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From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - Fourteenth-Century Crisis - Political Instability

8 important questions on From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - Fourteenth-Century Crisis - Political Instability

What did the murder of Floris V show?

The murder of Floris V in 1296 showed how much the politics of Holland were intertwined in the strategic interests of larger powers such as France and England.

What did Louis of Male do?

Even after the advent of a powerful count, Louis of Male, restored political stability to Flanders around 1350, the duke was realistic enough to share power with representatives of the cities on which he was dependent.
Much of the political energy in Flanders was spent by various city factions contending with each other for municipal power.

How was power organized in Brabant?

In Brabant, the cities were smaller and could assert their power only at moments of ducal weakness (as evidenced in the Charter of Kortenberg) or of invasion.
In 1356 they determined that each new duke swear by a charter that recognized the rights of the key cities, the great abbeys and the nobility.

What was the "Joyous Entry" about?

The duke had to promise not to declare war or make treaties without their consent. This pledge would in later decades be embodied in a so-called "Joyous Entry" of the duke into each of Brabant's cities.
The Joyous Entry charter of freedoms and promises became a nearly mythic ideal of shared, representative government in the Low Countries, but future dukes, even as they pledged good faith during their joyous entries, did not always feel bound by its letter or spirit.

How was political representation organized in Guelders, Holland and Zeeland?

The situation was different again in Guelders, Holland and Zeeland, where the cities, if much grown and enjoying increasing clout, were still relatively small and without formal political representation.
The Church, a force to be reckoned with in southern territories and of course in the Sticht, was relatively weak institutionally in these regions. This meant that the nobility of Holland and Guelders remained, for the time being, the most important power-brokers.
Their power increased when, as was often the case, the count of Holland or duke of Guelders was a weak or absent figure.

What did Count Willem III do?

Count Willem III of Avesnes, who as count of Hainaut inherited Holland after Floris's line died out, was effective in permanently attaching Zeeland to Holland, but spent little time there, freeing the nobility to do as they chose.

What happened after Willem IV's death?

Willem IV's death without issue ultimately led to conflict between his sister, who had inherited his lands, and her son, also Willem.
Both were supported by different factions of the nobility who vied for power with each other: the so-called Cods, possibly named after the coat of arms of the House of Bavaria from which both mother and son stemmed, and the Hooks, a reference to the hooks used to catch cod.
By 1351 the Cods, the supporters of Willem, had won, but the factional conflict remained for a century and a half.

What began to change in the 1380s in the Netherlands?

This picture of fragmentation would begin to change in the 1380s, as new dynastic houses would begin to consolidate the various territories of the Netherlands.
That scions of the House of Bavaria would become counts of three counties at once - Hainaut, Zeeland and Holland - in the 1340s was one early sign of this shift, but only one read in hindsight.
Seen from this perspective, the rise of the Burgundian dynasty after 1384 would bring about an additional and even more important shift that further integrated the Netherlands into a wider European politics.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

A Concise History of the Netherlands | 9780521699174 | James C Kennedy

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From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - Fourteenth-Century Crisis

From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - Fourteenth-Century Crisis - Political Instability

8 important questions on From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - Fourteenth-Century Crisis - Political Instability

What did the murder of Floris V show?

What did Louis of Male do?

How was power organized in Brabant?

What was the "Joyous Entry" about?

How was political representation organized in Guelders, Holland and Zeeland?

What did Count Willem III do?

What happened after Willem IV's death?

What began to change in the 1380s in the Netherlands?

Topics that are related to From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - Fourteenth-Century Crisis - Political Instability

From the Margins to the Mainstream: Dutch History to 1384 - Fourteenth-Century Crisis

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