The Duchy of Luxemburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from 1353 to 1795, with Luxembourg serving as its capital. The duchy was created in 1353 when the County of Luxemburg was elevated, and the House of Luxembourg ruled the duchy until 1444, when Elisabeth of Luxembourg sold the duchy to Duke Philip the Good of the House of Valois-Burgundy. Luxemburg became a part of the Burgundian Netherlands, but it became a part of the Habsburg Netherlands in 1482 after Mary of Burgundy married Emperor Ferdinand I of Germany, a member of the German House of Habsburg. With the abdication of Emperor Charles V in 1555, control of the Habsburg Netherlands passed to Spain, and the secession of the northern Dutch provinces of the Netherlands in 1581 left Luxembourg as a part of the remaining "Spanish Netherlands" in the south. Luxembourg remained under Spanish rule until 1714, when it became a part of the Austrian Netherlands as a result of the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1795, the Duchy of Luxemburg was annexed by the French First Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars, and it would not be revived after the wars ended; instead, it was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at the 1815 Congress of Vienna.
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