The Dutch Question: a Rota Fortuna AAR

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At the dawn of the 15th century, the county of Hainaut was a region poised on the knife-edge of opportunity and trouble. Amsterdam was already making a mark as a merchant haven, free from many of the prejudices and narrow-mindedness of surrounding regions. The manufacture of cloth was the industry of choice for most of the county. However, it was a region split in two, interrupted by the duchy of Brabant. And to the south, it stared down two of Europe's giants, Burgundy and France.

Count Albert was a a talented ruler, and it has often been said that what would be achieved in later years owed much to the solid foundation laid by him.

Albert
Count of Hainaut (1336-1425)​

The economic progress of Hainaut was benefited greatly by the work of his minister, Jerome de Freest, perhaps the preeminent economic theorist of his day. De Freest's economic genius was accompanied by the military prowess of Jean von Ranzow, a proponent of progressive reform. While neither man would live to see the fruits of their labours, there is little doubt that the seeds were sown for the later economic and military success of the Dutch in those waning days of Wallonian glory.

Yet before greatness came the proverbial fall. Few would have assessed the northwest corner of Europe as being of particular significance in 1401. Antwerpen was undoubtedly a centre of European trade, but beyond that, it was a region trapped between the rising power of the English, the predatory tendencies of France and Burgundy, and the waning power of Denmark. It was, in short, a no man's land, a strip of territory between the great powers of the day. So, when Burgundy declared war on Albert in August of 1401, bringing with him the estimable might of Austria, Milan and Scotland, one might have simply surmised that the county of Hainaut was soon to be relegated to an historical footnote, a stepping stone on the Burgundian ascendancy.

Cleves had just been elected Holy Roman Emperor, so the vaunted Imperial Army was now in the hands of a petty western prince, one of the tribe-like blips on the Rhine which claimed much power and prestige on behalf of the emperor, but which at the end of the day, functioned only as a loose amalgam of disparate interests and intrigues.

So, two short years later, Hainaut was without its eponymous capital. What at first seemed a tragedy and a retreat to insularity would eventually become a source of strength. Albert's army had been wiped out by the combined strength of the Burgundians and Austrians in Zeeland, at the battle of Terneuzen. The reporting of the battle as the struggle of the weak against the strong caught the imagination of artists across Europe, who immortalised the struggle for centuries in various media.

So, in the loss at Terneuzen was kindled the fire of Dutch identity and strength. The Wallonian county was no more. Hainaut had been the cultural capital of an otherwise Dutch polity. Now, the Dutch natives of Zeeland and Holland embraced Albert with an unprecedented zeal. He was not the just the lead actor in their tragedy of national birth. He became the father of the Dutch state.

Now it was time for Albert to become the predator...

 

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In a strange and perhaps ironic twist of fate, following the loss of Hainaut, Burgundy saw fit to guarantee the independence of what remained of the county of Hainaut. Seen by many to be a slap in the face, Albert accepted the proclamation with magnanimity. It was, after all, a step toward averting further conquests. Days later, the Holy Roman Emperor himself secured an alliance. With yesterday's enemies made friends, and his southern border secure, Albert began eagerly eyeing the horizon for prey of his own.

His first target was obvious. The archbishopric of Utrecht was the nearest, weakest and richest haven of Dutch power. Seizing it would be a further aggrandisement of Dutch hegemony, a one-step recovery of what power had been lost with Hainaut, and a singular declaration of just who would be the centre of a future Dutch state.

The first step toward his future hegemony would have to be securing the economic future. Together with Jerome de Freest, they outlined the long-term creation of a national Trade Empire. [This is a new Rota Fortuna NI – many of the NIs have been redesigned. There is also an accompanying Event & Decision pool to give NI choices a stronger and more varied impact.]

In June 1412, Jean von Renzow unveiled his latest military innovation, whereby the previous untrained medieval levies were replaced by men-at-arms. These soldiers were poor by the standards of anything that would follow, but seen in light of the bedraggled troops Albert had led into Terneuzen, the new troops had a bit of polish and the beginnings of order and discipline. Weaponry and armour were uniform. Command structures were codified. Whether it was the end of medievalism or the beginning of modernity is open to question. But it was a step in the right direction, quickly followed by others, and in the short term, offered a definitive edge over the troops offered up by the archbishopric.

The war for Utrecht lasted eleven months, most of which involved the siege of the city itself. When it surrendered, Albert made it clear that the usual plundering would not take place. This was an act of liberation, not conquest. The ensuing war against Cleves and Munster proved as speedy an affair. Within ten months, the Holy Roman Emperor had surrendered, and the two states were made vassals of the expanding Dutch state. Elections quickly went forward, and Rupert III of the Palatinate was made the new Imperial prince. Cleves was brought once more into an alliance, but this on Dutch, rather than imperial terms. Munster was added a few weeks later.

By 1414, a new centre of gravity was establishing itself in the low countries of northwestern Europe. Whether it would be a short-lived uprising or a telling counterbalance to French and imperial ambitions, only time would tell...

 

[Throne]

Hurray another Dutch AAR!

 

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If one had seen a map of the low countries in 1401, and another from 1416, one would have to guess that decades if not centuries had passed between the two dates. During those fifteen years, there was a tremendous upsurge of anti-Burgundian feeling amongst the peoples, be they Dutch, Wallonian or Flemish. Flanders broke free from the yoke of Burgundy, claiming the rich port of Antwerpen for its duke. And little Liege trebled in size, absorbing Hainaut and Valenciennes. And Hainaut herself, of course, looked like the new power along the Dutch coast. Burgundy was nowhere to be found outside her traditional east French borders.

In August 1419, in a show of what claims feudalism could still stake at the feet of sovereignty, Marc Brouckaert rose up in Utrecht, claiming for himself the title of Dutch prince.

A year later and Albert brought the twin armies of Hainaut to bear in the Battle of Hulst. Brouckaert was killed in the ensuing melee, and the rebellion was dead in the water. A secondary rebellion followed three years later, under the flag of the now notorious Humbert du Trieux. In the Battle of Utrecht, Count Albert fell wounded. The wound became septic and weeks later, he was dead. It would be his son's task to avenge the death, a task which would consume his short reign. Guillaume III ruled for four brief years, during which time the only other event of note was the death of the fiscal titan Jerome de Freest.

The Battle of Hulst
​

When Guillaume's erstwhile cousin Odo became Odo I in April 1429, the seismic shifts in the western empire had become as plain as they were changeable. Borders seemed to hold little sway in the ebb and flow of political fortune.

While the fortunes of princes shifted in the northwestern corner of the empire, the emperor himself couldn't help but take notice. The actions of the counts of Hainaut were of particular urgency. Hainaut had taken over an important archbishopric, and there were calls from all corners for this action to be condemned and reversed. Time would show the futility of these overtures. At the same time, Cleves and Munster had both been drawn into the yoke of Dutch hegemony. There were those who suggested that Humbert du Trieux was nothing but an imperial patsy, with a funded rebellion aimed at cowing the Dutch. The death of Albert was thus painted as a convenient plus for the treacherous imperial forces. While Albert had been no friend of the Reich, he was no fool, and had courted imperial favour with the obligatory pomp and ceremony. From now on, antipathy toward imperial machinations would prove a cause celebre amongst nobles and peasants alike. Some scholars have gone so far as to offer the notion that early Dutch nationalism was as much anti-imperialism as it was a proactive movement.

Many said that Guillaume was every inch the ruler his father had been. History has a tendency to brush young martyrs in rosy hues. Odo was certainly no Albert. Nor was his son Baudouin. Yet both men, in spite of their limitations of character, managed to continue the project set forth by their famous ancestor. The Dutch thread would consist of equal parts trade and war, as the state consolidated its hold on national lands, while creating a buffer zone of subservient states. The pattern was one of increasing hostility to the empire. Of course, no nation could make the claims to solidarity made by the Dutch during the 15th and 16th centuries without alienating an alleged central authority.

And as we shall see, solidarity would always win out over conciliation in Dutch affairs.

 

[Beamed]

Excellent new AAR! As with the last, I shall watch closely.

 

[safferli]

Another isca aar, and it's a Dutch one to boot! Excellent start, and very interesting. Never heard of "rota fortuna" before, I'll have to look into that!

 

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Another isca aar, and it's a Dutch one to boot! Excellent start, and very interesting. Never heard of "rota fortuna" before, I'll have to look into that!

Rota Fortuna is a mod I've been working on with the help of Helius and dharper. It's not released yet. This is what I hope will be a final test run before I release it. It includes my own work, Helius' SRI, and dharper's Dei Gratia (as yet, also unreleased).

When aspects come up specific to Rota Fortuna, I'll try to highlight them. I had already started one, but ran into integration problems between my own work and Dei Gratia. Those have been resolved, so I should be able to plow on to 1821, by which time I'll likely find that I have made some small errors in thinking which over the centuries lead to a Protestant Ming China, massive exploration by Dulkadir, and a Pope who lives in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[Throne]

Why is King Albert a Woman?

 

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Why is King Albert a Woman?

Duke Albert, though he was only the Count of Hainaut. But... ??????????????????????

If the reference is to the picture, that is actually a real portrait of said duke. If you think he's a bit camp, then you can take that up with his descendants...

 

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Interesting start of another Dutch AAR..

Will you be attacking Flanders soon before the get too strong?

 

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Interesting start of another Dutch AAR..

Will you be attacking Flanders soon before the get too strong?

Flanders is tough. They've got quite a large army (bigger than mine), and I don't have the cash reserves to put up a protracted war.

But they're high on my list of targets!

It's also strategically tough, as they put me next to France, which is always a bad place to be.

 

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This looks like someone who knows what they are doing! Very good! I will keep a close watch on this!

 

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Odo I reigned for almost thirty years. They were difficult years, made more difficult by Odo's relative lack of ability as an administrator. He inherited a land ready to move ahead toward Dutch hegemony, but had little ability to conceive of action on a national level, and with a “nationalist” agenda. His thinking was solidly feudal, and his aim was to increase his demesne. He began by alienating the ruler of Friesland, the last piece in the Dutch puzzle. Albert had made clear from the outset that Friesland was an integral element of his Dutch strategy, but left no insights as to how to pursue that goal. So Odo approached the impending conflict with his elephantine sense of delicacy and nuance. Accusations rained down on the Frisian court about various improprieties and scandals, none of which had any justification in fact.

In a positive vein, Odo managed to create an alliance with the growing power, Liege. Liege had traditionally been a small state of relatively little significance. But it had done well with the disintegration of Burgundy, and now stood as a powerful bulwark against Hainaut's southern rivals.

While the players involved would shift over the years, the general pattern of vassals and allies providing a defensive barrier along the southern and eastern borders would prove a defining feature of Dutch foreign policy.

The other imaginative leap taken by Odo I was the integration of naval thinking into the state agenda. The reformer, Ignace de Avesnes, was brought into the inner circle of ministers, and for the first time, galleys systematically patrolled Dutch waters to monitor for pirates. It wasn't the intensive anti-piratical practice which would eventually evolve, but it was the seed which would lead later to those innovations, both legal and naval.

Innovations in trade moved apace, driven chiefly by the merchant class, with the backing, sometimes proactive, sometimes tacit, of the royal court.

Working hard against these advances were the machinations of the Reich. Ludwig III of the Palatinate was no friend of Hainaut's ambitions, and played the card best suited for bringing an end to the rise of Dutch power. In May 1440, he conspired with the Lubeck Stadtholder to ban all of Odo's merchants. When Odo smiled politely, and called upon his merchants to claw their way back into the Hansa, the Emperor responded six years later by repeating his expulsion of the merchants. There was little for Odo to do, but shift their energies from Lubeck to Genoa, a notable centre of trade, but no match for the profits of the Queen of the Hansa.

Five years later, with Genoa bursting with Dutch ambition, Odo sent his minions on to Novgorod. The growing influence of pre-capitalist ideas was spurring Hainaut to new heights in commercial wealth.

Of course, all of this would pale with what was to come. Odo would die, in July 1560, unaware that he had successfully navigated his county through difficult times. He is reported to have been disconsolate on his deathbed, feeling that he had failed the vision of Albert. As history was to tell, time and time again, Dutch successes were often bought with failure and difficulty.

 

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Lets hope the next king will take out Friesland, Brabant and Vlaanderen!
That would be a heck of a war

 

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Baudouin VII had a remarkable reign for such an apparently talentless man. As a pupil, his tutors bemoaned his lack of enthusiasm. His ministers called him “the Bewildered”. His family tried to distance themselves from him at every turn. Yet over thirty-one years, the count of Hainaut diligently built up his power, economically, militarily, and much to everyone's surprise, dynastically.

Baudouin VII​

As part of his ambition to grow his wealth, Baudouin encouraged banking practices, especially in Amsterdam, where there was a long tradition of small-scale lending. Over time, the merchants learned methods which would both prove lucrative and keep inflation in check.

In 1461, in what seemed a gesture intended as a warning shot, Emperor Albrecht I publicly decried Hainaut for its past injustices against the sovereignty of its neighbours. Unlike his predecessors, who had always taken steps to ameliorate tensions within the empire, Baudouin began arming. His agenda was long. Friesland, the old prize, was top of his list, but thereafter came two goals which, in hindsight, show remarkable confidence. The first was Brunswick, the estimable central imperial state, a longtime ally of Friesland. The second was the Palatinate and the emperor himself.

Whether Baudouin was impulsive or cunning, and indeed whether his ambition was something new, or merely commensurate with the increased power of Hainaut, are subjects open to debate. War opened in April of 1465. Friesland fell to a small army. Baudouin then hired a sizable force of mercenaries and marched into Brunswick. The Hannoverians fell with unanticipated ease.

From there, all that was left was for his allies to mop up the Palatinate, now embattled and alone. They, too, were made Dutch vassals. In emergency session, a new emperor was declared. Learning the lessons of small states with great titles, the electors chose Leopold X Johann of Austria. Leopold's first act was to demand the return of Frisian independence, but his calls fell on predictably deaf ears. Baudouin was already busy making the Jews of Friesland feel more at home under their new sovereign. This was the first genuine encounter between Dutch rule and Jewish custom, and Baudouin's tolerance would serve as a model for future sovereigns, and indeed pay dividends, both figuratively and literally, in years to come.

By now, the House of Hainaut was undeniably a force to be reckoned with. While pretenders would continue to rise against her, the solidity of this family's grip on Dutch affairs would continue for some time to come. All of this, in spite of the fact that not a single member of the family for almost two centuries would be what could be deemed an efficient monarch, or an able administrator.

[Dynasties are one of the new elements of Rota Fortuna. At their most basic level, dynasties are good for monarchies, and mixed for republics. Their power is measured by several means (provinces, merchants placed, colonies, etc.). They can also collapse, change, grow and shrink. And of course, they influence a whole range of events. I'll try to point out, where possible, how my dynastic fortunes are affecting play.]

Indeed, the question which would begin to raise itself during the 16th century was whether a different family might have provided an even more startling rise to power than that which would ultimately form the first genuinely Dutch state, the Netherlands.

 

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ok Friesland is out... Now brabant

 

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ok Friesland is out... Now brabant

Not so easy with SRI's system, I'm afraid.

 

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Ah, my Portugese running mate of old...

Good to see you, with another one of your eloquent tales. Since your story is set in close proximity to my real life heimat and I'm actually quite curious to learn more about your dynastic wizardry, I wish you -- as always -- the best of luck.

 

[Beamed]

Excellent update.

 

[milt]

Thanks for commenting back in the other thread. I will be watching.

Can you form the Netherlands as a Walloon or even Dutch Hainhaut?