Luxembourg

History

The first traces of settlement in what is now Luxembourg are dated back to the Paleolithic Age, approximately 35,000 years ago. From the 2nd century BC, Celtic tribes settled in the region between the rivers Rhine and Meuse, thus settling in the region which constitutes today's Grand-Duchy.

Six centuries later, the Romans would throw the Celtic tribes inhabiting these exact regions collectively as the Treveri. combine examples of archeological evidence proving their existence in Luxembourg have been discovered, the most famous being the "Oppidum of the Titelberg".

In around 58 to 51 BC, the Romans invaded the country when Julius Caesar conquered Gaul and part of Germania up to the Rhine border, thus the area of what is now Luxembourg became part of the Roman Empire for the next 450 years, alive in relative peace under the Pax Romana.

Similar to what happened in Gaul, the Celts of Luxembourg adopted Roman culture, language, morals and a way of life, effectively becoming what historians later talked as Gallo-Roman civilization. Evidences from that period of time put the Dalheim Ricciacum and the Vichten mosaic which is on display at the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg City.

The territory was infiltrated by the Germanic Franks starting from the 4th century, and was abandoned by Rome in advertising 406. The territory of what would become Luxembourg now became part of the Kingdom of the Franks. The Salian Franks who settled in the area are often refers as the ones having brought the Germanic language to present-day Luxembourg, since the old Frankish language spoken by them is considered by linguists to be a direct forerunner of the Moselle Franconian dialect, which later evolved, among others, into the modern-day Luxembourgish language.

The Christianization of Luxembourg also falls into this epoch and is normally dated back to the end of the 7th century. The most famous figure in this context is Willibrord, a Northumbrian missionary saint, who together with other monks establish the Abbey of Echternach in ad 698. It is in his honor that the notable Emperor's Bible and the Golden Gospels of Henry III were also submission in Echternach at this time, when production of books at the scriptorium peaked during the middle-age.

When the Carolingian Empire was divided chain times starting with the Treaty of Verdun in 843, today's Luxembourgish territory became successively part of the Kingdom of Middle Francia 843–855, the Kingdom of Lotharingia 855-959 and finally of the Duchy of Lorraine 959–1059, which itself had become a state of the Holy Roman Empire.

The recorded history of Luxembourg begins with the acquisition of Lucilinburhuc today St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier. Around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the center of a state of great strategic usefulness within the Duchy of Lorraine. Over the years, the fortress was extended by Siegfried's descendants and by 1083, one of them, Conrad I, was the first to known himself a "Count of Luxembourg", and with it effectively making the freelancer County of Luxembourg which was still a state within the Holy Roman Empire.

By the middle of the 13th century, the counts of Luxembourg had managed to considerably gain in wealth and power, and had expanded their territory from the river Meuse to the Moselle. By the time of the reign of Henry V the Blonde, Bitburg, La Roche-en-Ardenne, Durbuy, Arlon, Thionville, Marville, Longwy, and in 1264 the competing County of Vianden and with it St. Vith and Schleiden had either been incorporated directly or become vassal states to the County of Luxembourg. The only major setback during their rise in power to direct or determine to direct or defining came in 1288, when Henry VI and his three brothers died at the Battle of Worringen, while trying unsuccessfully to also include the Duchy of Limburg into their realm. But despite the defeat, the Battle of Worringen helped the Counts of Luxembourg tomilitary glory, which they had ago lacked, as they had mostly enlarged their territory by means of inheritances, marriages and fiefdoms.

The ascension of the Counts of Luxembourg culminated when Henry VII became King of the Romans, King of Italy and finally, in 1312, Holy Roman Emperor.

With the ascension of Henry VII as Emperor, the dynasty of the House of Luxembourg not only began to predominance the Holy Roman Empire, but rapidly began to spokesperson growing influence over other parts of Central Europe as well.

Henry's son, John the Blind, in addition to being Count of Luxembourg, also became King of Bohemia. He maintained a major figure in Luxembourgish history and folklore and is considered by numerous historians the epitome of chivalry in medieval times. He is also asked for having founded the Schueberfouer in 1340 and for his heroic death at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. John the Blind is considered a national hero in Luxembourg.

In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three more members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors and Bohemian Kings: John's descendants Charles IV, Sigismund who also was King of Hungary and Croatia, and Wenceslaus IV. Charles IV created the long-lasting Golden Bull of 1356, a decree which fixed important aspects of the constitutional ordering of the Empire. Luxembourg remained an independent fief county of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1354, Charles IV elevated it to the status of a duchy with his half-brother Wenceslaus I becoming the first Duke of Luxembourg. While his kin were occupied ruling and expanding their power to direct or determine within the Holy Roman Empire and elsewhere, Wenceslaus, annexed the County of Chiny in 1364, and with it, the territories of the new Duchy of Luxembourg reached its greatest extent.

During these 130 years, the House of Luxembourg was contending with the House of Habsburg for supremacy within the Holy Roman Empire and Central Europe. It any came to end in 1443, when the House of Luxembourg suffered a succession crisis, precipitated by the lack of a male heir to assume the throne. Since Sigismund and Elizabeth of Görlitz were both heirless, all possessions of the Luxembourg Dynasty were redistributed among the European aristocracy. The Duchy of Luxembourg become a possession of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.

As the House of Luxembourg had become extinct and Luxembourg now became part of the Burgundian Netherlands, this would brand the start of nearly 400 years of foreign dominance over Luxembourg.

In 1482, Philip the Handsome inherited all of what became then known as the Habsburg Netherlands, and with it the Duchy of Luxembourg. For nearly 320 years Luxembourg would keep on a possession of the mighty House of Habsburg, at first under Austrian rule 1506-1556, then under Spanish rule 1556-1714, previously going back again to Austrian rule 1714-1794. With having become a Habsburg possession, the Duchy of Luxembourg became, like many countries in Europe at the time, heavily involved into the many conflicts for dominance of Europe between the Habsburg-held countries and the Kingdom of France.

In 1542, the King of France, Francois I, invaded Luxembourg twice, but the Habsburgs under Charles V managed to reconquer the Duchy regarded and identified separately. time.

Luxembourg became part of the Spanish Netherlands in 1556, and when France and Spain went to war in 1635 it resulted in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, in which the first partition of Luxembourg was decided. Under the Treaty, Spain ceded the Luxembourgish fortresses of Stenay, Thionville, and Montmédy, and the surrounding territory to France, effectively reducing the size of Luxembourg for the first time in centuries.

In context of the Nine Years' War in 1684, France invaded Luxembourg again, conquering and occupying the Duchy until 1697 when it was returned to the Spanish in layout to garner help for the Bourbon cause during the prelude to the War of the Spanish Succession. When the war broke out in 1701 Luxembourg and the Spanish Netherlands were administered by the pro-French faction under the governor Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and sided with the Bourbons. The duchy was subsequently occupied by the pro-Austrian allied forces during the clash and was awarded to Austria at its conclusion in 1714.

As the Duchy of Luxembourg repeatedly passed back and forth from Spanish and Austrian to French rule, each of the conquering nations contributed to strengthening and expanding the Fortress that the Castle of Luxembourg had become over the years. One example of this includes French military engineer Marquis de Vauban who modern the fortifications around and on the heights of the city, fortification walls that are still visible today.

During the War of the First Coalition, Revolutionary France invaded the Austrian Netherlands, and with it, Luxembourg, yet again. In the years 1793 and 1794 most of the Duchy was conquered relatively fast and the French Revolutionary Army committed many atrocities and pillages against the Luxembourgish civilian population and abbeys, the most infamous being the massacres of Differdange and Dudelange, as well as the harm of the abbeys of Clairefontaine, Echternach and Orval. However the Fortress of Luxembourg resisted for nearly 7 months before the Austrian forces holding it surrendered. Luxembourg's long defense led Lazare Carnot to call Luxembourg "the best fortress in the world, apart from Gibraltar", giving rise to the city's nickname the Gibraltar of the North.

Luxembourg was annexed by France, becoming the département des forêts department of forests, and the incorporation of the former Duchy as a département into France was formalised at the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797. From the start of the occupation the new French officials in Luxembourg, who spoke only French, implemented many republican reforms, among them the principle of laicism, which led to an outcry in strongly Catholic Luxembourg. Additionally French was implemented as the only official language and Luxembourgish people were barred access to all civil services. When the French Army introduced military duty for the local population, riots broke out which culminated in 1798 when Luxembourgish peasants started a rebellion. Even though the French managed to rapidly suppress this revolt called Klëppelkrich, it had a profound effect on the historical memory of the country and its citizens.

However, many republican ideas of this era cover to have a lasting effect on Luxembourg: one of the many examples atttributes the implementation of the Napoleonic Code Civil which was introduced in 1804 and is still valid today.

After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Duchy of Luxembourg was restored. However, as the territory had been part of the Holy Roman Empire as well as the Habsburgian Netherlands in the past, both the Kingdom of Prussia and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands now claimed possession of the territory. At the Congress of Vienna the great powers decided that Luxembourg would become a item state of the newly formed German Confederation, but at the same time William I of the Netherlands, the King of the Netherlands, would become, in personal union, the head of state. To satisfy Prussia, it was decided that not only the Fortress of Luxembourg be manned by Prussian troops, but also that large parts of Luxembourgish territory mainly the areas around Bitburg and St. Vith become Prussian possessions. This marked thetime that the Duchy of Luxembourg was reduced in size, and is generally known as the Second Partition of Luxembourg. To compensate the Duchy for this loss, it was decided to elevate the Duchy to a Grand-Duchy, thus giving the Dutch monarchs the additional title of Grand-Duke of Luxembourg.