County of Culemborg

The lordship of Culemborg (alternatively Kuilenburg and Cuylenburg), elevated to a county in 1555, in the current province of Gelderland, was an independent polity that until 1720 was in principle not part of the Dutch Republic, but in practice was largely dependent on it. It consisted of the city of Culemborg and the villages of Everdingen, Goilberdingen and Zijderveld.

History
In 1318, Culemborg received city rights from the lord, Jan van Beusichem. From 1341, the lords of Culemborg also owned the domain of Werth (Weert) near Borken. The coat of arms of this domain (black lion in silver) was included in the coat of arms of the domain of Culemborg (three red columns in gold).

Shortly before the death of the last lady of Culemborg, Elisabeth van Culemborg (who died on December 9, 1555, and was married to Antoine of Lalaing), Emperor Charles V elevated the seigneury to a county. Floris van Pallant, a grandson of her eldest sister, inherited the county. Floris was also ruler in the county of Wittem and played an important role in the Dutch revolt against royal authority. In 1639 the county came to Count Philip Theodoor van Waldeck-Eisenberg through his mother Anna van Baden-Durlach. The last Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg, George Frederik (who died in 1692) left the county to his daughter Louisa Anna. Following her death without issue in 1714, the county passed to the son of her deceased sister Sophia Henriette, who had been married to Ernst of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In 1709 the manor of Werth was sold to the Prince-Bishopric of Münster.

Duke Ernst Frederik sold the county in 1720 to the Landstände of the Nijmegen Quarter, who in turn donated it to Stadtholder William IV in 1748. The House of Orange still carries the title of Count or Countess of Culemborg.

Protestant Reformation
In the sixteenth century the Anabaptists were active in Culemborg, which the Diet fiercely opposed in 1539. In 1534/1535, a resident of Culemborg, Wolter Tesschenmacher, acted at the fall of the Anabaptist kingdom in Munster. In 1566, sympathizers of the iconoclasts manifested themselves with the active cooperation of the Count of Culemborg Floris van Pallandt. In the same year, Floris handed over the chapel of the Sint-Pietersgasthuis to the Calvinists, which became the first Protestant church building in the Netherlands.

In the 1570s, the Johan Willemsvolk gang from Wesel in particular was active in Culemborg. The People of Johan Willemsz was the largest splinter group of the Batenburg sect that combined political criticism with criminality in its actions. People lived by robbery and murder in the countryside in the border region of Holland and Germany.

The free tolerance policy during the reformation had hardly worked in Gelre, in contrast to Holland. The free domain of Culemborg was an exception to this.

With the arrival of the German Van Waldeck-Eisenberg family as counts of Culemborg, Lutheranism entered Culemborg. In 1640, a preacher came from Germany to conduct services for the count's family and staff in the castle's court chapel.

Lords and Counts of Culemborg
With the arrival of the Batavian Republic, the counties ceased to exist. However, due to the donation to William IV, the head of the House of Orange-Nassau (the Dutch head of state) continues to use the title Count/Countess of Culemborg to this day.