The feudal system, which had established itself over the greater part of Europe, likewise prevailed in the Belgian territory, which in the 11th century was divided into duchies, counties and marquisates, under the sway of chiefs owing allegiance to the empire or other of the greater princes, but exercising an almost abso lute dominion over their own subjects. Thus were formed the counties of Holland, Brabant, Zealand, Friesland, Namur, Hainaut; the duchies of Limburg, Guelders, Juliers, Luxem burg; the marquisate of Antwerp and others. In the frequent struggles which took place dur ing this period, Luxemburg, Namur, Hainaut and Liege were usually found siding with France, while Brabant, Holland and Flanders commonly took the side of Germany. The princes and the people, however, particularly of Flanders, were not always found on the same side.
The 12th and 13th centuries were distin guished by a general uprising of the industrial communities, which had begun to grow in im portance throughout Europe, against the feudal system. This movement was very strongly manifested throughout the Netherlands, less strongly perhaps in Belgium than in Holland. In both countries prosperous municipalities be gan to arise and assert their freedom ; but the spirit of centralization, more strongly developed among the Latin-speaking races, prevailed more in the southern provinces, while the love of individual liberty was more strongly manifested in the north. Many of the towns of Flanders and Brabant, however, became extremely dem ocratic. Ghent in particular distinguished itself by the violence and frequency of its revolts against its rulers.
From this time the popular and civic element began to count for something in political com binations. If one potentate secured the alliance of a count, another might strengthen himself by secretly encouraging insurrection in his towns. The people of Flanders often allied themselves with the English, with whom their commercial intercourse and their love of free dom gave them many common interests and feelings, and both their own counts and the French monarchy often felt the effects of this alliance.
The battle of Courtrai in 1302 greatly weak ened the feudal authority, but the ascendancy of the popular element led to various excesses. The organization of popular power was reserved for a later age, and the battle of Rosebeque, 1382, in which the Ghentese under Philip van Artevelde (who had offered the crown of France to Richard II of England as the price of his assistance) were totally defeated, restored the authority of the nobles. In 1384, Flanders and Artois fell to the house of Burgundy by the marriage of the Duke, a scion of the French Crown, with Margaret, daughter of Louis II, Count of Nevers, the last ruler of these prov inces. By a succession of happy marriages, by purchase or by force, Holland, Zealand, Hain aut, Brabant, Limburg, Antwerp and Namur had all by 1430 become the inheritance of the same house. In 1442 the duchy of Luxemburg was acquired, and in 1470 Guelders and Fries land. This extraordinary prosperity induced Charles the Bold, who succeeded in 1467, to at tempt to unite his territories by the conquest of Alsace, Lorraine and Liege, and raise his duchy to a kingdom. The details of this enter prise, which forms one of the most exciting epi sodes in European history, belong more imme diately to the history of France. It ended in his defeat and death at the battle of Nancy in 1477. His daughter Mary, who succeeded him, carried the fortunes of her house still higher, or rather she carried them into a house still more fortunate than her own, by her union with the Archduke Maximilian, son of the Emperor Frederick Her splendid possessions had been coveted by many potentates and there were five candidates for her hand, among whom the most important were the Dauphin, son of Louis XI, and the Archduke.
It now became the part of France to excite troubles in Flanders. The policy of Maximilian, conformably to the traditions of the house of Austria, was directed to the aggrandizement of his house. He was frequently at feud with his Netherlandish subjects, whose manners he took little pains to understand, and for whose liber ties he had little respect. Wars and leagues succeeded each other, which belong to the his tory of the great states of Europe. The Nether lands were by this union again brought under the German empire, and especially under the house of Austria, destined soon to become the most powerful in Europe. In 1512 they were formed into a division of the empire under the title of the circle of Burgundy. East Friesland was included in the circle of Westphalia. On being called to the empire, Maximilian con ferred the government of the Netherlands on his son, Philip the Fair, under whom they began to experience the material advantages of an alliance with the house of Austria. The vast European possessions of this house opened up to its subjects the greatest facilities of the age for commercial intercourse, while the discovery of America gave them in addition the commerce of a new world. The industrial slcill and en terprise of the Netherlands fitted them much more than the Spaniards, whose haughty dis position made them apt to substitute rapacity for industry, to derive permanent benefit from these opportunities. Margaret, the aunt, and Mary, the sister of Charles V, who succeeded to thd government of the Low Countries, exer cised it in many respects wisely and well. The former, a patroness of arts and letters, kept her court surrounded with poets, artists and men of learning. A council of state, consisting of the governors or stadtholders of the 17 prov inces, assisted them in the administration of affairs, and such was the prosperity of the coun try that more than one of the cities of the Netherlands rivaled in extent and opulence the capitals of the greatest European lcingdoms. This bright day was too soon clouded. The reign of Charles V is less distinguished for the political struggles excited by a too prosperous ambition, which shook nearly every nation of Europe, than for the religious dissensions and the social troubles resulting from them which attended the dawn of the Reformation. The Reformed opinions made great progress in the Netherlands; but here again a remarkable illus tration was afforded of the strength of those differences of race, language and sentiment which divided their populations. In Holland, as in Germany, the Reformation triumphed. On the Belgian territory, especially where the Wal loon or French element of the population pre vailed, although these opinions spread widely, they yielded at length, as in France, to the force of authority or the sentiment of unity. In 1535 Mary published at Brussels an edict condemning all heretics to death. An insurrec tion excited by persecution was suppressed by Charles V in 1540, and the Netherlands were inseparably united by the law of primogeniture with the crown of Spain. No union could have been more unfortunate. The bigotry of the Spanish branch of the Austrian family has be come proverbial, and a country torn with re ligious dissensions could not have found itself under a worse rule.