Netherlands - Early History
Holland, which today is divided into two Dutch provinces, have dominated the history of the Netherlands so much that its name have become a synonym to the Netherlands. The early history of the Netherlands has nothing in it very interesting or peculiar. Like that of most European states, it commences with an account of their subjugation. The Romans had penetrated into those countries, and conquered them all before the beginning of the Christian era. The people had not yielded tamely.
The Belgse, inhabiting the left bank of the Rhine, are described by Caesar as the only Gallic tribe brave enough to withstand the irruptions of the Teutones and Cimbri; the Frisians, occupying the right bank of the same river, made a stubborn opposition in the middle of their swamps; and the Batavians, who dwelt upon the islands of Zealand, were honoured as the boldest of all the neighboring clans. Their opposition was vain, however; and their gallant attempt to cast off the yoke in Vespasian's time was equally vain. They submitted to the Romans, and participated in the improvements which that people usually communicated to the nations it conquered.
The canal of Drusus, from the Rhine to the Flevo or Zuyder Zee, still exists, though its character is altered; and the first dykes, which protected Holland from the ocean, are ascribed to the enterprising industry of those governors. The stout spirit of resistance shown by the Batavians had procured them respect in the eyes of their conquerors. The tribute of the province was paid in soldiers: Batavians formed the body-guard of the Emperor, as Swiss have done in later times; and the valour which had been displayed on the banks of the Rhine was equally conspicuous in other quarters of the empire. Agricola was accompanied and powerfully aided by them in his progress through our island; and the Dacian hosts recoiled when Batavians, in full armour, swam across the Danube to attack them.
During four centuries Batavians were enumerated among the Roman armies; but after the time of Honorius, their name vanishes from history. The eruption of the northern nations swept over their country in its course, and destroyed all the monuments of Roman power and ingenuity. The monarchy of the Franks, which arose on the rains of Gaul, had, in the sixth and seventh centuries, embraced all the provinces of the Netherlands, and planted the Christian faith in them. After an obstinate struggle, Charles Mattel overcame Friesland the last of all; and Charlemagne united the whole of those countries with the wide empire, which he had formed for himself out of Germany, Fraucc, and Lombardy. When Charlemagne's possessions were again divided among his successors, the Netherlands became at one time provinces of Germany, at another of France; and they are at last designated by the names of Friesland and Lower Lorraine.
With the Franks arrived also the constitution of the north ; and here, as elsewhere, it gradually degenerated. The stronger vassals separated in process of time from the crown; and the royal officers laid hold ol the districts over which they were sent to preside, and rendered them hereditary in their families. But those revolted vassals could not hope to resist their king, except by the help of their inferior retainers; and the support thus required was repaid by fresh infeudations. The priesthood, in the mean time, also, growing wealthy and powerful, had extorted for itself an independent existence in its abbeys and episcopal sees.
And thus, in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, the Netherlands were split down into a number of petty sovereignties, the heads of which held partly of the empire, partly of France. By purchase, marriage, inheritance, or conquest, several of these lordships were frequently united under one master; and in the fifteenth century the house of Burgundy was in possession of almost the whole. Philip the Good, by prosecuting various claims, just and the contrary, had at last succeeded in uniting eleven of the provinces under his authority; and Charles the Bold, his son, increased them by the conquest of other two.
A new state had silently arisen in Europe, to which nothing but the name was wanting to make it the most flourishing kingdom in that quarter of the world. Such extensive possessions made the duke of Burgundy a suspicious neighbor to the king of France; and inspired the restless spirit of Charles the Bold with the plan of a conquest, destined to include the whole tract of country extending between Alsace and the mouths of the Rhine. The duke's inexhaustible resources justified, in some measure, this proud chimera: a powerful army threatened to realize it; and Switzerland already trembled for its freedom. But fortune forsook Charles at the battles of Granson, of Morat, of Nancy: he fell by an unknown hand; and his very corpse was all but lost among the carnage of his followers.
After the fall of Charlemagne's Empire (he died in 814), the Low Countries territory was divided into several smaller states – ruled by dukes and counts. At the same time, already in the Middle Ages, a strong economical development made the Netherlands one of the richest areas in Europe. Agriculture along with crafts and commerce, rich towns and important trading links reaching as far as Asia and North Africa, transformed the Netherlands into the area where the feudal power has been limited, safety of movement and economical activity established, sustained growth possible.
The neighborhood powers – first Dukes of Burgundy and later the Habsburgs (after 1477, the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Archduke Maximilian Habsburg) tried to dominate the Netherlands and introduce its taxation there.
The ancient masters of the Netherlands, who had by degrees reclaimed the country which extends from the mouths of the Rhine to those of the Elbe and Weser, had no other means of performing this undertaking, than by inviting men, by the attractions of security for property and social order, to settle among them. It was necessary to oppose the exertions of a great number of men to the inroads of the ocean; for the Zuydersee, the Dollar, and the sea of Haarlem had, by sudden irruptions within the memory of man, overwhelmed the insecure coasts with the waves of the ocean: hence it was requisite to protect the rest of the country by immense dams.
But before such works could be undertaken as the cultivation of the heaths of Drenthe and Overyssel, or the improvement of the sands of Guelders, or the preservation of the rest of the Batavian peninsula, it was necessary that the inhabitants should he assured that they were laboring for themselves and their children. Hence the ancient counts of this country had governed it with paternal mildness, and Philip the Good with his peculiar prudence and benevolence.
When the necessities of the state increased, the exemptions were diminished; and the nobles, ecclesiastics, and citizens, when they became purchasers of lands subjected to the taxes, were with justice prevented from communicating to such acquisitions their personal privileges, which would have had the effect of increasing the burdens of the unprivileged class. But all the taxes on consumption, or on the property of the inhabitants, were imposed with the consent of the states.
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