Jolm I. The in depend ence of Holland. Constilu tion of her cities 72 took the form of oppression, he also granted charters to towns (notably to Amsterdam), and forwarded their growth. In 1296, finding that Edward of England was dealing with his rival of Flanders, Floris joined Philip the Fair of France ; but this act and his severities towards the nobles led to a conspiracy, to which he fell a victim; the burghers and people, who knew him to be their best friend, took such vengeance on his slayers as permanently reduced the power of the nobles. John L, his son, was in England when his father was murdered ; he was a feeble boy in body and mind, married to the daughter of Edward I. His reign was a struggle between Zealand, led by Wolfart van Borselen, and Holland, guided by John of Avennes, the young count s guardian and next heir. In 1299 Van Borseleu was killed by the Hollanders, and soon after Count John died. John of Avennes was at once recognized as count by the Hollanders, and with John I. ended the first line of counts, after a rule of nearly 400 years, Europe has perhaps never seen an abler series of princes ; excepting the last, there is not one weak man among them ; they were ready fighters, brave crusaders, handsome well-built persons, with high chival rous gifts tainted with corresponding chivalrous vices ; they were all ready to advance the commerce of the country ; they were the friends of the people, the supporters of the growing towns. They made their marsh lauds fertile, and raised Holland to be a companion of kings. During this time Holland became independent of the imperial authority. The fragments of Nether Lorraine, Holland, Guelderland, Utrecht, Brabant, and Flanders paid little heed to their nominal lord ; Holland especially, so far from the centre of the empire, so nenrly forgotten in the greater troubles of Italy or Switzerland, was left to herself. She made her own laws, imposed river-dues (a recognized imperial right), named her own officers, held high court of justice, coined money, made peace or war at will. Even the de jure authority of the empire over Holland is a matter of doubt, much debated by publicists and historians. The independent development of the country took, as we have said, a municipal form ; and as the constitutions of her cities have throughout affected her history, they demand some consideration. Before the 14th century there were in Holland no estates, nor any general political life; the count was all powerful. Over the country districts he set his " baljews " or bailiff s, and in towns and villages his "sellouts" or local judges. In the 13th cen tury, when any greater matter had to be discussed in a city, all citizens were summoned by ring of the great bell to the public square, and there decided the question by democratic vote. Justice was Administered " by a man s peers," according to the Saxon code in the east, the Frisian in the north, and the Frankish or Salian in the south, each district having also its several uses or customs. Taxa tion for the count s benefit was styled his "beden" or prayer for supplies, and fell chiefly on the towns. And as the towns paid most, and were generally built on the count s lands, they claimed his protection, receiving charters and liberties from him in return for their dues and levies of men. In time the vague civic democracy gave place to an oligarchical government. While the Flemish towns were opposed to their feudal lord, in the north it was the other way ; the counts of Holland were with the cities against the other classes of society. Consequently, though the Dutch towns began later, they in the end enjoyed far more steady prosperity than their southern neighbours. Thus under William II. and Floris V., Dort and Delft, Haarlem, Alkmaar, Middelburg, Leyden, Schiedam, and others began their prosperous career. Each of these cities was at first ruled by the count s "schepenen" or judges, supported by councillors, one from each quarter of the town, from whom [HISTORY. sprang the title of burgomaster, by which they became known in later days. The "schepenen" administered jus tice, while the councillors or burgomasters attended to civil affairs, and by degrees threw the judges into the back ground. Peace and defence were entrusted to a local militia, armed with the cross-bow. Dort was the earliest of these prosperous towns ; it enjoyed a very strict staple- right ; the commerce of the northern districts was com pelled to pass through its market. Two centuries later came the prosperity of Amsterdam, and with it the European fame of Dutch butter and cheese ; then the wealth arising from the herring-fishery, of which the centre was Enkhuysen. In the 14th century the chief towns had joined the Hansa, and though that exclusive body in the 15th century ejected them, they far more than recovered the loss of their trade through the newly opened worlds of India and America. When John of Avennes succeeded in 1299 as first count John o of the house of Hainault, the Hollanders were willing to Avennt receive him, the Zealanders not ; and a long struggle be tween the provinces ensued. In 1301 he coerced Utrecht into alliance, and got the bishopric for his brother Guy. In 1304 the Flemings were driven out of Holland, and John II. was for a few .months real lord of the county. He died that year, and was succeeded by his son William Williai III., "the Good" (1304-1337), who made peace within. Flanders in 1323, settled the outstanding quarrel between Holland and Zealand, united the Amstelland and its city Amsterdam to his territories, encouraged civic life, and developed the resources of his country. He also entered into close relations with the states of Europe, having married Johanna of Valois, niece of the French king ; in 1323 the emperor Louis the Bavarian wedded his daughter Margaret, and in 1328 his third daughter, Philippa of Hainault, was given to Edward III. of England. William III. was in all respects a great prince, and an acute states man. In 1337 he died, and was succeeded by his son William IV., who was killed fighting against the Frisians Willia in 1345. He left no children, and the question as to the IV. succession now brought on Holland a time of violent civil commotions. -The county was claimed by Margaret, William s eldest sister, as well as by Philippa of Hainault, or, in other words, by Edward III. of England. Margaret Marga eventually succeeded, siding with the older nobles, and being, therefore, not well received by the towns. These are the days in which came up the famous parties of "Kabbeljaus" and . Hocks," the "Cods" and the "Hooks," the fat burgher fish and the sharp steel-pointed nobles who wanted to catch and devour them. After much buffeting and many changes of fortune, Margaret resigned her lordship in 1349 in favour of her second son William, Willia: but again resumed it in 1350. Then the struggle between V. nobles and cities broke into open war. Edward III. come to Margaret s aid, winning a sea fight off Veere in 1351 ; a few weeks later the Hooks and the English were defeated by William and the Cods at Vlaardingen an overthrow which ruined Margaret s cause. She made peace with her son in 1354, and died two years Liter. He, however, shortly after fell mad; so that in 1358 the Hooks had to call in his younger brother, Albert of Bavaria, to be stadt- Albert holder or " ruwaard 1 in his stead ; he ruled well, and re- Bavan stored some order to the land. In the latter part of his life he went over to the Cods, a step which led to another outbreak of civil war which lasted until 1395. In 1404 he died, and was succeeded by his son William VI. who Willia: upheld the Hooks with all his power, and secured their VI. ascendency. He died in 1417, leaving only a daughter, Jacoba (or Jacqueline), wife of John of France, who died Jacobs that same year. Again was Holland rent with civil strife ;
the Hooks, as before, readily accepting a female sovereign,
