Draft:Land of Ravenstein

Land van Ravenstein
1761
Capital	Ravenstein
Official languages	Dutch
Demonym(s)	Ravensteiners
Government	Lord
Area
• Total	137 km2 (53 sq mi)
Currency	Dutch Guilder
Today part of	Netherlands

The former Land of Ravenstein

Castle Ravenstein in 1694

The Land of Ravenstein was a sovereign state along the Meuse during the entire Ancien Régime and included the two main towns of Ravenstein and Uden. After 1815, the Land of Ravenstein became part of the new province of North Brabant.

The Land of Ravenstein, contrary to what is sometimes stated, was neither administratively nor territorially part of the Duchy of Brabant. For that reason, the country was able to retain its independent status after 1648, while the adjacent Meierij van 's-Hertogenbosch came under the United Provinces as part of Staats-Brabant. However, the Republic did not hesitate to assert its power in the Land of Ravenstein in a few cases, which led to conflicts with the German princely houses that ruled over Ravenstein on several occasions.

Historical-geographical designation

• The Maaskantsgericht included: Ravenstein, Demen, Dennenburg, Deursen, Herpen, Reek, Schaijk and Velp
• The Heikantsgericht included: Uden, Boekel, Zeeland, Volkel

History

The core of the Land of Ravenstein lies in the current Herpen. In the Middle Ages, this place developed into a centre of power along the Meuse and formed the so-called Land van Herpen as a lordship. The lords of Cuijk were the owners of this land around 1150. When the house of Valkenburg came into possession of the Land van Herpen in the fourteenth century, Walraven van Valkenburg founded the castle of Ravenstein on the Maas in 1360. The town of Ravenstein was founded at this castle, which obtained city rights in 1380. This new town took over the central function of Herpen and, in addition to being a country court, also became the main course for the so-called Maaskantsgericht, under which the villages of Demen, Dennenburg, Deursen, Herpen, Huisseling, Langel, Reek, Schaijk and Velp fell.

A second court, the so-called Heikantsgericht, was located in the village of Uden. Uden was traditionally the largest village within the Land of Ravenstein and was the main town of the so-called Heikantsgericht, to which the villages of Zeeland, Volkel and Boekel belonged. Incidentally, they were not only politically, but also religiously dependent on Uden.

In 1397, the Lord of Ravenstein was captured at the Battle of Kleverhamm and the lordship came into the hands of the Duchy of Cleves. During the Jülich-Cleves issue, following the childless death in 1609 of Johan Willem van Kleef en Jülich, Dutch troops occupied the city in 1621. The area was assigned to Brandenburg in 1624, as a result of the Treaty of Xanten (1614).

In 1630, Ravenstein passed to a new owner, this time the Catholic German house of Palatinate-Neuburg. The State garrison temporarily left the city, only to return in 1635. In 1641, a special garrison church was built. Ravenstein, however, remained outside the Republic and freedom of religion returned. As a result, the land of Ravenstein became a refuge for monastic orders that had fled the Republic, while Catholics from across the border attended mass in churches on Ravenstein territory. In 1735, the baroque St. Lucia Church was built with the proceeds from the Ravenstein Lottery. When the French arrived in 1672, the State garrison withdrew again. The fortifications were then demolished.

At the beginning of the 18th century lord of Ravenstein was the 21st and last title of Charles XII of Sweden In 1735, the Saint-Lucia church was built, the only Dutch church in Baroque style outside the province of Limburg.

In 1794, the French occupation put an end to the autonomy of the Land. By proclamation of 21 October 1794, the land of Ravenstein was incorporated into France and placed under provisional French military administration. On 23 January 1798, Ravenstein and others were added to the Roer department as part of the arrondissement of Cleves; initially as the canton of Ravenstein and Megen and from 15 June 1798 as the canton of Ravenstein.

On 5 January 1800, Ravenstein - together with other areas in Brabant - was sold by France to the Batavian Republic by treaty. The areas in question were administered by the Batavian Republic under the name Gecedeerde Landen. In paragraph 2 of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 25 February 1803, the Lordship of Ravenstein is mentioned in the list of areas that the Electorate of Bavaria has ceded. Ecclesiastically, Ravenstein and Megen were merged into a new apostolic vicariate.

The Ceded Lands were added to the department of Batavian Brabant of the Batavian Commonwealth on 26 September 1805. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Holland in 1806, the department of Brabant was established by law of 13 April 1807 as the successor to Batavian Brabant.

In 1809, King Louis Bonaparte visited the Land of Ravenstein. He stated: "With regret, His Majesty has convinced himself that in the Ravenstein district the entire administration is in a situation far below the rest of the empire." With this he referred to the fact that everything in the Land of Ravenstein remained too much the same. The state border between the Meierij and the Land of Ravenstein had disappeared, but with it also the privileges that the old Land of Ravenstein had possessed.

Under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815), Ravenstein became part of the province of North Brabant. The castle was demolished down to its foundations in 1818.