History of Holland 1922 by George Edmundson (PDF)

History of Holland

Reading from the prologue

the title, ‘History of Holland,” given to this volume is fully justified by the predominant part which the great maritime province of Holland took in the War of Independence and throughout the whole of the subsequent history of the Dutch state and people. Inevery language the country, comprising the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Gelderland, Overyssel and Groningen, has, from the close of the sixteenth century to our own day, been currently spoken of as Holland, and the people (with the solitary exception of ourselves) as ‘Hollanders!.’

It is only rarely that the terms the Republic of the United Provinces, or of the United Netherlands, and in later times the Kingdom of the Nether- lands, are found outside official documents. Just as the title “History of England” gradually includes the histories of Wales, of Scotland, of Ireland, and finally of the wide-spread British Empire, so is it in a smaller way with the history that is told in the following pages.

That history, to be really complete, should begin with an account of mediaeval Holland in the feudal times which preceded the Burgundian period; and such an account was indeed actually written, but the plan of this work, which forms one of the volumes of a series, precluded its publication. The character, however, of the people of the province of Holland, and of its sister and closely allied province of Zeeland, its qualities of toughness, of endurance, of seamanship and maritime enterprise, spring from the peculiar amphibious nature of the country, which _ differs from that of any other country in the world. ‘The age-long struggle against the ocean and the river floods, which has con- verted the marshes, that lay around the mouths of the Rhine, the Meuse and the Scheldt, by toilsome labour and skill into fertile and productive soil, has left its impress on the whole history of this , people.

Nor must it be forgotten how largely this building up of the elaborate system of dykes, dams and canals by which this water-logged land was transformed into the Holland of the closing 1 Hollandais, Hollander, Olandesi, Olandeses, etc.

Decades of the sixteenth century, enabled her people to offer such obstinate and successful resistance to the mighty power of Philip II.

The earliest dynasty of the Counts of Holland—Dirks, Floris, and Williams—was a very remarkable one. Not only did it rule for an unusually long period, 922 to 1299, but in this long period without exception all the Counts of Holland were strong and capable rulers. The fiefs of the first two Dirks lay in what is now known as North Holland, in the district called Kennemerland.

It was Dirk III who seized from the bishops of Utrecht some swampy land amidst the channels forming the mouth of the Meuse, which, from the bush which covered it, was named Holt-land (Holland or Wood-land). Here he erected, in 1015, a stronghold to collect tolls from passing ships.

This stronghold was the beginning of the town of Dordrecht, and from here a little later the name Holland was gradually applied to the whole county. Of his successors the most illustrious was William II (1234 to 1256) who was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen, and would have received from Pope Innocent IV the imperial crown at Rome, had he not been unfortunately drowned while attempting to cross on horseback an ice-bound marsh.

In 1299 the male line of this dynasty became extinct; and John of Avennes, Count of Hainault, nephew of William II, succeeded. His son, William III, after a long struggle with the Counts of Flanders, conquered Zeeland and became Count henceforth of Holland, Zeeland and Hainault. His son, William IV, died childless ; and the succession then passed to his sister Margaret, the wife of the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria.

It was contested by her second son William, who, after a long drawn-out strife with his mother, became, in 1354, Count of Holland and Zeeland with the title William V, Margaret retaining the county of Hainault. Becoming insane, his brother Albert in 1358 took over the reins of government. In his time the two factions, known by the nicknames of “the Hooks” and “the Cods,” kept the land in a continual state of disorder and practically of civil war.

They had already been active for many years. The Hooks were supported by the nobles, by the peasantry and by that large part of the poorer townsfolk that was excluded from all share in the municipal government. The Cods represented the interests of the powerful burgher corporations. __ In later times these same principles and

A 1922 narrative classic whose political-diplomatic backbone remains serviceable, but whose cultural scope, colonial framing, and terminal date require substantial updating with contemporary scholarship.

I. Author & Context

• George Edmundson (1848–1930), British historian and Church of England clergyman; long-time resident of the Netherlands.

• Written as an English-language introduction to Dutch history for university students and the educated public.

• 1922 perspective: shaped by the aftermath of World War I and the centenary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1915).

II. Scope & Structure

• Time span: prehistoric “Low Countries” to the establishment of the Dutch state after World War I.

• 30 chapters, each 10–15 pages; five chronological parts:

Part I – Roman & medieval foundations (57 BCE–1477 CE)

Part II – Dutch Revolt & the Republic (1477–1648)

Part III – Golden Age & European wars (1648–1795)

Part IV – French/Batavian period & restoration (1795–1848)

Part V – Modern constitutional monarchy (1848–1920)

III. Key Themes Emphasised

• Maritime economy and the rise of the VOC & WIC trading empires.

• Religious pluralism and the evolution of toleration after 1579.

• Constitutional balance between Stadholder, States-General, and urban regents.

• International diplomacy: Triple Alliance, wars with England and France, Congress of Vienna.

• Social change: urbanisation, Calvinist culture, Enlightenment influences.

IV. 1nterpretations

Topics

Dutch Revolt | Principally a religious and constitutional struggle | Add economic, fiscal, and identity factors; cite recent works by Parker, Pollmann, van Nierop

Golden Age economy | Largely celebratory | Balance with ecological impact, slavery, and global labour studies

Napoleonic era | Brief transitional phase | New research on Batavian Republic’s democratic experiments

Colonial history | Largely administrative narrative | Incorporate post-colonial perspectives and slavery reparations debates

Women & minorities | Minimal coverage | Integrate gender, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ histories now standard in Dutch historiography