Düsseldorf im Jahre 1715 nach E. P. Ploennies

Title

Düsseldorf im Jahre 1715 nach E. P. Ploennies

Description

General view of the city of Düsseldorf on the Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia. Below the view a city index. After the feather drawing by Erich Philipp Ploennies in 1714. With additional sheet and description.

ca. 1715

Artist

Anonymus

Historical Description

The medieval city of Düsseldorf was founded in the 12th/13th century near early medieval settlements and was granted city rights in 1288 at the confluence of the Düssel and Rhine rivers. In 1380, Count Wilhelm von Berg was elevated to the status of an imperial prince by the Roman-German King Wenceslas. In the same year, the new duke decided to abandon the relatively remote castle on the Wupper as his seat of government and to develop Düsseldorf, situated on the Rhine, into his new residence. A castle for the planned Bergisch capital of Düsseldorf was first mentioned in a document in 1382. From 1538 to 1543, Düsseldorf was the capital of a union of territorial states which, in addition to Jülich-Kleve-Berg, also included the Duchy of Geldern, the counties of Mark, Ravensberg and Zutphen and the Lordship of Ravenstein. After the extinction of the Jülich-Kleve-Berg line of rulers in 1609 and during the Jülich-Kleve succession dispute between Brandenburg and Palatinate-Neuburg, the Spanish General Ambrosio Spinola occupied the city as an imperial commissioner in 1614. In the course of the settlement of the Jülich-Klevi succession dispute, Düsseldorf and the Duchy of Jülich-Berg became part of the then still Protestant House of Palatinate-Neuburg, a branch of the noble Wittelsbach dynasty. Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz ("Jan Wellem"), even as sovereign, retained Düsseldorf as his main residence. During Johann Wilhelm's reign, Düsseldorf experienced considerable economic, cultural and urban development due to the presence of the illustrious court. Elector Karl Theodor von der Pfalz continued this development. The picture gallery, founded by Johann Wilhelm and also supported by Karl Theodor, was outstanding and famous. However, Düsseldorf had already lost its status as the elector's main residence to Heidelberg in 1718. In 1720, this function was then transferred to Mannheim and in 1778 to Munich. In the course of the coalition wars unleashed by the French Revolution, Düsseldorf surrendered to the French revolutionary army in 1795 and remained under French occupation until it was returned to Electoral Palatinate Bavaria in the Peace of Lunéville in 1801. From the mid-1830s, the social and economic upheaval triggered by industrialization gripped the small Prussian provincial town. Steam navigation on the Rhine, the establishment of a free port (1831) and the construction of the first West German railroad lines (1838) .