CLEVE (Cleves), a town of Germany in the Prussian Rhine province, formerly the capital of the duchy of its own name, 46 m. N.W. of Dusseldorf, 12 m. E. of Nijmwegen, on the main Cologne-Amsterdam railway. Pop. (1933) 22,116.
The town was the seat of the counts of Cleve as early as the 11th century, but it did not receive municipal rights until 1242. The duchy of Cleve, which lay on both banks of the Rhine passed in 1368 to the counts of La Marck and was made a duchy in 1417, being united with the neighbouring duchies of Julich and Berg in 1521. By the treaty of Xanten in 1614, Cleve passed to the elector of Brandenburg, being afterwards incorporated with the electorate by the elector, Frederick William. The part of the duchy on the left bank of the Rhine was ceded to France in 1795; the remaining portion in 1805. In 1815 it was restored to Prussia, except some small portions which were given to the kingdom of Holland. The town is built in the Dutch style, lying on three small hills in a fertile district near the frontier of Hol land, about 2 m. from the Rhine, with which it is connected by a canal (the Spoykanal). The old castle of Schwanenburg is asso ciated with the legend of the "Knights of the Swan," immortalized in Wagner's Lohengrin. The building has been restored in modern times to serve as a court of justice and a prison. The collegiate church (Stiftskirche) dates from about 134o. The Annexkirche, formerly a convent of the Minorites, dates from the middle of the 15th century. The chief manufactures are boots and shoes, tobacco and machinery; there is also some trade in cattle and in wine. There are mineral wells. Cleve has become a favourite sum mer resort.