The fight over the supremacy of The Netherlands
A Brabant/Dutch AAR
Part 1: The two Duchesses of Brabant
As you can see from this map, the Netherlands is divided. Joanna of Brabant had to consolidate her power over these counties and duchies from s’ Hertogenbosch (which means in Dutch: the Duke’s Wood/Forest). First, she enters an alliance with Friesland and Luxembourg, an emissary failed to convince the County of Gelre in the alliance. After all, she wants to vassalize the small counties peacefully to not waste any manpower and ducats. Friesland, Luxembourg and Gelre all agreed to get into a Royal Marriage with Brabant.
The Dutch people of Zeeland
While dinning with the Royal Family in s’ Hertogenbosch, Joanna received a message from the Count of Zeeland. The message said that the Dutch people of Zeeland were persecuted by the Walloons from Hainault. Joanna thought this well and shared the letter with the rest of the family. She decided that the Dutch people had to be saved. Not only that, conquering Zeeland from the rivals of Hainault would finally give access to the sea Brabant desired for so long. But first, she needed a powerful ally to fight the threatening beast that is called The Duchy of Burgundy.
The beast of Burgundy
The duchy of Burgundy is the only nation that could interfere with Joanna’s plan for the unification of the Netherlands. Not only that Burgundy controls the Flanders, they were very powerful and controlled the rich counties of Antwerpen, Vlaanderen and Valanciennes. Three provinces in the Region of the Netherlands that Joanna needed for the unification. She decided that the only country that could help her would be the rich, powerful and divided Kingdom of France.
The Treaty of Paris
The king of France received an emissary from Brabant in 27th of January, 1400 to negotiate a treaty of alliance between France and Brabant. It took 2 days of negotiations until both agreed. France would protect Brabant if they would get invaded and recognized Brabant’s claim on the territory of the Netherlands. Both nations would help each other in case of war.
A new Duke… I mean Duchess
Joanna would never live to see her dream come true. Since she had no male heir, her daughter Joanna I raised to the throne in April 24th 1400. She was a good diplomat, but she had no military skill or administrative skill. She would pursue her mother’s dream of a unified and powerful Netherlands.
The Franco-English War
On the 1st of October, 1401, more than a year since Joanna’s rise to the glorious throne of Brabant, she is involved with a war between the 2 great rivals of Europe, France and England. Although she would not be actually involved in the war since no country could reach Brabant nor could Brabant could reach her enemies. On the 15th of August, 1402, the war ended with the Treaty Bordeaux. England would cede Gascogne and Saintonge.
Diplomacies between 1405 and 1407
On the 14th of September 1405, Friesland agreed to become vassals of the glorious Duchy of Brabant. Later on, Gelre would finally accept an alliance with Brabant. On 28th of July 1407, the Serene Republic of Venice and the Glorious Duchy of Brabant accepted a trade agreement. After all, the expert merchants of Venice always kicked out the new Brabantian merchants in Antwerp.
1407: The invasion of Burgundy by Hainault
In 1407, Burgundy had great troubles with rebels, in the Burgundian Netherlands, heretics revolted against Burgundy. Those rebels successfully occupied a province from Burgundy. They were forced to route and fell back to Hainault. The armies of Hainault were busy keeping order in the Counties of Holland and Zeeland. The city fell later on. Hainault took this as an offense from Burgundy and decided to declare war on them. The less than 5 000 Hainautians soldiers invaded Antwerp and the Burgundian Netherlands. Since the Armies of Burgundy were busy putting down rebels, it was very successful. Until Aragon, Burgundy’s ally, invaded Holland and Zeeland from the sea. After successfully invading the 2 duchies, Hainault agreed to release the Duchy of Holland. The new duchy would be governed by a Catalan Duke, which greatly offended Brabant.
The liberation of Zeeland
In 1399, Joanna received a plea of help from the count of Zeeland, now was the perfect moment to liberate the Zeelanders from foreign tyranny. The Glorious Duchy of Brabant declared war on the Duchy of Holland and on the Kingdom of Aragon. France, Friesland and Gelre all agreed to help the cause. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg did not wanted to get involved against a powerful country like Aragon. This outraged the Duchess but she understood the Grand Duke. By the 18th of October 1409, The Koninklijke Leger (Royal Army) liberated Zeeland, the very happy count offered his help by giving financial support and some soldiers to replace the ones lost in the siege. The Royal Army of Brabant then moved toward Amsterdam. When the City fell, the Duke of Holland just arrived from Aragon, he agreed to cede Zeeland to the Glorious Duchy of Brabant. Joanna I now figured that now that she has access to the sea, she had to build a Navy to protect her Glorious Duchy from seaborne invasions. A message from a French emissary said that the Armée Royale Française was moving across the enemy kingdom of Aragon and had liberated Roussillon and that they were successfully repelling Aragon’s attacks.
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Accomplishments of the Glorious Duchy of Brabant from 1399 to March the 25th, 1411:
-Vassalation of the County of Friesland.
-Allied a powerful Kingdom to repel any invaders and to help campaigns
-Alliance and Royal Marriage with Gelre and Royal marriage with Luxembourg (alliance lost during the liberation of Zeeland).
-Gained Access to the Sea.
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