer. By the peace of Paris of 1814 the bulk of Gelderland was incorporated in the United Netherlands, the remainder falling to Prussia, where it forms the circle of Dusseldorf.
The rise of the towns in Gelderland began in the 13th century, river commerce and markets being the chief cause of their pros perity, but they never attained to the importance of the larger cities in Holland and Utrecht, much less to that of the great Flemish municipalities. They differed also from the Flemish cities in the nature of their privileges and immunities, as they did not possess the rights of communes, but only those of "free cities" of the Rhenish type. The power of the feudal lord over them was much greater. The states of Gelderland first became a consider able power in the land during the reign of Arnold of Egmont (1423-73). From this time the absolute authority of the sovereign in Gelderland was broken. The states consisted of two members— the nobility and the towns. The towns were divided into four separate districts or "quarters" named after the chief town in each—Nijmwegen, Arnhem, Zutphen and Roermonde. Each quarter had peculiar rights and customs, and their representatives met together in a separate assembly before taking part in the diet of the states. The nobility possessed great influence in Gelderland and retained it in the time of the republic. (G. E.)