Dutch History book summary
Tessa Faber
Introduction – Netherlands
Stands out in its extensive and intricate involvement in long-term
globalization process
No better country to study the history of globalisation
How a perennially fractured and highly differentiated society
managed to not only survive but thrive
Historical ability to adapt to their continually changing situation
Defining the Netherlands
Developments within the territory that at present constitutes the
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Very modest attention given to Dutch Imperium
Dutch Caribbean as part of the Netherlands
Pays attention to the changing boundaries between land and water
as the Dutch experienced in the course of centuries
Country’s past shaped by numerous interfaces with external
developments
Chapter 1 – from margins to the mainstream
For most of human history at the edges of human activity
Climate and geography not conductive
At the beginning of the Middle Ages this allowed local rulers to
create their own spaces
By the High Middle Ages effective duchies and counties had
emerged
Could not match the great cities of Flanders
Pre-Roman times
The earliest human inhabitants
Homo heidelbergensis, a quarter of a million years ago
Most of the country covered by ice sheets
Discovery of tools, but not permanent
Land would not witness humans again until after 10,000 BC
Region became wetter, more suited to human habitation
Pesse Canoe, oldest boat
Initial inhabitants did not erect permanent buildings
A more settled existence
5,500 BC, farming and more sophisticated stone instruments
Migrants from central Europe domesticated cattle, first producers of
earthenware in the region
Agriculture less suited for the waterier regions of the country
, Funnel-Beaker culture (my street)
Both more sedentary and more socially complex and hierarchical is
evidenced in dolmensimpressive tombs build for their elite
o Discontinued by about 2800 BC in favour of an earthen burial
mound
Iron age by about 700 BC, producing were the Celts
Celts had kinfolk of so-called La Tène Culture across large portions of
western Europe
The Germanic languages supplanted the Celtic across all of what is
now the Netherlands
On the eve of the Roman invasion between 10,000 and 100,000
people
Wierden, or Terpen, Artificial mounds that afforded their inhabitants
protection from the water, were built around 2750 years ago in
Groningen and Friesland
Germanic Batavians came to reside in the Betuwe region
The Roman Netherlands
The establishment of Roman Power
As governor of Gaul, Julius Caesar aimed to pacify restless northern
Gaul, brought him near the southern boundaries of the Netherlands
Two chief antagonists: Menapii in the west and Eburones in the East,
withdrew into forest and swaps, Romans burned down their farms
The Menapii submitted in 53 BC, but the Roman grip on the region
was fleeting
Full gen later, the Romans being led by general Nero Claudius
Drusus Germanicus set out to pacify areas east of the Rhine
Made use of Batavians by exempting them from tribute in exchange
for the use of their troops
Complete decimation of three Roman legions at the Teutoburg
Forest in 9 AD forced the Romans back to the west side of the Rhine
In 28 AD the Frisians rose up and managed to slaughter hundreds of
Roman soldiers
Twenty years later the Romans made an alliance with the Frisians
that facilitated extensive trade
But the lands remained free of direct Roman Rule
In 69 AD, 2 leaders of the auxiliary Batavians, Julius Civilis and his
brother Paulus, were wrongly accused of treason
o Paulus was executed, which led to Julius seeking vengeance
A brief civil war followed, in which one of Nero’s fleeting successors
demanded that the Batavians be conscripted in the Roman army
instead of volunteering
o This led to a full-scale revolt by the Batavians, endangering
much of Roman Gaul
Emperor Vespasian send a large Roman force to retake
By the end of 70 there was negotiated peace forced on them
The Batavians were restored in their role as auxiliary soldiers
, Later the myth that the Dutch were descendants of the freedom-
loving Batavians
The Fortier-Limes- enabled the stable development of Germania
Inferior as a Roman province
In the first century the first real towns of the region were built
The first was possibly Maastricht
Nijmegen was the first town to receive a Roman city charter
By the early second century the frontier was quiet enough that the
Romans could substantially reduce their military presence
Life in the empire
The Roman Netherlands never became heavily settled
Most extensively Romanized parts lay in southern Limburg
Landed estates arose, of which the size grew over time
These villae offered their owners all the creature comforts
Coriovallum most extensive Roman ruins
The areas further north were nevertheless significant to the
economic life of the empire
o Major trading arteries on which the empire relied
o Region important as a transit area
Trade with the Frisians continued, numerous Roman artifacts found
on the terpen of Friesland
Brabant also developed agriculturally
Pax Romana did foster new expressions of cultural and religious life
across the region
A broad group possessed a level of practical literacy necessary for
daily business
Roman law became the norm, practises upon which they frowned
faded away
Local populations began to supplicate their own gods in ways that
resembled Roman custom
Over time “imported” religions such as Mithraism and Christianity
were introduced into the Low countries
A microcosm of the diversity that characterized most of the empire
Roman decline, Migration and Depopulation
The first serious “barbarian” raids took place in 170s
Economic decline, beginning of the third century many settlements
already abandoned
Climate also became colder and wetter, sea more dominant, large
portions of Frisia were washed away
By the middle of the third century the limes had been breached by
peoples called the Franks, disparate tribes such as Chamavi and
Salians who had begun to federate together
The once cultivated countryside became wild again
At the very end of the third century Rome attempted to restore its
authority, replacing the old wooden forts with stone ones
The villae had long been replaced by wooden farmhouses
, The stability depended on the willingness of various Frankish groups
to settle down and swear allegiance to Rome
The Salian Franks were allowed to move later in the fourth century
to Salland
Such arrangements were unstable in a time of great migratory
pressure
The collapse of the Rhine frontier sealed the fate of the province
In the fifth century the Netherlands is likely to have been as empty
of humans as it had been for centuries, its wilderness attracting few
permanent settlers
The Merovingian and Carolingian periods
Society in the Middle Ages
New migrants from Germania and southern Scandinavia slowly
moved into the Low countries small groups
The Franks may have thought of themselves as single bond of
kinship
A local figure with enough personal authority might become the
equivalent of a grafio, but a far cry from a count
Groups hardly models of ethnic purity of political unity, nor were the
“tribes” always hostile toward each other
Similarities of language, but shifting conglomerations of associated
communities
By the 7th and 8th centuries the population began to grow again
Weather became warmer in the 6th century
The ‘new’ Frisians began to recultivate the coastal regions
Chief settlement Dorestad, leading trading centre of the region
o Relied on an extensive row of wooden piers for its commercial
existence
o 10,000 inhabitants
o Embodied the restoration of urban life and the resumption of
extensive trade in the region
o
The advance of Frankish Christendom
The 7th century witnessed the beginning of new conflict over political
control, religious beliefs and economic power
Cohesive Frankish kingdom under Merovingians, converted to
Catholicism
7th century had them casting their eyes on the prosperous river
region and the Merovingian King Dagobert seized Utrecht in 630
Ultimately successful expansion of Frankish power
Roman Catholic Church took the first systematic steps to
Christianise the area
Country’s earliest known church erected in Maastricht around 570
Several bishoprics strengthened the presence of the church
In Frisian and Saxon territory, Christian conversion was more difficult
because it was associated with the Frankish aims of conquest
Tessa Faber
Introduction – Netherlands
Stands out in its extensive and intricate involvement in long-term
globalization process
No better country to study the history of globalisation
How a perennially fractured and highly differentiated society
managed to not only survive but thrive
Historical ability to adapt to their continually changing situation
Defining the Netherlands
Developments within the territory that at present constitutes the
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Very modest attention given to Dutch Imperium
Dutch Caribbean as part of the Netherlands
Pays attention to the changing boundaries between land and water
as the Dutch experienced in the course of centuries
Country’s past shaped by numerous interfaces with external
developments
Chapter 1 – from margins to the mainstream
For most of human history at the edges of human activity
Climate and geography not conductive
At the beginning of the Middle Ages this allowed local rulers to
create their own spaces
By the High Middle Ages effective duchies and counties had
emerged
Could not match the great cities of Flanders
Pre-Roman times
The earliest human inhabitants
Homo heidelbergensis, a quarter of a million years ago
Most of the country covered by ice sheets
Discovery of tools, but not permanent
Land would not witness humans again until after 10,000 BC
Region became wetter, more suited to human habitation
Pesse Canoe, oldest boat
Initial inhabitants did not erect permanent buildings
A more settled existence
5,500 BC, farming and more sophisticated stone instruments
Migrants from central Europe domesticated cattle, first producers of
earthenware in the region
Agriculture less suited for the waterier regions of the country
, Funnel-Beaker culture (my street)
Both more sedentary and more socially complex and hierarchical is
evidenced in dolmensimpressive tombs build for their elite
o Discontinued by about 2800 BC in favour of an earthen burial
mound
Iron age by about 700 BC, producing were the Celts
Celts had kinfolk of so-called La Tène Culture across large portions of
western Europe
The Germanic languages supplanted the Celtic across all of what is
now the Netherlands
On the eve of the Roman invasion between 10,000 and 100,000
people
Wierden, or Terpen, Artificial mounds that afforded their inhabitants
protection from the water, were built around 2750 years ago in
Groningen and Friesland
Germanic Batavians came to reside in the Betuwe region
The Roman Netherlands
The establishment of Roman Power
As governor of Gaul, Julius Caesar aimed to pacify restless northern
Gaul, brought him near the southern boundaries of the Netherlands
Two chief antagonists: Menapii in the west and Eburones in the East,
withdrew into forest and swaps, Romans burned down their farms
The Menapii submitted in 53 BC, but the Roman grip on the region
was fleeting
Full gen later, the Romans being led by general Nero Claudius
Drusus Germanicus set out to pacify areas east of the Rhine
Made use of Batavians by exempting them from tribute in exchange
for the use of their troops
Complete decimation of three Roman legions at the Teutoburg
Forest in 9 AD forced the Romans back to the west side of the Rhine
In 28 AD the Frisians rose up and managed to slaughter hundreds of
Roman soldiers
Twenty years later the Romans made an alliance with the Frisians
that facilitated extensive trade
But the lands remained free of direct Roman Rule
In 69 AD, 2 leaders of the auxiliary Batavians, Julius Civilis and his
brother Paulus, were wrongly accused of treason
o Paulus was executed, which led to Julius seeking vengeance
A brief civil war followed, in which one of Nero’s fleeting successors
demanded that the Batavians be conscripted in the Roman army
instead of volunteering
o This led to a full-scale revolt by the Batavians, endangering
much of Roman Gaul
Emperor Vespasian send a large Roman force to retake
By the end of 70 there was negotiated peace forced on them
The Batavians were restored in their role as auxiliary soldiers
, Later the myth that the Dutch were descendants of the freedom-
loving Batavians
The Fortier-Limes- enabled the stable development of Germania
Inferior as a Roman province
In the first century the first real towns of the region were built
The first was possibly Maastricht
Nijmegen was the first town to receive a Roman city charter
By the early second century the frontier was quiet enough that the
Romans could substantially reduce their military presence
Life in the empire
The Roman Netherlands never became heavily settled
Most extensively Romanized parts lay in southern Limburg
Landed estates arose, of which the size grew over time
These villae offered their owners all the creature comforts
Coriovallum most extensive Roman ruins
The areas further north were nevertheless significant to the
economic life of the empire
o Major trading arteries on which the empire relied
o Region important as a transit area
Trade with the Frisians continued, numerous Roman artifacts found
on the terpen of Friesland
Brabant also developed agriculturally
Pax Romana did foster new expressions of cultural and religious life
across the region
A broad group possessed a level of practical literacy necessary for
daily business
Roman law became the norm, practises upon which they frowned
faded away
Local populations began to supplicate their own gods in ways that
resembled Roman custom
Over time “imported” religions such as Mithraism and Christianity
were introduced into the Low countries
A microcosm of the diversity that characterized most of the empire
Roman decline, Migration and Depopulation
The first serious “barbarian” raids took place in 170s
Economic decline, beginning of the third century many settlements
already abandoned
Climate also became colder and wetter, sea more dominant, large
portions of Frisia were washed away
By the middle of the third century the limes had been breached by
peoples called the Franks, disparate tribes such as Chamavi and
Salians who had begun to federate together
The once cultivated countryside became wild again
At the very end of the third century Rome attempted to restore its
authority, replacing the old wooden forts with stone ones
The villae had long been replaced by wooden farmhouses
, The stability depended on the willingness of various Frankish groups
to settle down and swear allegiance to Rome
The Salian Franks were allowed to move later in the fourth century
to Salland
Such arrangements were unstable in a time of great migratory
pressure
The collapse of the Rhine frontier sealed the fate of the province
In the fifth century the Netherlands is likely to have been as empty
of humans as it had been for centuries, its wilderness attracting few
permanent settlers
The Merovingian and Carolingian periods
Society in the Middle Ages
New migrants from Germania and southern Scandinavia slowly
moved into the Low countries small groups
The Franks may have thought of themselves as single bond of
kinship
A local figure with enough personal authority might become the
equivalent of a grafio, but a far cry from a count
Groups hardly models of ethnic purity of political unity, nor were the
“tribes” always hostile toward each other
Similarities of language, but shifting conglomerations of associated
communities
By the 7th and 8th centuries the population began to grow again
Weather became warmer in the 6th century
The ‘new’ Frisians began to recultivate the coastal regions
Chief settlement Dorestad, leading trading centre of the region
o Relied on an extensive row of wooden piers for its commercial
existence
o 10,000 inhabitants
o Embodied the restoration of urban life and the resumption of
extensive trade in the region
o
The advance of Frankish Christendom
The 7th century witnessed the beginning of new conflict over political
control, religious beliefs and economic power
Cohesive Frankish kingdom under Merovingians, converted to
Catholicism
7th century had them casting their eyes on the prosperous river
region and the Merovingian King Dagobert seized Utrecht in 630
Ultimately successful expansion of Frankish power
Roman Catholic Church took the first systematic steps to
Christianise the area
Country’s earliest known church erected in Maastricht around 570
Several bishoprics strengthened the presence of the church
In Frisian and Saxon territory, Christian conversion was more difficult
because it was associated with the Frankish aims of conquest
