GUELDERS Guelders was originally named after the town of Geldern in the quarter Roermond in present-day Germany, as shown on the following map of the Duchy of Guelders around 1350.

Duchy of Guelders, about 1350.

Due to the Eighty Years' War (1586-1648) the Duchy of Guelders is split. The three northern quarters participate in the Union of Utrecht (1579) and will later join the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands as Guelders. The Upper Quarter or Upper Guelders remain in Spanish hands but after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 this area is also further divided : • Prussian Upper Quarter: the main part and the capital Geldern goes to Prussia; • State Upper Quarter: Venlo area goes to the Republic as State Upper Guelders; • Guliks Upper Quarter: Erkelens goes to the Duchy of Jülich; • Austrian Upper Quarter: only Roermond and some surrounding municipalities remained under the authority of the Habsburgs, now the Austrian branch, and were Austrian Gelre. (In 1790 this small Belgian Gelders was one of the founding members of the Dutch United States). As a result of the Treaty of Vienna of 1815, the western part of Prussian Upper Guelders goes back to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, as well as State Upper Guelders (Venlo) and Austrian Gelders (Roermond). All these parts of the former Upper Quarter go in the great province of Limburg. The northern quarters together are about the same as the present day province of Guelders.

The present day province of Guelders.