AREMBERG, a small market-town of Prussia, in the government of Coblentz and circle of Adenau. It is situated not far from the river Ahr, and has a castle which was formerly the residence of the dukes of Aremberg. About the year 1298 the earldom of Aremberg, which had previously belonged to a branch of the house of Hostaden, came by his marriage with Matilda to John of Engelbert, earl of Mark (Westphalia), and continued in his family till 1547, when John of Barbançon, of the celebrated house of Ligne, by marrying the only sister of the childless Robert III., obtained possession of the lands, which were raised by Maximilian II. to a principality, and ranked among the German states. John, who is remembered as the leader of troops from the Netherlands to serve against the Huguenots, having fallen (1568) in the battle of Heiligerlee, was succeeded by his son Philip Charles, admiral of Flanders, who greatly increased his possessions by marrying Ann of Croy, heiress of Croy, Arschot, Chimay, <fcc. He died in 1616, and was followed by his eldest son, stadtholder of Namur, who, having informed the Spanish government of a conspiracy, was rewarded by arrest (1634) and imprisonment at Berdessillas, where he died in 1640. Under his son, Philip Francis, Aremberg was raised to a dukedom (1644). Alexander Joseph and Philip Charles Francis both fell in battle against the Turks, the former in 1663, and the latter in 1691. Charles’s widow, Maria Henrietta, left her country and possessions rather than recognise the duke of Anjou as king of Spain, and lived in dignified poverty till the battle of Ramilies gave back the Netherlands to their rightful possessor. She died in 1744. Her only son Leopold is known in history as a military leader (at Malplaquet, Belgrade, Ettinghen, &c.), and as ...