As of 2020, Luxembourg citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 187 countries and territories, ranking the Luxembourgish passport … The occupation of the country by the Franks in the 5th century ce marked the beginning of the Middle Ages in the locality. The country's history was influenced by the competing needs of the Roman Catholic Church and the ruling dynasties of the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial Germany with those of royal and republican France for the population's souls and land. Along with the rest of the Burgundian inheritance, the duchy of Luxembourg passed to the Habsburgs in 1477. The proverb goes that it is only that which is provisional which is destined to last: today Luxembourg, alongside Strasbourg and Brussels, is one of the three headquarters of the European Union. Tourism in the 20th century depends for a great part on the exploitation of this location and the remains of the fortress ( for example The Casemates). In the fourteenth century, the Counts of Luxembourg increased the dynasty's international prestige by advantageous political marriages and battlefield heroics as allies of France's kings in territorial and religious wars in Europe and Africa. Two Belgic tribes, the Treveri and Mediomatrici, inhabited the country from about 450 bce until the Roman conquest of 53 bce. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, bordered by France, Germany, and Belgium in Western Europe, became an independent country in 1890. Belgium accepted this arrangement but William I rejected it, only to subsequently accede to the arrangement in 1839. B.P. During the 19th century the conflict between the Bourbons and the Habsburgs had Luxembourg at the very front line between France and Germany. In between lie centuries of turbulent history, reflected in the city’s silhouette that towers above the impressive remains of the historic fortress. It was integrated into the territory of the Netherlands and drawn with them into the duel which the Valois-Bourbons and the Habsburgs indulged in during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Certain cities owe their origins to a religious sanctuary, to an abbey, to the passage of a river, or to a crossing of the ways. The name would pass to the city which took shape all about, and then be handed on to the country which developed around that city. The country shares international borders with Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. First of all, the rocky promontory obtained by Siegfried was of obvious strategic interest and gave itself admirably to fortification. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 ceded the Duchy of Luxembourg in personal union to the King of the Netherlands, the head of the House of Nassau-Orange. It was there that the name of Luxembourg first appeared in history. If you proceed to navigate our website, you accept our use of cookies. Luxembourg - History. 181 | L-2011 Luxembourg And then, suddenly, in 1952, came the great opportunity for which they had been waiting, the chance to complete their task after so long. It was only possible to avoid it at the last moment. In 1354 the emperor Charles IV made the county a duchy. Education Encyclopedia - StateUniversity.comGlobal Education ReferenceLuxembourg - History Background, Constitutional Legal Foundations, Educational System—overview, Preprimary Primary Education, Secondary Education, Copyright © 2020 Web Solutions LLC. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, Luxembourg was fought over in dynastic wars by either the French Bourbon or Bonaparte dynasties with the Austrian Habsburgs. Siegfried was to build a veritable fortress on the promontory. According to the deed recording the transaction, a small stronghold called "Lucilinburhuc" was situated there at that time. The feudal alliances paid off with the election of Henry of Luxembourg as Holy Roman Emperor in 1308.

Thus was created the distinction between the upper and the lower city. At the end of a memorable siege, led by Vauban, the forces of the French King Louis XIV conquered Luxembourg in 1684. William obtained a Luxembourg that was considerably diminished, since those of its districts lying east of the Our, Sûre, and Moselle rivers had been ceded to Prussia. According to legend, Count Siegfried would be married to Melusina, a mermaid who became a part of European folklore and who was to disappear beneath the waves of the Alzette. The division of the Habsburg territories in 1555–56 following Emperor Charles V’s abdication put the duchy in the possession of the Spanish Habsburgs. In fact a war over it almost broke out between Napoleon III and Bismarck in 1867. The effect of so many banks taking root has not always been favourable, mainly because a number of fine dwellings, which had once belonged to city folk, have now been replaced by modern constructions without charme. Despite its small size - 2,586 km2 and home to 476,000 inhabitants - the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a sovereign state with a rich history. The location gave itself admirably to fortification. Its population is polyglot and cosmopolitan. All Rights Reserved Secondly, it would never be a large city: there were 5,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 14th century, 8,500 by the end of the 18th century, 46,500 immediately after the First World War, and today there are 100,000 at the present day. Of the approximately 122.000, over 67% are foreigners, a fact that is reflected not least in the wide range of multilingual and international cultural events on offer. Almost 8,000 officials now work there. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. They have beguiled so many painters, from Turner to the luxembourgish artist such as Selig, Fresez, Liez, Kutter and so on. At the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession, by the treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt (1713–14), Luxembourg (along with Belgium) passed from the Spanish to the Austrian Habsburgs. There are still remains of the impressive remparts, but they face another problem today - modern traffic. Christianity was introduced into Luxembourg in the seventh century B.C.E., when the Roman Catholic Church founded a group of Benedictine monasteries between 633 and 721. The impact of all this upon the city has been considerable.

History and Ethnic Relations Emergence of the Nation. 30, Place Guillaume II | L-1648 Luxembourg The United Netherlands of Catholics and Calvinists barely lasted fifteen years before Catholic Flemish-speaking and Walloon (Frenchspeaking) citizens in the southern part of the country rebelled against the Calvinist Dutch in the north, gaining independence in 1830 as the new country of Belgium. French King Louis XIV won Luxembourg on the battlefield and governed it until 1713, when the Treaty of Utrecht awarded Luxembourg to the Habsburgs as part of the Austrian Netherlands. The city of Luxembourg was to be a fortress city for almost a thousand years until being dismantled in 1867. The origins and the name of Luxembourg are intimately linked with one person, and with one place. By treaty in 1830, Luxembourg was split into a Walloon section that merged with modern Belgium, while the predominately German-speaking section remained a sovereign grand duchy in personal union with the King of the Netherlands, but a member state within German economic and political organizations. The second trump-card was the location of the city, encompassed on three sides by the deep valleys of the River Petrusse and the River Alzette. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. The Sisters of Notre Dame continue to staff and administer Luxembourg's private girls schools. From the beginning of the Sixties, a European quarter has developed, on the Kirchberg plateau, linked to the city by the Pont Charlotte. With the arrival of political stability Luxembourg became home to the Benedictine, Cistercian, Dominican, Franciscan, and the Penitents monastic orders and the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights. Contact   Terms of use   Sitemap, This website uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide personalized content. In 1831 the great powers (France, Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria) decided that Luxembourg had to remain in William I’s possession and form part of the German Confederation.