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COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF HOLLAND
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See also:COUNTY AND See also:PROVINCE OF See also:
Among the records of the abbey of Egmont is a document by which the See also:emperor See also:Arnulf gave to a certain count Gerolf the same land " between Swithardeshage and Kinhem," afterwards held by Dirk I
.
It is generally assumed that this Gerolf was his See also:father, otherwise their See also:deed of gift would not have been Dlrkf(. preserved among the See also:family papers
.
Dirk II. was
the founder of the abbey of Egmont
.
His younger son Egbert became See also:archbishop of Trews
.
His See also:elder son Arnulf married Liutgardis, daughter of Siegfried of See also:Luxemburg and See also:sister-in-See also:law of the emperor See also: Dirk I(( . But no sooner was he arrived at man's See also:estate than Dirk turned upon his enemies with. courage and vigour . He waged See also:war, successfully with Adelbold, the powerful See also:bishop of See also:Utrecht, and made himself See also:master not only of his ancestral possessions, but of the district on the Meuse known as the Bushland of Merweda (foresluni Merweda), hitherto subject tothe see of Utrecht . In the midst of this marshy See also:tract, at a point commanding the courses of the Meuse and the Waal, he built a See also:castle (about 1015) and began to See also:levy tolls . Around this castle sprang up the town of Thure- drecht or Dordrecht . The possession of this stronghold Dordrecht . 2:1r was so injurious to the See also:commerce of See also:Tiel, See also:Cologne and the Rhenish towns with See also:England that complaints were made by the bishop of Utrecht and the archbishop of Cologne to the emperor . Henry II. took the See also:part of the complainants and commissioned See also:Duke See also:Godfrey of See also:Lorraine to chastise the See also:young Frisian count . Duke Godfrey Godfrtyot invaded Dirk's lands with a large See also:army, but they were Lorraine. impeded by the swampy nature of the country and totally defeated with heavy loss (See also:July 29, 1018) . The duke was himself taken prisoner . The result was that Dirk was not merely confirmed in his possession of Dordrecht and the Merweda Bushland (the later Holland) but also of the territory of a See also:vassal of the Utrecht see, Dirk Bavo by name, which he Beginning conquered . This victory of 1018 is often regarded as of the the true starting-point of the history of the See also:county of county of Holland . Having thus established his rule in the Houaadsouth, Dirk next proceeded to bring into subjection the Frisians in the See also:north . He appointed his See also:brother Siegfrid or Sikka as See also:governor over them . In his later years Dirk went upon a See also:pilgrimage to the See also:Holy Land from which he returned in 1034; and ruled in See also:peace until his See also:death in 1039 . His son, Dirk IV., was one of the most enterprising of his warlike and strenuous See also:race . He began the See also:long strife with the counts of See also:Flanders, as to the lordship over Walcheren Dirk Iv. and other islands of See also:Zeeland; the See also:quarrel was See also:im- portant, as dealing with the borderland between See also:French and See also:German overlordship . This strife, which lasted 400 years, did not at first break out into actual warfare, because both Dirk and See also:Baldwin V. of Flanders had a See also:common danger in Quarrel the emperor Henry III., who in 1046 occupied the with lands in dispute . Dirk allied himself with Godfrey Flanders the Bearded of Lorraine, who was at war with the about emperor, and his territory was invaded by a powerful Zeeland. imperial See also:fleet and army (1047) . But Dirk entrenched himself in his stronghold at See also:Vlaardingen, and when See also:winter came on he surrounded and cut off with his See also:light boats a number of the enemy's See also:ships, and destroyed a large part of their army as they made their way amidst the See also:marches, which impeded their See also:retreat . He was able to recover what he had lost and to make peace on his own terms . Two years later he was again assailed by a See also:coalition headed by the archbishop of Cologne and the bishop of Utrecht . They availed themselves of a very hard winter to penetrate into the land over the frozen See also:water . Dirk offered a stout resistance, but, according to the most trustworthy See also:account, was enticed into an ambuscade and was killed in the fight (1049) .
He died unmarried and was succeeded by his brother See also:Floris I
.
Floris, like his predecessors, was hard-fighting and tenacious-He gradually recovered possession of his ancestral lands
.
He found a formidable adversary in the able and warlike Rods See also: Among the possessions thus assigned to him is found comitatus omnis Arnulf . in Hollandt cum See also:omnibus ad bannum regalem pertinentibu.s . An examination of these documents shows the possessions of Dirk as in 1Vestfinge et circa oras Rheni, i.e. west of the See also:Vie and around the mouths of the See also:Rhine . Gertrude and her son appear to have withdrawn to the islands of Frisia (Zeeland), leaving William in undisturbed occupation of the disputed lands . In ro63 Gertrude contracted a See also:marriage with See also:Robert, the ' second son of Baldwin V. of Flanders, a man famous for his adventurous career (see FLANDERS) . On his marriage his father invested him with Imperial Flanders, as an apanage ruler of all Frisia (Zeeland), and thus became known among his Flemish countrymen as Robert the Frisian . The death of his brother Baldwin VI. in 1070 led to See also:civil war in Flanders, the claim of Robert to the guardianship of his See also:nephew Arnulf being disputed by Richilde, the widow of Baldwin . The issue was decided by the decisive victory of Robert at See also:Cassel (See also:February 1071) when Arnulf was killed and Richilde taken prisoner (see FLANDERS) . While Robert was thus engaged in Flanders, an effort was made to recover " the County of Holland " and other lands now held by William of Utrecht . The See also:people See also:rose in revolt, but by command of the emperor Henry IV. were speedily brought back under episcopal rule by an army under the command of Godfrey the Hunchback, Godfrey duke of See also:Lower Lorraine . Again in 1076, at the See also:request the Hunch- of the bishop, Duke Godfrey visited his domains in back of the Frisian borderland . At See also:Delft, of which town Lorraine tradition makes Godfrey the founder, the duke was conquers treacherously murdered (February 26, ro76)• William Holland . known as counts of Holland . Dirk V. died in 1091 and was succeeded by his son Floris II. the See also:Fat . This count had a peaceful and prosperous reign of See also:thirty-one years . Floris IL After his death (1122) his widow, Petronilla of Saxony, governed in the name of Dirk VI., who was a See also:minor . The See also:accession of her See also:half-brother, Lothaire of Saxony, to the imperial See also:throne on the death of Henry V. greatly strengthened Dirk Vi. her position . The See also:East Frisian districts, Oostergoo and Westergoo, were by Lothaire transferred from the rule of the bishops of Utrecht to that of the counts of Holland (1125) . These Frisians proved very troublesome subjects to Dirk VI . In 1132 they rose in insurrection under the See also:leader-See also:ship of Dirk's own brother, Floris the See also:Black . The emperor See also:Conrad III . (1138), who was of the See also:rival See also:house of See also:Hohenstaufen, gave back these Frisian districts to the bishop; it was in truth somewhat of an empty gift . The Frisian peasants and See also:fisher folk loved their See also:independence, and were equally refractory to the rule of any distant overlord, whether count or bishop . Dirk VI. was succeeded in 1157 by Floris III . Floris III. reversed the traditional policy of his house by allying himself with the Hohenstaufens . He became a devoted FIoNs adherent and friend of See also:Frederick See also:Barbarossa . He had Ht. troubles with West See also:Friesland and See also:Groningen, and a war with the count of Flanders concerning their respective rights in West Zeeland, in which he was beaten . In 1170 a great See also:flood caused immense devastation in the north and helped to form the Zuider Zee . In 1189 Floris accompanied Frederick Barbarossa upon the third Crusade, of which he was a Dirk distinguished leader . He died in 1190 at See also:Antioch of pestilence . His son, Dirk VII., had a stormy, but on the whole successful reign . Contests with the Flemings in West Zeeland and with the West Frisians, stirred up to revolt by his brother William, ended in his favour . The See also:brothers were reconciled and William was made count of East Friesland . In 1202, however, Dirk was defeated and taken prisoner by the duke of See also:Brabant, and had to See also:purchase peace on humiliating terms . He only survived his defeat a See also:short time and died early in 1204, leaving as his only issue a daughter, Ada, 17 years of See also:age . The question of See also:female See also:succession thus raised was not likely to be accepted without a See also:challenge by William .
It had been the intention of Dirk VII. to secure the recognition of his daughter's rights by appointing his brother her See also:guardian
.
His widow Alida, however, an ambitious woman of strong See also:character, as soon as her See also:husband was dead, hurried on a marriage between Ada and Count See also: His son Floris IV., being a minor, succeeded Floris IV. him under the guardianship of his maternal See also:uncle, See also:Gerard III. of See also:Gelderland . He maintained in later See also:life See also:close relations of friendship with Gerard,, and supported him in his quarrel with the bishop of Utrecht (1224-1226) . Floris was murdered in 1235 at a See also:tournament at See also:Corbie in See also:Picardy by the count of Clermont . Another long minority followed his death, during which his brother Otto, bishop of Utrecht, acted as guardian to his nephew William II . William II. became a man of See also:mark . See also:Pope See also:Innocent IV., having deposed the emperor Frederick II., after several princes had refused to allow themselves to be nominated in the See also:place of the Hohenstaufen, caused the young count of Holland to be elected king of the See also:Romans (1247) by an See also:assembly composed chiefly of German ecclesiastics . William took Aachen in 1248 and was there crowned elected king; and after Frederick's death in 125o, he had a King of considerable party in See also:Germany . He brought a war the with See also:Margaret of Flanders (Black Margaret) to a Romans' successful conclusion (1253) . He was on the point of proceeding to See also:Rome to be crowned emperor, when in an expedition against the West Frisians he perished, going down, See also:horse and See also:armour, through the See also:ice (1256) . Like so many of his predecessors he See also:left his See also:inheritance to a child . Floris V. was but two years old on his father's death; and he was destined during a reign of See also:forty years to leave a deeper impress upon the history of Holland than any other of its counts . Floris was a man of chivalrous character and high capacity, and throughout his reign he proved himself an able and beneficent ruler . Alike in his troubles with his turbulent subjects and in the perennial disputes with his neighbours he pursued a strong, far-sighted and successful policy . But his active See also:interest in affairs was not limited to the See also:Netherlands . He allied himself closely with See also:Edward I. of England Alliance in his strife with See also:France, and secured from the See also:English with king great trading advantages for his people; the Edward I. See also:staple of See also:wool was placed at See also:Dort (Dordrecht) and ;in the Hollanders and Zeelanders got fishing rights on gland the English See also:coast . So intimate did their relations become that Floris sent his son John to be educated at the See also:court of Edward with a view to his marriage with an English princess . To thebeN including the islands of Frisia (Zeeland) west of the Frisian See also:Scheldt . He now became guardian to his stepson, guardian in whose inheritance lay the islands east of the Scheldt . to his Robert thus, in his own right and that of Dirk, was stepson . of Utrecht died on the 17th of the following April . Dirk V., now grown to man's estate, was not slow to take See also:advantage of the favourable juncture . With the help of Robert (his stepfather) he raised an army, besieged Conrad, The Bishop of the successor of William, in the castle of Ysselmonde Utrecht and took him prisoner . The bishop See also:purchased his surrenders See also:liberty by surrendering all claim to the disputed lands . it to Henceforth the Frisian counts became definitively Dirk V . William H . Floris V . See also:balance the power of the nobles he granted charters to many of the towns . Floris made himself master of Amstelland and First Gooiland; and See also:Amsterdam, destined to become the See also:Charter to See also:chief commercial town of Holland, counts him the Amster- founder of its greatness . Its earliest extant charter See also:dam. See also:dates from 1275 . In 1296 Floris forsook the alliance of Edward I. for that of Philip IV. of France, probably because Edward had give._ support to See also:Guy, count of Flanders, in his dynastic dispute with John of See also:Avesnes, count of See also:Hainaut, Floris's nephew (see FLANDERS) . The real motives of his policy will, however, never be known, for shortly afterwards a See also:conspiracy of disaffected nobles, headed by Gijsbrecht See also:van Amstel, Gerard van Velzen and Wolfert van Borselen, was in the castle of Muiden (See also:June 27, 1296) . The tragic event has been immortalized in dramas from the pens of Holland's most famous writers (see See also:VONDEL, See also:HOOFT) . The burghers and people, who knew him to be their best friend, took such vengeance on his slayers as permanently to reduce the power of the nobles . John I., his son, was in England when his father was murdered; he was but 15 years of age, feeble in See also:body and mind . He was /ohn married to Eleanor, daughter of Edward I . His reign was a struggle between John of Avesnes, the young count's guardian and next heir, and Wolfert van Borselen, who had a strong following in Zeeland . In 1299 van Borselen was killed, and a few months later John I. died . John of Avesnes was at once recognized as his successor by the Hollanders . Thus with John I. ended the first line of counts, after a rule of nearly 400 years . See also:Europe has perhaps never seen Extinc- an abler See also:series of princes than these fourteen lineal tlon of the first descendants of Dirk I . Excepting the last there line of is not a weak man among them . Physically handsome counts. and strong, See also:model knights of the days of See also:chivalry, Their charactier, hard fighters, See also:wise statesmen, they were See also:born leaders of men; always ready to advance the commerce of the country, they were the supporters of the growing towns, and likewise the pioneers in the task of converting a land of marshes and swamps into a fertile agricultural territory See also:rich in flocks and herds . As individuals they had their failings, but one and all were worthy members of a high-souled race . John of Avesnes, who took the title of John II., was the son of John of Avesnes, count of Hainaut, and Alida, sister of /ohn H . William II. of Holland . On his succession to the of the countship the Hollanders were willing to receive him, House of but the Zeelanders were hostile; and a long struggle Avesnes. ensued before his authority was generally recognized . In 1301 Bishop William of Utrecht invaded Amstelland, but was killed in battle . John made use of his victory to secure the See also:election of his brother Guy as bishop in his place . 
A war with the Flemings followed, in which the Flemings were at first victorious, but after a struggle of many vicissitudes they were at length driven out of Holland and Zeeland in 1304 . John II. died in that year and was succeeded by his son William III., surnamed the See also:Good (1304–1337) . In his reign the long-See also:standing quarrel with Flanders, which had during a century and a half caused so many See also:wars, was finally settled by the treaty of 1323, by which the full possession of West Zeeland was granted to William, who on his part renounced all claim in Imperial Flanders . The Amstelland with its See also:capital, Amsterdam, which had hitherto been held as a See also:fief of Utrecht, was by William, on the death of his uncle Bishop Guy, finally annexed to Holland . This count did much to encourage civic life and to develop the resources of the country . He had close relations through marriage with the three See also:principal See also:European dynasties of his time . His wife was Jeanne of See also:Valois, niece of the French king; in 1323 the emperor Louis the Bavarian wedded his daughter Margaret; and in 1328 his third daughter, Philippa of Hainaut, was married to Edward III. of England . By their alliance William III. occupied a position of much dignity and See also:influence, which he used to further the interests and increase the welfare Edward III., in his French wars . He was fond of adven- William Iv . See also:ture, and in 1343 made a See also:journey to the Holy Land in disguise, and on his way took part in an expedition of the knights of the See also:Teutonic See also:Order against the infidel See also:Wends and See also:Lithuanians . He was killed in battle against the Frisians in 1345 . He left no See also:children, and the question as to the succession now brought on Holland a See also:period of violent civil commotions . His inheritance was claimed by his eldest sister, the empress Margaret, as well as by Philippa of Hainaut, or in other words, by Edward III. of England . Margaret came in See also:person and was duly recognized as countess in Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut; but returned to her husband after appointing her second son (the eldest, Louis, renounced his rights) Duke William of See also:Bavaria, as stadholder in her place . William was but sixteen, and disorder and confusion soon reigned in the land . The sudden death of the emperor in 1347 added to the difficulties of his position . In 1349 Margaret was induced to resign her See also:sovereignty, and the stadholder became count under the title of William wmiam V . V . This was the time of the formation of the famous of the parties in Holland, known as Kabbeljauws (Cods) House of and Hocks (Hooks); the former, the burgher party, Bavaria. were the supporters of William (possibly the name was derived from the light See also:blue, scaly looking Bavarian coat of arms), the latter the party of the disaffected nobles, who wanted to catch and devour the fat burgher See also:fish . In 1350 such was the disorder in the land that Margaret, at the request of the nobles, came to Holland to take into her own hands the reins of See also:government . The struggle between the nobles and the cities See also:broke out into civil war . Edward III. came to Margaret's aid, winning a See also:sea-fight off See also:Veere in 1351; a few See also:weeks later the Hooks and their English See also:allies were defeated by William and the Cods at Vlaardingen—an overthrow which ruined Margaret's cause . Edward III. shortly afterwards changed sides, and the empress saw herself compelled (1354) to come to an understanding with her son, he being recognized as count of Holland and Zeeland, she of Hainaut . Margaret died two years later, leaving William, who had married See also:Matilda of See also:Lancaster, in possession of the entire Holland-Hainaut inheritance (July 1356) . His See also:tenure of power was, however, very brief . Before the close of 1357 he showed such marked signs of See also:insanity that his wife, with his own consent and the support of both parties, invited See also:Albert of Duke Albert of Bavaria, younger brother of William Bavaria . V., to be See also:regent, with the title of Ruward (1358) . William lived in confinement for 31 years . Albert died in 1404, having ruled the land well and wisely for 46 years, first as Ruward, then as count . Despite outbreaks from time to time of the See also:Hook and See also:Cod troubles, he was able to make his authority respected, and to help forward in many ways the social progress of the country . The influence of the towns was steadily on the increase, and their government began to fall into the hands of the burgher patrician class, who formed the Cod party . Opposed to them were the See also:nobility and the lower classes, forming the Hook party . In Albert's latter years a fresh outbreak of civil war (1392–1395) was caused by the count's espousing the side of the Cods, while the Hooks had the support of his eldest son, William . Albert was afterwards reconciled to his son, who succeeded him as William VI. in 1404 . On his accession to power William upheld the Hooks, William - vi . and secured their ascendancy . His reign was much troubled with civil discords, but he was a brave soldier, and was generally successful in his enterprises . He died in 1417, leaving an only child, a daughter, Jacqueline (or See also:Jacoba), who had in her early youth been married to John, Jacque-heir to the throne of France . At a gathering held at Baevaria. the See also:Hague (See also:August 15, 1416) the nobles and representatives of the cities of Holland and Zeeland had promised at William's request to support his daughter's claims to the succession . But John of France died (April 1417), and William VI . See also:Murder of formed against him . He was by them basely murdered Floris V . William See also:ill . of his hereditary lands . He was in all respects a great See also:prince and a wise and prudent statesman . He was succeeded by his son, William IV., who was the ally of his brother-in-law, The Empress Margaret . about a See also: |