Belgae
They were discussed in depth by Julius Caesar in his account of his wars in Gaul. Some peoples in Britain were called Belgae and ORahilly equated them with the Fir Bolg in Ireland, the Belgae gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica and, much later, to the modern country of Belgium. Thus, a Proto-Celtic ethnic name *Bolgī could be interpreted as The People who Swell, each of these three parts was different in terms of customs and language. Ancient sources such as Caesar are not always clear about the used to define ethnicity today. The fact that the Belgae were living in Gaul means that in one sense they were Gauls and this may be Caesars meaning when he says The Belgae have the same method of attacking a fortress as the rest of the Gauls. Some translators of Caesar have given crucially different interpretations of his meaning in another passage on the Belgae, W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn rendered the Latin of Caesar in Bello Gallico, II.4 as When Caesar inquired. So Caesars use of the word Germani needs special consideration and he describes a grouping of tribes within the Belgic alliance as the Germani, distinguishing them from their neighbours.
The most important in his battles were the Eburones, the other way he uses the term is to refer to any tribe considered to be of similar ancestry and traditions, with ancestry east of the Rhine. So the Germani amongst the Belgae were called Germani cisrhenani, to them from other Germani, such as those living on the east of the Rhine. The historian Tacitus was informed that the name Germania was recent in his day, the first people to cross the Rhine and oust the Gauls, those now called Tungri, were called Germani. It was the name of nation, not a race. And so, to begin with, they were all called Germani after the conquerors because of the terror these inspired, and then, once the name had been devised, they adopted it themselves. In other words, the collective name Germani had first been used by the Gauls or Belgae for the intruders from beyond the Rhine, many modern scholars believe that the Belgae were a firmly Celtic-speaking group. For example, Maurits Gysseling, suggest that prior to Celtic and Germanic influences the Belgae may have comprised a distinct Indo-European branch, surviving inscriptions indicate that Gaulish was spoken in at least part of Belgic territory.
The Romans were not precise in their ethnography of northern barbarians, by Germanic, the east of the Rhine was not necessarily inhabited by Germanic speakers at this time. It has been remarked that Germanic language speakers might have been no closer than the river Elbe in the time of Caesar, the sound changes described by Grimms law appear to have affected names with older forms, apparently already in the second century BC. Strong evidence for old Celtic placenames, though, is found in the Ardennes, according to Strabo, the country of the Belgae extended along the coast where 15 tribes were living from the Rhenus to the Liger. Apart from the Germani, the report of Caesar seems to indicate that more of the Belgae had some Germanic ancestry and ethnicity, other tribes that may have been included among the Belgae in some contexts were the Leuci and Mediomatrici
Guelders
Guelders or Gueldres is a historical county, duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. The duchy was named after the town of Geldern in present-day Germany, the county emerged about 1096, when Gerard III of Wassenberg was first documented as Count of Guelders. It was located on the territory of Lower Lorraine, in the area of Geldern and Roermond, Count Gerards son Gerard II in 1127 acquired the County of Zutphen in northern Hamaland by marriage. Guelders was often at war with its neighbours, not only with Brabant, but with the County of Holland, its territory grew not only because of its success in warfare, but because it thrived in times of peace. For example, the part of the Veluwe and the city of Nijmegen were given as collateral to Guelders by their cash-strapped rulers. In 1339 Count Reginald II of Guelders, of the House of Wassenberg, was elevated to the rank of Duke by Emperor Louis IV of Wittelsbach, William was confirmed in the inheritance of Guelders in 1379, and from 1393 onwards held both duchies in personal union.
The first Egmond Duke, suffered the rebellion of his son Adolf and was imprisoned by the latter in 1465, Charles had Duke Adolf captured and imprisoned in 1471 and reinstated Arnold on the throne of the Duchy of Guelders. Charles bought the reversion from Duke Arnold, against the will of the towns, the bargain was completed in 1472–73, and upon Arnolds death in 1473, Duke Charles added Guelders to the Low Countries portion of his Valois Duchy of Burgundy. Subsequently, Guelders was ruled by Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, husband of Charles the Bolds daughter and heir, in 1492, the citizens of Guelders, who had become disenchanted with the rule of Maximilian, ransomed Charles and recognized him as their Duke. Charles, now backed by France, fought Maximilians grandson Charles of Habsburg in the Guelders Wars and expanded his realm further north and he was not simply a man of war, but a skilled diplomat, and was therefore able to keep his independence. He bequeathed the duchy to Duke William the Rich of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, following in the footsteps of Charles of Egmond, Duke William formed an alliance with France, an alliance dubiously cemented via his political marriage to French King Francis Is niece Jeanne dAlbret.
Charles united Guelders with the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands, Charles V abdicated in 1556 and decreed that the territories of the Burgundian Circle should be held by the Spanish Crown. In 1795 Guelders was finally conquered and incorporated by the French First Republic, the coat of arms of the region changed over time. Guelder is possibly the basis for the kingdom of Guilder in The Princess Bride. Dukes of Guelders Prussian Guelders Spanish Guelders Diana Robin, Anne R. Larsen, encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance, Italy and England. CS1 maint, Uses editors parameter Strage, Women of Power, the Life and Times of Catherine dé Medici. Pp. xiv,368 p. ill,16 leaves of plates, Francis the First, First Gentleman of France. Map of Upper Guelders in 1789 – Northern Part Map of Upper Guelders in 1789 – Southern Part
Low Countries
Most of the Low Countries are coastal regions bounded by the North Sea or the English Channel. The countries without access to the sea have linked themselves politically and economically to those with access to one union of port. The Low Countries were the scene of the northern towns, newly built rather than developed from ancient centres. In that period, they rivaled northern Italy for the most densely populated region of Europe, all of the regions mainly depended on trade and the encouragement of the free flow of goods and craftsmen. Germanic languages such as Dutch and Luxembourgish were the predominant languages, secondary languages included French, Romance-speaking Belgium, the Romance Flanders, and Namur. Governor Mary of Hungary used both the expressions les pays de par deça and Pays dEmbas, which evolved to Pays-Bas or Low Countries, today the term is typically fitted to modern political boundaries and used in the same way as the term Benelux, which includes Luxembourg. The name of the country the Netherlands has the same meaning.
The same name of countries can be found in other European languages, for example German Niederlande, les Pays-Bas, and so on. In the Dutch language itself no plural is used for the name of the modern country, so Nederland is used for the modern nation and de Nederlanden for the 16th century domains of Charles V. In Dutch, and to an extent in English, the Low Countries colloquially means the Netherlands and Belgium, sometimes the Netherlands. For example, a Derby der Lage Landen, is an event between Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgium was renamed only in 1830, after splitting from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, before the Napoleonic wars, it was referred to as the Southern, Spanish or Austrian Netherlands. It is still referred to as part of the low countries, the region politically had its origins in Carolingian empire, more precisely, most of it was within the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia. After the disintegration of Lower Lotharingia, the Low Countries were brought under the rule of various lordships until they came to be in the hands of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy.
Hence, a part of the low countries came to be referred to as the Burgundian Netherlands called the Seventeen Provinces up to 1581. Even after the secession of the autonomous Dutch Republic in the north. The Low Countries were part of the Roman provinces of Gallia Belgica, Germania Inferior and they were inhabited by Belgic and Germanic tribes. In the 4th and 5th century, Frankish tribes had entered this Roman region and they came to be ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, under which dynasty the southern part was re-Christianised
Gallia Belgica
Gallia Belgica was a province of the Roman empire located in Belgium, in the northern and eastern parts of Roman Gaul. It began as one of the three provinces of Gaul described by its Roman conqueror Julius Caesar. An official Roman province was created by emperor Augustus in 22 BC. The province is named for the Belgae as the largest tribal confederation in the area, the southern border of Belgica, formed by the Marne and Seine rivers, was reported by Caesar as the original cultural boundary between the Belgae and the Gauls who he distinguished as Celts. The province was re-organized several times, first increased and decreased in size, the capital of Belgica Prima, became an important late western Roman capital. In 57 BC, Julius Caesar led the conquest of northern Gaul and this definition became the basis of the Roman province of Belgica. Indeed, the Belgian tribes closest to the Rhine he distinguished as the Germani cisrhenani, apart from the southern Remi, all the Belgic tribes allied against the Romans, angry at the Roman decision to garrison legions in their territory during the winter.
At the beginning of the conflict, Caesar reported the combined strength at 288,000, led by the Suessione king. Due to the Belgic coalitions size and reputation for uncommon bravery, instead, he used cavalry to skirmish with smaller contingents of tribesmen. Only when Caesar managed to isolate one of the tribes did he risk conventional battle, the tribes fell in a piecemeal fashion and Caesar claimed to offer lenient terms to the defeated, including Roman protection from the threat of surrounding tribes. Most tribes agreed to the conditions, a series of uprisings followed the 57 BC conquest. The largest revolt was led by the Bellovaci in 52 BC, during this rebellion, it was the Belgae who avoided direct conflict. They harassed the Roman legions, led personally by Caesar, with cavalry detachments, the rebellion was put down after a Bellovaci ambush of the Romans failed. Following a census of the region in 27 BC, Augustus ordered a restructuring of the provinces in Gaul, the capital of this territory was Reims, according to the geographer Strabo, though the capital moved to modern day Trier.
The date of this move is uncertain, successive Roman emperors struck a balance between Romanizing the people of Gallia Belgica and allowing pre-existing culture to survive. The Romans allowed local governments to survive, typically in the form of cantons, Roman government was run by Concilia in Reims or Trier. Additionally, local notables from Gallia Belgica were required to participate in a festival in Lugdunum which typically celebrated or worshiped the emperor’s genius, the gradual adoption of Romanized names by local elites and the Romanization of laws under local authority demonstrate the effectiveness of this concilium Galliarum. With that said, the concept and community of Gallia Belgica did not predate the Roman province, during the 1st century AD, the provinces of Gaul were restructured
Luxembourgish
Luxembourgish, Luxemburgish or Letzeburgesch is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. Worldwide, about 390,000 people speak Luxembourgish. To communicate, all luxembourgees have to learn 4 different languages in the school, german, french. Since the migration of 70% of the luxembourgees to the US, despite the lack of a sharp boundary between Luxembourgish and the neighboring German dialects, this has led several linguists to regard it as a separate, yet closely related language. Luxembourgish belongs to the West Central German group of High German languages and is the example of a Moselle Franconian language. Luxembourgish is the language of Luxembourg and one of three administrative languages, alongside French and German. Luxembourgish is spoken in the Arelerland region of Belgium and in parts of Lorraine in France. In the German Eifel and Hunsrück regions, and in Lorraine, Moselle Franconian dialects outside the Luxembourg state border tend to have far fewer French loan words, and these mostly remain from the French Revolution.
There are several distinct forms of Luxembourgish including Areler, Kliärrwer, Stater, Veiner and Weelzer. Further small vocabulary differences may be even between small villages. There is no distinct boundary between the use of Luxembourgish and the use of other closely related High German dialects, it instead forms a dialect continuum of gradual change. Spoken Luxembourgish is relatively hard to understand for speakers of German who are not familiar with Moselle Franconian dialects. However, they can read the language to some degree. For those Germans familiar with Moselle Franconian dialects, it is easy to understand. However, the number of French loanwords in Luxembourgish may hamper communication about certain topics. There is no intelligibility between Luxembourgish and French or any of the Romance dialects spoken in the adjacent parts of Belgium, erna Hennicot-Schoepges, President of the Christian Social Peoples Party of Luxembourg 1995–2003, was active in promoting the language beyond Luxembourgs borders.
A number of proposals for standardising the orthography of Luxembourgish can be documented, there was no officially recognised system, until the adoption of the OLO on 5 June 1946. The rules explicitly rejected certain elements of German orthography, new principles were adopted for the spelling of French loanwords. A more successful standard eventually emerged from the work of the committee of specialists charged with the task of creating the Luxemburger Wörterbuch, published in 5 volumes between 1950 and 1977
Coat of arms of the Netherlands
The coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was originally adopted in 1815 and modified in 1907. The current components of the coats of arms were regulated by Queen Wilhelmina in a decree of 10 July 1907. The shield is crowned with the crown and supported by two lions Or armed and langued gules. They stand on a scroll Azure with the text Je Maintiendrai The monarch places this coat of arms on a mantle gules lined with ermine, above the mantle is a pavilion gules again topped with the royal crown. In the royal decree it is stated that male successors may replace the crown on the shield with a helm with the crest of Nassau and this version of the coat of arms has been in use since 1907 but differs only slightly from the version that was adopted in 1815. From 1815 until 1907 all the lions wore the royal crown, the royal arms were adopted by the first king of The Kingdom of the Netherlands, William I, when he became king after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. As king, he adopted a coat of arms that combined elements of his family’s coat of arms, from his family arms he used the azure, billetty or with a lion rampant or of Nassau.
The Je Maintiendrai motto represents the Orange family since it came into the family with the princedom of Orange as Je Maintiendrai Châlons and these elements are found in the arms of king William III, who was king of England, Scotland & Ireland. From the arms of the former States General of the Republic of the United Provinces he took the lion with a coronet, the arrows symbolize the seven provinces that made up the Republic, the sword the determination to defend their liberty, and the coronet their sovereignty. William replaced the coronet with a royal crown, in 1907, Queen Wilhelmina returned to an open coronet. The arms of Nassau has existed since about 1250, there are two versions of the Nassau arms, representing the two main branches. This is a result of two brothers, count Walram II and count Otto I, agreeing to divide their fathers lands between them in 1255. The line of Walram added a crown to the lion in the Nassau arms to make it different from the used by the line of Otto. The kings and queens of the Netherlands are descendants of count Otto, the Grand Dukes of Luxemburg are descendants of count Walram.
They still use Nassau in their arms, both lines are now extinct in the male line. This crest is used by the descendants of Otto and differs from the crest used by the descendants of Walram, but in the royal decree of 1815 the crest issuing from a crown on the Dutch Royal Arms was the one used by the Walram line. Why this was done is not sure, maybe due to the mistake this crest was hardly used. The crest of the Walram-line is, Between two trunks Azure billetty Or a sitting lion Or, the trunks are probably a misinterpretation of two cow horns, a crest that is frequently used in German heraldry
Francia
The kingdom was founded by Clovis I, crowned first King of the Franks in 496. The tradition of dividing patrimonies among brothers meant that the Frankish realm was ruled, even so, sometimes the term was used as well to encompass Neustria north of the Loire and west of the Seine. Most Frankish Kings were buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis, modern France is still named Francia in Spanish and Italian. The Franks emerged in the 3rd century as a confederation of smaller Germanic tribes, such as the Sicambri, Ampsivarii and Chattuarii, in the area north and east of the Rhine. Some of these peoples, such as the Sicambri and Salians, already had lands in the Roman Empire, in 357 the Salian king entered the Roman Empire and made a permanent foothold there by a treaty granted by Julian the Apostate, who forced back the Chamavi to Hamaland. As Frankish territory expanded, the meaning of Francia expanded with it, after the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary countship at Trier and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III some Franks supported the usurper Jovinus.
Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it difficult to manage the Franks within their borders. The Frankish king Theudemer was executed by the sword, in c, around 428 the Salian king Chlodio, whose kingdom included Toxandria and the civitatus Tungrorum, launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum and the Somme. The kingdom of Chlodio changed the borders and the meaning of the word Francia permanently, Francia was no longer barbaricum trans Rhenum, but a landed political power on both sides of the river, deeply involved in Roman politics. Chlodios family, the Merovingians, extended Francia even further south, the core territory of the Frankish kingdom came to be known as Austrasia. Chlodios successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is that Childeric I, possibly his grandson, Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects. In a thirty-year reign Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and conquered the Roman exclave of Soissons, defeated the Alemanni, Clovis defeated the Visigoths and conquered their entire kingdom with its capital at Toulouse, and conquered the Bretons and made them vassals of Francia.
He conquered most or all of the neighbouring Frankish tribes along the Rhine, by the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast. The Merovingians were a hereditary monarchy, the Frankish kings adhered to the practice of partible inheritance, dividing their lands among their sons. Cloviss sons made their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul, Theuderic I made his capital at Reims, Chlodomer at Orléans, Childebert I at Paris, and Chlothar I at Soissons. During their reigns, the Thuringii and Saxons and Frisians were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, the fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the kingdom of Austrasia. Theudebert interfered in the Gothic War on the side of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, receiving the provinces of Rhaetia and part of Venetia
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants and minority groups speaking their own languages.
The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls.
After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire.
In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels.
After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
County of Artois
The County of Artois was an historic province of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659. Present Artois lies in northern France, on the border with Belgium and its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Saint-Omer, Lens and it forms the interior of the French département Pas-de-Calais. Originally a feudal county itself, Artois was annexed by the county of Flanders and it came to France in 1180 as a dowry of a Flemish princess, Isabelle of Hainaut, and was again made a separate county in 1237 for Robert, a grandson of Isabelle. Through inheritance, Artois came under the rule of the dukes of Burgundy in 1384, at the death of the fourth duke, Charles the Bold, Artois was inherited by the Habsburgs and passed to the dynastys Spanish line. After the religious revolts of 1566 in the Netherlands, Artois briefly entered the Dutch Revolt in 1576, after the Union and Hainaut reached a separate agreement with Philip II.
Artois remained with the Spanish Netherlands until it was conquered by the French during the Thirty Years War, the annexation was acknowledged during the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, and it became a French province. Artois had already been largely French-speaking, but it was part of the Southern Netherlands until the French annexation, Artois experienced rapid industrial development during the second half of the 19th century, fueled by its rich coal resources. During World War I, the front line between the opposing Entente and Allied armies in France ran through the province, resulting in physical damage. Since the second half of the 20th century, Artois has suffered along with nearby areas because of the decline of the coal industry, Artois occupies the interior of the Pas-de-Calais département, the western part of which constitutes the former Boulonnais. Artois roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Arras, Béthune, Saint Omer, and Lens, and it occupies the western end of the coalfield which stretches eastward through the neighbouring Nord département and across central Belgium.
At the time of Julius Caesar, Artois was the province of the Atrebates and their capital, Nemetocenna, is now the city of Arras, which possibly took its name from the old name of the region. Artois originally was a Carolingian lordship established in West Francia, in Roman times, Artois had been situated in the Roman provinces of Belgica and Germania Inferior and inhabited by Celtic tribes, until Germanic peoples replaced them as the Roman Empire waned. Upon Isabelles death in 1190, it was claimed as a fief by the French crown. In 1237, King Louis VIII gave the County of Artois as an appanage to his younger son Robert, who became the progenitor of the House of Artois. The dispute was settled in favour of Mahaut, upon her death in 1329, Artois passed to her daughter by the Anscarid count Otto IV of Burgundy, Countess Joan II. Joan II had inherited the County of Burgundy in 1315 and when she died in 1330, she bequested Artois and Franche-Comté to her eldest daughter, Joan III. Joan III, Countess of Artois and Burgundy, entered into the dynastic allegiance with the ducal House of Burgundy, until 1350 all territories of Artois, Franche-Comté and the Burgundian duchy were inherited by their grandson Philip I of Burgundy
Batavi (Germanic tribe)
The name is applied to several military units employed by the Romans that were originally raised among the Batavi. The tribal name, probably a derivation from batawjō, refers to the regions fertility, finds of wooden tablets show that at least some were literate. The Batavi, or at least the Batavian island in the Rhine river, were mentioned by Julius Caesar in his commentary Commentarii de Bello Gallico, the islands easternmost point is at a split in the Rhine, one arm being the Waal the other the Lower Rhine/Old Rhine. Much Tacitus wrote that they had originally been a tribe of the Chatti, a tribe in Germany never mentioned by Caesar and this view, however, is contradicted by the archeological evidence, which shows continuous habitation from at least the third century BC onward. The latter was in use until the Batavian revolt, archeological evidence suggests they lived in small villages, composed of six to 12 houses in the very fertile lands between the rivers, and lived by agriculture and cattle-raising.
Finds of horse skeletons in graves suggest a strong equestrian preoccupation, on the south bank of the Waal a Roman administrative center was built, called Oppidum Batavorum. An Oppidum was a warehouse, where a tribes treasures were stored and guarded. This centre was razed during the Batavian Revolt, Tacitus described the Batavi as the bravest of the tribes of the area, hardened in the Germanic wars, with cohorts under their own commanders transferred to Britannia. Well regarded for their skills in horsemanship and swimming—for men and horses could cross the Rhine without losing formation, thence the Britons retired to the river Thames at a point near where it empties into the ocean and at flood-tide forms a lake. This they easily crossed because they knew where the ground and the easy passages in this region were to be found. However, the Germans swam across again and some others got over by a bridge a little way up-stream, after which they assailed the barbarians from several sides at once and it is uncertain how they were able to accomplish this feat.
The late 4th century writer on Roman military affairs Vegetius mentions soldiers using reed rafts, drawn by leather leads, but the sources suggest the Batavi were able to swim across rivers actually wearing full armour and weapons. This would only have been possible by the use of some kind of buoyancy device, since the shields were wooden, they may have provided sufficient buoyancy The Batavi were used to form the bulk of the Emperors personal Germanic bodyguard from Augustus to Galba. They provided a contingent for their successors, the Emperors horse guards. A Batavian contingent was used in an assault on Ynys Mon, taking the assembled Druids by surprise. Despite the alliance, one of the high-ranking Batavi, Julius Paullus and he managed to capture Castra Vetera, the Romans lost two legions while two others were controlled by the rebels. The rebellion became a threat to the Empire when the conflict escalated to northern Gaul. The Roman army retaliated and invaded the insula Batavorum, a bridge was built over the river Nabalia, where the warring parties approached each other on both sides to negotiate peace
Duchy of Luxemburg
The Duchy of Luxemburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, the ancestral homeland of the noble House of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg, now Duke of Limburg, became one of the most important political forces in the 14th century, in 1411, Sigismund of Luxembourg lost the duchy to his niece Elisabeth because he defaulted on a loan. Elizabeth sold the duchy to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good of the House of Valois-Burgundy, who paid her off in 1444. The male line of the dukes of Burgundy died out in 1477 when Philips son Charles the Bold died at the Battle of Nancy, leaving Mary of Burgundy, his only child, as his heiress. After his death, Mary married Archduke Maximilian I of the House of Habsburg, the Burgundian Netherlands came under the rule of the House of Habsburg, beginning the period of the Habsburg Netherlands. With the abdication in 1555 of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, during this time, the remaining southern provinces were referred to as the Spanish Netherlands. The area remained under Austrian rule until the French Revolution, when it was taken over by France in 1795, Luxembourg lost a small amount of its territory to Prussia in 1813.
The resulting personal union between Luxembourgs throne and the Dutch throne continued until 1890, unlike the Netherlands, Luxembourg was part of the German Confederation established in 1815, and a garrison of the Kingdom of Prussia was stationed there. The first known reference to the territory was made by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War, the historical region of Luxembourg belonged to the Roman province of Belgica Prima. After the invasion of the Germanic tribes from the East, Luxembourg became part of the Frankish Empire, by the 843 Treaty of Verdun, it became part of the Lotharingian province of Middle Francia. According to the Treaty of Ribemont in 880, it had fallen to East Francia. By the 959 partition of Lotharingia, the Luxembourg region had passed to Duke Frederick I of Upper Lorraine of the Ardennes-Verdun dynasty, in 963, Count Siegfried, probably a younger brother of Duke Frederick I, purchased some land from Abbot Wikerus of Saint Maximins in Trier. This land was centered on a fort by the Old High German name of Lucilinburhuc.
In the following years, Count Siegfried had a new castle built on the site of these ruins and this castle dominated a stretch of the old Roman road linking Reims and Trier, and opened some prospects for trade and taxation. Despite this new construction, it seems that Siegfried and his successors did not make the castle their primary residence. The history of Luxembourg proper began with the construction of this castle, in the following years, a small town and market grew around the new castle. The first inhabitants were probably servants of Count Siegfried and clergy of Saint Michaels church and this settlement soon received additional protection by the construction of a first, partial city wall and moat. In addition to the town near Bock Fiels and the Roman road
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