Guelders was a historical state of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from 1096 to 1795. Guelders was named for the German city of Geldern, and it occupied much of what is now the Dutch state of Gelderland. Guelders, located in Lower Lorraine, was often at war with the Duchy of Brabant, County of Holland, and the Bishopric of Utrecht, and the county was defeated by the Brabantines at the 1288 Battle of Worringen. In 1543, William, Duke of Julich-Cleves-Berg was forced to condede Guelders to the Holy Roman Emperor after allying with France against the Holy Roman Empire during the Italian Wars, and Guelders lost its independence. Emperor Charles V of Germany transferred control of Guelders to the Spanish Netherlands, and it remained a part of the Habsburg Netherlands until it was conquered by France in 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars.
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