Kleve
Encyclopedia : K : KL : KLE : Kleve
Kleve (occasionally referred to in English as Cleves) is a city in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, near the Dutch border and the river Rhine, at . Population: 49,398 (2002), Area 97.72 km². Today it belongs to and is capital of the district of Kleve.
History
The name Kleve derives from the word cliff (German Kliff), as the Schwanenburg (English: Swan Castle), where the dukes of Cleves resided, was founded on a steep hill. The old castle has a massive tower, the Schwanenturm 180 feet high, that is associated in legend with the Knights of the Swan, immortalized in Richard Wagner's Lohengrin.
Medieval Kleve grew together from four parts — the castle Schwanenburg, the village below the castle, the first city of Kleve on the Heideberg hill, and the Neustadt ("New City") from the 14th century. In 1242 Kleve received city rights. The Duchy of Cleves, which roughly covered today's districts of Kleve, Wesel and Duisburg, was united with the Duchy of Mark in 1368, was made a duchy itself in 1417, and then united with the neighboring duchies of Jülich and Berg in 1521, when Duke Johann III of Cleves, married Mary, the heiress of Jülich-Berg-Ravenburg.
Kleve's most famous native is Anne of Cleves (1515-1557), daughter of John III, Duke of Cleves and wife of Henry VIII of England.
The local line became extinct in the male line in 1609, when Kleve passed to the son-in-law, the elector of Brandenburg and became an exclave of the territory of Prussia.
The mineral waters of Kleve and the wooded parkland surrounding it made it a fashionable spa in the 19th century.
Kleve suffered heavy bombing during the Second World War, with over 90% of buildings in the city severely damaged. As a result, relatively little of the pre-1945 City remains, although the Schwanenburg and the Stiftskirche, the Catholic Parish church, do remain and positioned as they are on top of a hill, dominate the surrounding flat countryside for many miles.
Since 1953 there has been a broadcasting facility for FM radio and television from regional broadcaster WDR near Kleve. It uses as aerial mast a 126.4 metre high guyed steel tube mast with a diametre of 1.6 metres, which is guyed 57 and 101.6 metres above ground. This mast replaced the old radio mast from the 1960s, which was used until 1993, additionally for transmissions in the medium wave range.
See also
- Duchy of Cleves
- Mary of Cleves (19 September 1426 — 23 August 23, 1487, Chauny, Picardie), the daughter of Adolf of Cleves (1316 - 1425) and Mary of Burgundy. Her brother was Johann I, Duke of Cleves (1425 - 1458), for whom the county of Cleves was made a duchy by the Emperor. She married Charles de Valois, duke of Orleans and Prince of France in 1440 and was the mother of Louis XII of France. She was buried in the church of St-Celestin, Paris.
- Anne of Cleves, queen consort of Henry VIII of England
- John III, Duke of Cleves
- Joachim Murat of the Napoleonic years.
- Duke Englebert of Cleves, Count of Nevers
External links
- [City of Kleve] - Official city website
- [Edicts of Jülich, Cleves, Berg, Grand Duchy Berg, 1475-1815 (Coll. Scotti) online]
- [Settlement of Dortmund between Brandenburg and Palatinate-Neuburg and the conflict of succession in Jülich, in full text]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.