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Wilhelm 3rd, duke of Cleve (1539-1592), had in 1546 obtained the right of succession through the female line from Kaiser Karl 5th whose daughter Marie von Österreich he had married, in case the male line of succession should fail. His son Johann Wilhelm (1592-1609) was the last of his line. He died in Düsseldorf on 25 march 1609, suffering from an incurable mental illness. His wife, the beautiful Jacobe von Baden, was murdered in 1597. Over the inheritance an all-out war seemed possible. The main protagonists were the Elector Johann Sigismund von Brandenburg who had married Anna, daughter of Marie Eleonore, the eldest sister of the Duke, and the Count Palatine Wolfgang von Neuberg, the son of the second sister of the deceased. The Count Palatine, who married a Bavarian Princess in 1613, was of the Catholic faith, the Elector was of the Protestant faith. Therefore both received strong new support, one from the Catholic league, the other from the Dutch Calvinists, who bordered the province of Cleve. However, in the 1614 agreement of Xanten, the two princes divided the inheritance peacefully. By lot, Jülich and Berg fell to Wolfgang, Cleve, Mark and Ravensberg to Johann Sigismund. Ravenstein remain contentious. Later it was left to the Duke of Jülich-Berg for money in the heritary settlement of Cleve on 19 September 1666. Johann Sigismund also had to give up the forts of Wesel, Rees and Shenkenschanz in Cleve due to the so-called Hoefyserschen debt of 100,000 Thaler. Due to interest this grew to 12 Million Guilders over the passage of time. In 1674 these forts were handed over to the great Electors by the French who had snatched them from the Dutch in 1672. Johann Sigismund died on 2nd January 1620 and left his inheritance to his son Georg Wilhelm who was allied to the Kaiser since 1637 even though he was the brother-in-law of King Gustaf Adolfs of Sweden. He moved from Berlin to East Prussia to escape the wars and indulge in undisturbed leisure and hunting. There he died at Königsberg on 1st December 1640. Likewise he had his son Friedrich Wilhelm, born on 16th February 1620, sent to an area spared the unrest of war, namely Holland.