Five Brothers and a War

History—1400 to 1500 AD

Apparently, the Frisian influence was not limited to Holland. Its impact on Europe was widespread, with remnants of the culture having been found in such diverse places as York (England), Birka (Sweden), Schleswig (Denmark) and the Rhine region of Germany, particularly Köln, Mainz and Trier. Frisians permanently gave up their independence in 1795 when they became a Dutch province—Friesland. Many of the provinces trace their origins to the Middle Ages. In 1433, Philip III (also known as Philip the Good), the Duke of Burgundy, amalgamated much of what is now Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, during his reign from 1419 through 1467. This grouping was called the “Burgundian Netherlands”. While Philip had gone out of his way to plan the union of the various parts of Holland, he was also helped considerably by the forces of nature. Infant and child mortality rates, even among the aristocracy, were incredibly high. As a result, many lines of European succession became convoluted, and resulted in opportunities to expand fiefdoms, nations, and empires. Philip was a master of ruling, tact, intrigue and even force, when needed. He moved to transition out the old nobility in favor of knights and professionals who would serve to organize society into a more modern format—and a format that supported Philip. These were the forces needed to move Holland into its Golden Age, where culture and economics worked in Holland’s historical favor. These same forces would eventually lead Holland into philosophical enlightenment and religious reformation. Upon Philip’s death, he was replaced by Charles the Bold, who reigned briefly from 1467 to 1477. He was the last Duke of Burgundy. His early death at Nancy was, strangely in terms of the actions of modern Switzerland, at the hands of the Swiss, who were fighting for the Duke of Lorraine. Due to his death, the Burgundian domains, long a source of dispute between France and the Habsburgs, were divided, however neither side was satisfied with the outcome. The result was a disintegration of the Burgundian state, which inevitably led to further disputes regarding borders between the powers and their spheres of influence. In one form or another, these issues were factors in Western European wars for more than two centuries. On November 19, 1404, large areas of Flanders, Zeeland, and Holland, were flooded in what became known as the Eerste Sint Elisabethsvloed (“First St. Elizabeth’s flood”). The day takes its name from the death (on November 17, 1231) and subsequent canonization (in 1237) of Elizabeth of Thuringia (Hungary). The day of her death is celebrated in her honor. The flood damage was catastrophic. The area of Zeeland-Flanders had already been flooded 20 years earlier, in 1375, whereby the Zuudzee was created in the extreme southwest of Holland and the extreme northwest of present-day Belgium. After the 1375 flood, the areas around the newly-formed Zuudzee were dyked and polders created. Within those polders, new settlements arose. But in 1404, everything was destroyed again. This time a number of small towns such as Ijzendijke and Hugevliet, which were spared in 1375, were completely flooded and dozens of villages were lost.

holland

Five Brothers and a War

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