Duchy of Bouillon

The Duchy of Bouillon was a small duchy comprising Bouillon and adjacent towns and villages in what is now Belgium, held by the lords of Bouillon Castle — first recorded in 988 — and in the eleventh century a freehold of the House of Ardennes. The crusader Godfrey of Bouillon, later the first king of Jerusalem, sold Bouillon to the Prince-Bishopric of Liège in 1095, and the prince-bishops became lords of Bouillon, eventually adopting the title of duke. The duchy was later claimed by members of the Houses of La Marck and La Tour d'Auvergne, and in 1678 — the beginning of the period shown on the map — it became a sovereign duchy under French protection, ruled by the House of La Tour d'Auvergne. Bouillon was by far its largest town, situated on the river Semois and dominated by its castle above the water. The state was tiny — 2,500 inhabitants in 1789 — but sovereign: it minted its own coins and issued its own laws under the dukes of La Tour. It remained sovereign until French revolutionary forces annexed it in 1795. By the Treaty of Paris of 1815 the former duchy passed to the king of the Netherlands as grand duke of Luxemburg, and in 1830 the territory rebelled with most of the grand duchy and joined Belgium.