History of the Grand Duchy
of Luxembourg
236 BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG REGION BY REGION
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy
(1396–1467) by van der WeydenTIMELINE900 1040 1180 1320 1460963 The first castle on the Rocher du
Bock, Luxembourg City, is built by
Siegfried of Lorraine1354 The Duchy of
Luxembourg is created,
with Wenceslas I as
the first dukeThe Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has been a sovereign
nation since the 1830s. However, it has a far older his-
tory, much of which it shares with Belgium. Over the
years, the Duchy’s borders have swelled and contracted
with the fortunes of war, and, until 1839, included the
Belgian Province of Luxembourg. The country’s history
is very much a dynastic one: a succession of counts,
dukes and grand dukes has led up to the present day,
with Grand Duke Henri as the current head of state.EARLY HISTORYWhen the Romans came to
the Luxembourg region in
54 BC, they found it occupied
by a prosperous iron-working
tribe called the Treveri who
had settled near the Moselle
valley, some 600 years earlier.
The Franks muscled into this
borderland area at the decline
of the Roman Empire (5th cen-
tury), introducing a Germanic
language that would become
Lëtzebuergesch, the country’s
national language. In the
6th century, the Franks also
introduced Christianity.
After Charlemagne’s death
in 814, the Frankish Empire
divided in two: Luxembourg
was assigned to Lotharingia
(Lorraine). Luxembourg’s rul-
ing dynasty was founded by
Siegfried of Lorraine (c.922–
98), Count of Ardennes and
a vassal of the Holy Roman
Empire. In 963, he acquired
the castle of Lucilinburhuc
on the Bock, a rocky outcrop
on which Luxembourg City
now stands. This stronghold,
fortified over the years into a
formidable bastion, became
the hub of a small state, stra-
tegically placed between the
Low Countries, Germany and
France. Siegfried is sometimesBURGUNDY AND SPAINIn 1419, Wenceslas II passed
away without a male heir.
Conflict erupted between
rival claimants and was onlyresolved by a treaty that
handed the Duchy to Philip
the Good, Duke of Burgundy,
who ruled over much of
the Low Countries. Philip
took power in 1443 and
for the next four centuries
Luxembourg, like Belgium,
was ruled by the dukes of
Burgundy; after Mary of
Burgundy’s marriage to
Maximilian, it was ruled by
the Habsburg sovereigns of
Spain and Austria. However,
the Prussians, the Electors of
Brandenburg and the related
Orange-Nassau family also
held a claim to Luxembourg.
In pursuit of his claim
to the Spanish Netherlands,
King Louis XIV of France
invaded in 1684 and ruled
Luxembourg until 1698.
During this time, Louis’s
energetic military engineer
Vauban reshaped the fortifi-
cations of Luxembourg City.
The French returned in 1794,
when their Revolutionary
Army swept through the state,
ending the Austrian rule.A GRAND DUCHYThe final defeat of Napoleon
in 1815 placed the future of
Luxembourg in the hands
of the victorious allies at the
Congress of Vienna. As both
the Netherlands and Prussia
had claims to Luxembourg,
the solution was a compro-
mise. As in Belgium, William I
of Orange, King of the
Netherlands, was appointed
ruler, and Luxembourg was
made a Grand Duchy, with
territory that included today’s
Province of Luxembourg in
Belgium. The Grand Duchy
also became a member of
the German Confederation,
a union of states set up to1059 Conrad I
becomes the count
of Luxembourg1312 Count Henry VII
is elected Holy Roman
Emperor, but dies in 13131419 Rival
claimants to
the Duchy
battle for
power1443 Philip
the Good of
Burgundy steps
in to take over
Luxembourgcited as the first Count of
Luxembourg, but others give
this distinction to his descend-
ant Conrad I (r.1059–86).
Three of their line became
Holy Roman Emperor, begin-
ning with Henry VII in 1312.
In 1354, the state was made
a Duchy within the Holy
Roman Empire. Wenceslas I
(r.1353–83), the first duke,
added Brabant and Limburg
(modern central and eastern
Belgium) to his territory.Seal of Conrad I962 First Holy Roman Emperor crownedThe bulwarked La Vieille Ville rising above Luxembourg City’s verdant Lower Town