[1] At Maastricht, however, a portion lies on the left bank of the
river, measured, according to the treaty with Belgium, 19th of April
1839, art. 4, by an average radius of 1200 Dutch fathoms (7874 ft.)
from the outer glacis of the fortress.
[2] The datum plane, or basis of the measurement of heights, is
throughout Holland, and also in some of the border districts of
Germany, the _Amsterdamsch Peil_ (A.P.), or Amsterdam water-level,
and represents the average high water-level of the Y at Amsterdam at
the time when it was still open to the Zuider Zee. Local and
provincial "peils" are, however, also in use on some waterways.
[3] See J. Lorie, _Contributions a la geologie des Pays-bas_
(1885-1895), _Archives du Mus. Teyler_ (Haarlem), ser. 2, vol. ii.
pp. 109-240, vol. iii. pp. 1-160, 375-461, vol. iv. pp. 165-309 and
_Bull. soc. belge geol._ vol. iii. (1889); _Mem._ pp. 409-449; F. W.
Harmer, "On the Pliocene Deposits of Holland," &c., _Quart. Journ.
Geol. Soc., London_, vol. lii. (1896) pp. 748-781, pls. xxxiv., xxxv.
[4] The dates indicate the period of construction of the different
sections.
[5] For the history of the Netherlands previous to the confederacy of
the northern provinces in 1579 see NETHERLANDS.
HOLLAND, COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF.--The first mention of Holland in any
document is found in an imperial _gift brief_ dated May 2nd, 1064. In
this the phrase "_omnis comitatus in Hollandt_" occurs, but without any
further description of the locality indicated. A comparison with other
documentary evidence, however, leads to the identification of Holland
with the _forestum Merweda_, or the bush-grown fenland lying between the
Waal, the old Meuse and the Merwe. It is the district surrounding the
town of Dordrecht. A portion of the original Holland was submerged by a
great inundation in 1421, and its modern appellation of Biesbosch
(reed-forest) is descriptive of what must have been the condition of the
entire district in early times. The word Holland is indeed by many
authorities thought to be a corruption of Holt-land (it was sometimes so
spelt by 13th-century writers) and to signify wood-land. The earliest
spelling is, however, Holland, and it is more probable that it means
lowlying-land (hol = hollow), a derivation which is equally applicable
to the district in Lincolnshire which bears the same name.
The first Count of Holland.
The title count of Holland appears to have been first borne by the
Frisian count Dirk III., who founded Dordrecht (about 1015) and made it
his residence (see below). It was not, however, till late in the 11th
century that his successors adopted the style "_Hollandensis comes_" as
their territorial designation (it is found for the first time on a seal
of Dirk V. 1083), and that the name Holland became gradually extended
northwards to connote all the land subject to the rule of the counts
between Texel and the Maas.
Dirk I.
Dirk II.
Extent of his dominions.
Arnulf.
Dirk III.
Foundation of Dordrecht.
Defeat of Godfrey of Lorraine.
Beginning of the County of Holland.
The beginnings of the history of this feudal state (the later Holland)
centre round the abbey of Egmont in whose archives its records have been
preserved. In 922 Charles the Simple gave in full possession to a count
in Frisia, Dirk by name (a shortened form of Diederic, Latin
Theodoricus), "the church of Egmont with all that belonged to it from
Swithardeshage to Kinhem." This man, usually known as Dirk I., died
about 939 and was succeeded by his son of the same name. Among the
records of the abbey of Egmont is a document by which the emperor Arnulf
gave to a certain count Gerolf the same land "between Swithardeshage and
Kinhem," afterwards held by Dirk I. It is generally assumed that this
Gerolf was his father, otherwise their deed of gift would not have been
preserved among the family papers. Dirk II. was the founder of the abbey
of Egmont. His younger son Egbert became archbishop of Treves. His elder
son Arnulf married Liutgardis, daughter of Siegfried of Luxemburg and
sister-in-law of the emperor Henry II. He obtained from the emperor Otto
III., with whom he was in great favour in 983, a considerable extension
of territory, that now covered by the Zuider Zee and southward down to
Nijmwegen. In the deed of gift he is spoken of as holding the three
countships of Maasland, Kinhem or Kennemerland and Texla or Texel; in
other words his rule extended over the whole country from the right bank
of the Maas or Meuse to the Vlie. He appears also to have exercised
authority at Ghent. He died in 988. Arnulf was count till 993, when he
was slain in battle against the west Frisians, and was succeeded by his
twelve-year-old son Dirk III. During the guardianship of his mother,
Liutgardis, the boy was despoiled of almost all his possessions, except
Kennemerland and Maasland. But no sooner was he arrived at man's estate
than Dirk turned upon his enemies with courage and vigour. He waged war,
successfully with Adelbold, the powerful bishop of Utrecht, and made
himself master not only of his ancestral possessions, but of the
district on the Meuse known as the Bushland of Merweda (_forestum
Merweda_), hitherto subject to the see of Utrecht. In the midst of this
marshy tract, at a point commanding the courses of the Meuse and the
Waal, he built a castle (about 1015) and began to levy tolls. Around
this castle sprang up the town of Thuredrecht or Dordrecht. The
possession of this stronghold was so injurious to the commerce of Tiel,
Cologne and the Rhenish towns with England that complaints were made by
the bishop of Utrecht and the archbishop of Cologne to the emperor.
Henry II. took the part of the complainants and commissioned Duke
Godfrey of Lorraine to chastise the young Frisian count. Duke Godfrey
invaded Dirk's lands with a large army, but they were impeded by the
swampy nature of the country and totally defeated with heavy loss (July
29, 1018). The duke was himself taken prisoner. The result was that Dirk
was not merely confirmed in his possession of Dordrecht and the Merweda
Bushland (the later Holland) but also of the territory of a vassal of
the Utrecht see, Dirk Bavo by name, which he conquered. This victory of
1018 is often regarded as the true starting-point of the history of the
county of Holland. Having thus established his rule in the south, Dirk
next proceeded to bring into subjection the Frisians in the north. He
appointed his brother Siegfrid or Sikka as governor over them. In his
later years Dirk went upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from which he
returned in 1034; and ruled in peace until his death in 1039.
Dirk IV.
Quarrel with Flanders about Zeeland.
His son, Dirk IV., was one of the most enterprising of his warlike and
strenuous race. He began the long strife with the counts of Flanders, as
to the lordship over Walcheren and other islands of Zeeland; the quarrel
was important, as dealing with the borderland between French and German
overlordship. This strife, which lasted 400 years, did not at first
break out into actual warfare, because both Dirk and Baldwin V. of
Flanders had a common danger in the emperor Henry III., who in 1046
occupied the lands in dispute. Dirk allied himself with Godfrey the
Bearded of Lorraine, who was at war with the emperor, and his territory
was invaded by a powerful imperial fleet and army (1047). But Dirk
entrenched himself in his stronghold at Vlaardingen, and when winter
came on he surrounded and cut off with his light boats a number of the
enemy's ships, and destroyed a large part of their army as they made
their way amidst the marches, which impeded their retreat. He was able
to recover what he had lost and to make peace on his own terms. Two
years later he was again assailed by a coalition headed by the
archbishop of Cologne and the bishop of Utrecht. They availed themselves
of a very hard winter to penetrate into the land over the frozen water.
Dirk offered a stout resistance, but, according to the most trustworthy
account, was enticed into an ambuscade and was killed in the fight
(1049). He died unmarried and was succeeded by his brother Floris I.
Floris I.
Dirk V.