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Yes, good going with Burgundy, but I think the Americas would be more profitable than stretches of Saharan desert.
Congrats on finally taking down Burgundy. She can be a tough nut when France and England are busy being incompetant.
My naval tech isn't enough yet to colonize the Americas. Remember, I'm working from Amsterdam (and now Flanders) while Castile and Portugal have much more conveniently located ports. Once the Canarias become a core, I'll have more expansion options.
Do you have any goals now that you've formed the Netherlands, or will you just see where it goes?
Just going to go with the flow for now. Creating a colonial empire, and making sure France and Castile cannot threaten me too much.
Taking the historical Dutch colonies, too.
Taking the historical Dutch colonies, too.
The Reign of Lodewijk I Knyphausen (1497-1539)
Upon the death of Jakoba, a Regency Council took over for her great-grandson Lodewijk Knyphausen. Previous policies were mostly continued under the regency and also after Lodewijk came of age in May 1509.
Wars and Diplomacy
The Imperial-Polish War of 1498-1499 was a quick one and the Netherlands took almost no part of it other than a brief siege of Trier in 1498, which resulted in that city's fall and submission to the Emperor on November 11. Although the Emperor originally planned to take Poznan, by the terms of the peace treaty with Poland in July 1499, Silesia was detached from it and partly annexed to Bavarian possessions.
The next war was the punitive campaign against Austria, initiated by Bavaria in August 1503. However, by this time the clergy was restless and in September 1503 the newly elected Pope Innocentius VIII excommunicated the Emperor, which resulted in dissolution of the Bavarian-Dutch alliance. However, the German princes still had confidence in the Bavarian dynasty and on the Emperor's death in January 1504 they elected his son Friedrich as the new Emperor. The war with Austria, however, ended soon after in a draw.
In December 1504, while the Bavarian-Austrian war still raged, France began a war against Modena. Unwilling to risk Dutch troops so far from home, the Regency Council opted to stay neutral, and in January 1505 the alliance with England was renewed instead. However, the French likewise offered an alliance renewal in May 1506, once again leaving the Netherlands as a mediator between French and English interests.
By 1507, it was clear that the Netherlands could no longer stay within the Holy Roman Empire, and in December formal abandonment of Imperial fealty began in Dutch lands. Not coincidentally, in January 1508 a program of building bigger forts was initiated all across the borders. Luckily, Isaac Bentinck proved his great skill in this endeavor. The abandonment of the Empire was concluded in January 1515.
Wars outside Europe also occupied Dutch attention for a time. In August 1510 the Portuguese conquered Kongo before Lodewijk had the opportunity to do the same. Irritated, he instead annexed the remaining lands of Morocco in November 1512.
In December 1512, the Duke of Burgundy was excommunicated for his continued encroachment on clerical privileges. Lodewijk soon started planning to launch a campaign to deal a final blow to the Burgundians and to wrest the last Wallonian lands from them. However, France had demanded that Burgundy stay inviolate, unwilling to tolerate further Dutch expansion, and several years passed in a diplomatic stalemate. The first breakthrough came in January 1516 when Castilian ambassadors arrived in Amsterdam, requesting military access and cooperation from the Netherlands. Hoping to build a better alliance, Lodewijk agreed to the treaty. An opportunity to disentangle himself from the French came in March 1517, when a group of nations declared war on France to halt its rampant expansion. Lodewijk quickly declared his neutrality in the conflict, and in April 1518 the Accords of Amsterdam between the Netherlands and Castile was officially signed.
It was none too soon, for over the course of 1519 France was overrun by foreign forces and beset by internal revolts. By September 1520 it had no choice but to sign the Peace of Paris, by which it relinquished its claims over several traditionally French territories. Rebellions in its remaining territories continued, especially by the Protestants and Calvinists, until in October 1526 the French royal government collapsed completely and France was placed under ecclesiastical rule of an Archbishop.
In the meantime, the Dutch army underwent a number of renovations, including the adoption of Maurician-style infantry tactics by 1522. By 1528, Lodewijk's preparations for a war with Burgundy were nearing their conclusion, and documents were produced to prove Dutch claims upon the Wallonian province of Artois. To cement his position, Lodewijk entered an alliance with the Republic of Venice, a victor of the French war, in December 1528, and shortly thereafter war was declared on Burgundy.
As expected, the Dutch allies honored their commitments and began operations against Burgundian and Imperial targets. Burgundian allies Holstein and Auvergne quickly backed out of the war, and Lodewijk allowed this since he was not interested in them.
Dutch forces took Artois in August 1529 and advanced against other Burgundian targets. The most notable battles early in the war were those near Calais and Barrois, where Dutch General Isaac Coen destroyed Burgundian armies led by Duke Philippe III, and the Battle of Luxemburg, where he routed the army of Emperor Karl Albrecht. The Dutch took Valenciennes in December 1529, Luxemburg in February 1530, Bar-le-Duc in May 1530, Worms in June 1530, and the Burgundian capital Dijon in August 1530. By the time Besancon fell in December, Burgundy had no choice but to submit, and by the Peace of Arras of April 22, 1531, Artois and Valenciennes were relinquished to the Netherlands. Unwilling to fight any longer, the Emperor agreed to recognize the Dutch conquests in June.
Dutch defensive works suffered a loss when Isaac Bentinck died in February 1533, leaving the country without a fortification expert. Fortunately, the defensive castles he designed would serve the Netherlands well in the future. Indeed, the Emperor still seemed to bear a grudge against the Dutch, for in 1536 he convinced the Pope to excommunicate Lodewijk due to the large numbers of Protestants in the Netherlands. However, the excommunication failed to create any unrest within the country, perhaps because those same Protestants saw little merit in Papal proclamations.
Lodewijk still considered the Netherlands to be a union of the Dutch, Flemish, and Wallonian people and thus he laid claim on the city of Liege in late 1537. However, as he was making plans to invade it, Lodewijk died suddenly on January 29, 1539, leaving the throne to his son Willem, who was still twelve. Loyalist Dutch forces had to fight off a small pretender rebellion led by Jeroen van Walbeeck. Although it was defeated quickly, the invasion of Liege would have to wait until Willem came of age.
Economy and Society
Since the integration of Flanders into the Netherlands, the Flemish were granted the same status as the Dutch, and Flemish trade and cloth industry quickly became an integral part of the economy of the Netherlands.
Dutch merchants continued to trade all over Europe with the support of their government. However, they started increasingly competing with the Portuguese for the same markets, and the Dutch were even banned from Lisboa for a time in 1505, leading to diplomatic tensions with Portugal. Some even suggested that the Netherlands should press claims on Portuguese Kongo. In summer-fall 1507 the Dutch government took further steps to promote trade by adopting a national trade policy and passing several acts designed to improve conditions for trade.
Although merchants were happy with the government's policies, some also sought to avoid trade taxes, and smuggling became a big problem for the Dutch colonies in 1515. To improve the law enforcement and tax collection, Lodewijk reformed his government to be more bureaucratically-minded, officially putting an end to hereditary feudalism in March 1517.
In October 1526, Lodewijk sponsored the foundation of the University of Amsterdam to celebrate the birth of his son Willem. The University was officially opened on October 14, 1531, and Lodewijk issued the School Establishment Act to encourage the education of his people. In his last years he financed the establishment of constable offices in all Dutch provinces to improve the law enforcement and security of his cities.
Colonization and Exploration
In late 1498, the port of the Canarias was finally serviceable enough to serve as a base for further colonial expansion. Dutch settlers were sent to Brazil, where a colony was established in Pernambuco in early 1499. The natives near Pernambuco proved receptive to trade proposals and soon the new colony became a base for exporting sugar cane. Another batch of colonists settled in Luanda, on the coast near the native kingdom of Kongo, becoming an exporter of African ivory.
The next stage of colonial expansion took place only in 1515, when explorer Frans van Ilpendam set out on his barque Hoogwoud to explore the norther coasts of America. He discovered the northern shores in June and began mapping the coastline. By September 1519, Van Ilpendam had explored the entirety of eastern coastline of both North and South America, as well as charted all of North Atlantic Ocean. Next year he sailed on a new expedition around Africa. He reached the Horn of Africa in May 1521, explored the coastlines of Arabia and Persia by December, reached India by 1522 and sailed around it by October 1523. His last expedition was to be to the Spice Islands east of India, which he reached in March 1526. Unfortunately, he caught a fever and died on December 19, 1526, having single-handedly doubled Dutch knowledge of the world.
In the meantime, Dutch colonization efforts continued. The Carribean isles were explored and the first Carribean colony of St. Lucia was founded in March 1516, with Martinique following in 1528, Barbados in 1531, and Trinidad in 1534. These exotic isles soon became sources of coffee beans, sugar cane, and cotton. At the same time, despite Portuguese and Castilian presence in North America, Dutch traders purchased the isle of Manhattan in September 1526 and founded the fishing town of New Amsterdam on it as a foothold for possible further expansion in the area.
Religion
From the Protestant foothold in Limburg, the new religious reformation swept over the Netherlands in the following years. Protestants became the majority in Breda in 1499, Holland and Brabant in 1500, Hainaut in 1504, Zeeland in 1507, and Vlaanderen in 1513. First Protestant colonists arrived in the Canarias in 1535 and soon became the majority there. Another branch of the Reformation, called Calvinism, was born in Polotsk in 1500, and Calvinists soon took hold in the Dutch provinces, with Gelre converting in 1506, Friesland in 1527, and Antwerpent in 1533. The colony of Arguin also became Calvinist in 1515. Only Utrecht, seat of the Archbishop, remained staunchly Catholic.
Meanwhile, the Catholics looked to defend their positions elsewhere in Europe. The Emperor held the Council of Freiburg on April 5, 1504, initiating the Counter-Reformation. Although the Netherlands were spared most of the religious unrest, incidents of civil disorder became more pronounced from 1530.
Lodewijk's excommunication the following year did not help matters, but unrest was nonetheless barely felt in the generally tolerant Dutch society. To ease matters, Lodewijk issued the Declaration of Indulgence Act on November 9, 1533, to help keep matters calm. His policy of tolerance bore fruit, and no religious revolts took place during his reign.
Upon the death of Jakoba, a Regency Council took over for her great-grandson Lodewijk Knyphausen. Previous policies were mostly continued under the regency and also after Lodewijk came of age in May 1509.
Wars and Diplomacy
The Imperial-Polish War of 1498-1499 was a quick one and the Netherlands took almost no part of it other than a brief siege of Trier in 1498, which resulted in that city's fall and submission to the Emperor on November 11. Although the Emperor originally planned to take Poznan, by the terms of the peace treaty with Poland in July 1499, Silesia was detached from it and partly annexed to Bavarian possessions.
The next war was the punitive campaign against Austria, initiated by Bavaria in August 1503. However, by this time the clergy was restless and in September 1503 the newly elected Pope Innocentius VIII excommunicated the Emperor, which resulted in dissolution of the Bavarian-Dutch alliance. However, the German princes still had confidence in the Bavarian dynasty and on the Emperor's death in January 1504 they elected his son Friedrich as the new Emperor. The war with Austria, however, ended soon after in a draw.
In December 1504, while the Bavarian-Austrian war still raged, France began a war against Modena. Unwilling to risk Dutch troops so far from home, the Regency Council opted to stay neutral, and in January 1505 the alliance with England was renewed instead. However, the French likewise offered an alliance renewal in May 1506, once again leaving the Netherlands as a mediator between French and English interests.
By 1507, it was clear that the Netherlands could no longer stay within the Holy Roman Empire, and in December formal abandonment of Imperial fealty began in Dutch lands. Not coincidentally, in January 1508 a program of building bigger forts was initiated all across the borders. Luckily, Isaac Bentinck proved his great skill in this endeavor. The abandonment of the Empire was concluded in January 1515.
Wars outside Europe also occupied Dutch attention for a time. In August 1510 the Portuguese conquered Kongo before Lodewijk had the opportunity to do the same. Irritated, he instead annexed the remaining lands of Morocco in November 1512.
In December 1512, the Duke of Burgundy was excommunicated for his continued encroachment on clerical privileges. Lodewijk soon started planning to launch a campaign to deal a final blow to the Burgundians and to wrest the last Wallonian lands from them. However, France had demanded that Burgundy stay inviolate, unwilling to tolerate further Dutch expansion, and several years passed in a diplomatic stalemate. The first breakthrough came in January 1516 when Castilian ambassadors arrived in Amsterdam, requesting military access and cooperation from the Netherlands. Hoping to build a better alliance, Lodewijk agreed to the treaty. An opportunity to disentangle himself from the French came in March 1517, when a group of nations declared war on France to halt its rampant expansion. Lodewijk quickly declared his neutrality in the conflict, and in April 1518 the Accords of Amsterdam between the Netherlands and Castile was officially signed.
It was none too soon, for over the course of 1519 France was overrun by foreign forces and beset by internal revolts. By September 1520 it had no choice but to sign the Peace of Paris, by which it relinquished its claims over several traditionally French territories. Rebellions in its remaining territories continued, especially by the Protestants and Calvinists, until in October 1526 the French royal government collapsed completely and France was placed under ecclesiastical rule of an Archbishop.
In the meantime, the Dutch army underwent a number of renovations, including the adoption of Maurician-style infantry tactics by 1522. By 1528, Lodewijk's preparations for a war with Burgundy were nearing their conclusion, and documents were produced to prove Dutch claims upon the Wallonian province of Artois. To cement his position, Lodewijk entered an alliance with the Republic of Venice, a victor of the French war, in December 1528, and shortly thereafter war was declared on Burgundy.
As expected, the Dutch allies honored their commitments and began operations against Burgundian and Imperial targets. Burgundian allies Holstein and Auvergne quickly backed out of the war, and Lodewijk allowed this since he was not interested in them.
Dutch forces took Artois in August 1529 and advanced against other Burgundian targets. The most notable battles early in the war were those near Calais and Barrois, where Dutch General Isaac Coen destroyed Burgundian armies led by Duke Philippe III, and the Battle of Luxemburg, where he routed the army of Emperor Karl Albrecht. The Dutch took Valenciennes in December 1529, Luxemburg in February 1530, Bar-le-Duc in May 1530, Worms in June 1530, and the Burgundian capital Dijon in August 1530. By the time Besancon fell in December, Burgundy had no choice but to submit, and by the Peace of Arras of April 22, 1531, Artois and Valenciennes were relinquished to the Netherlands. Unwilling to fight any longer, the Emperor agreed to recognize the Dutch conquests in June.
Dutch defensive works suffered a loss when Isaac Bentinck died in February 1533, leaving the country without a fortification expert. Fortunately, the defensive castles he designed would serve the Netherlands well in the future. Indeed, the Emperor still seemed to bear a grudge against the Dutch, for in 1536 he convinced the Pope to excommunicate Lodewijk due to the large numbers of Protestants in the Netherlands. However, the excommunication failed to create any unrest within the country, perhaps because those same Protestants saw little merit in Papal proclamations.
Lodewijk still considered the Netherlands to be a union of the Dutch, Flemish, and Wallonian people and thus he laid claim on the city of Liege in late 1537. However, as he was making plans to invade it, Lodewijk died suddenly on January 29, 1539, leaving the throne to his son Willem, who was still twelve. Loyalist Dutch forces had to fight off a small pretender rebellion led by Jeroen van Walbeeck. Although it was defeated quickly, the invasion of Liege would have to wait until Willem came of age.
Economy and Society
Since the integration of Flanders into the Netherlands, the Flemish were granted the same status as the Dutch, and Flemish trade and cloth industry quickly became an integral part of the economy of the Netherlands.
Dutch merchants continued to trade all over Europe with the support of their government. However, they started increasingly competing with the Portuguese for the same markets, and the Dutch were even banned from Lisboa for a time in 1505, leading to diplomatic tensions with Portugal. Some even suggested that the Netherlands should press claims on Portuguese Kongo. In summer-fall 1507 the Dutch government took further steps to promote trade by adopting a national trade policy and passing several acts designed to improve conditions for trade.
Although merchants were happy with the government's policies, some also sought to avoid trade taxes, and smuggling became a big problem for the Dutch colonies in 1515. To improve the law enforcement and tax collection, Lodewijk reformed his government to be more bureaucratically-minded, officially putting an end to hereditary feudalism in March 1517.
In October 1526, Lodewijk sponsored the foundation of the University of Amsterdam to celebrate the birth of his son Willem. The University was officially opened on October 14, 1531, and Lodewijk issued the School Establishment Act to encourage the education of his people. In his last years he financed the establishment of constable offices in all Dutch provinces to improve the law enforcement and security of his cities.
Colonization and Exploration
In late 1498, the port of the Canarias was finally serviceable enough to serve as a base for further colonial expansion. Dutch settlers were sent to Brazil, where a colony was established in Pernambuco in early 1499. The natives near Pernambuco proved receptive to trade proposals and soon the new colony became a base for exporting sugar cane. Another batch of colonists settled in Luanda, on the coast near the native kingdom of Kongo, becoming an exporter of African ivory.
The next stage of colonial expansion took place only in 1515, when explorer Frans van Ilpendam set out on his barque Hoogwoud to explore the norther coasts of America. He discovered the northern shores in June and began mapping the coastline. By September 1519, Van Ilpendam had explored the entirety of eastern coastline of both North and South America, as well as charted all of North Atlantic Ocean. Next year he sailed on a new expedition around Africa. He reached the Horn of Africa in May 1521, explored the coastlines of Arabia and Persia by December, reached India by 1522 and sailed around it by October 1523. His last expedition was to be to the Spice Islands east of India, which he reached in March 1526. Unfortunately, he caught a fever and died on December 19, 1526, having single-handedly doubled Dutch knowledge of the world.
In the meantime, Dutch colonization efforts continued. The Carribean isles were explored and the first Carribean colony of St. Lucia was founded in March 1516, with Martinique following in 1528, Barbados in 1531, and Trinidad in 1534. These exotic isles soon became sources of coffee beans, sugar cane, and cotton. At the same time, despite Portuguese and Castilian presence in North America, Dutch traders purchased the isle of Manhattan in September 1526 and founded the fishing town of New Amsterdam on it as a foothold for possible further expansion in the area.
Religion
From the Protestant foothold in Limburg, the new religious reformation swept over the Netherlands in the following years. Protestants became the majority in Breda in 1499, Holland and Brabant in 1500, Hainaut in 1504, Zeeland in 1507, and Vlaanderen in 1513. First Protestant colonists arrived in the Canarias in 1535 and soon became the majority there. Another branch of the Reformation, called Calvinism, was born in Polotsk in 1500, and Calvinists soon took hold in the Dutch provinces, with Gelre converting in 1506, Friesland in 1527, and Antwerpent in 1533. The colony of Arguin also became Calvinist in 1515. Only Utrecht, seat of the Archbishop, remained staunchly Catholic.
Meanwhile, the Catholics looked to defend their positions elsewhere in Europe. The Emperor held the Council of Freiburg on April 5, 1504, initiating the Counter-Reformation. Although the Netherlands were spared most of the religious unrest, incidents of civil disorder became more pronounced from 1530.
Lodewijk's excommunication the following year did not help matters, but unrest was nonetheless barely felt in the generally tolerant Dutch society. To ease matters, Lodewijk issued the Declaration of Indulgence Act on November 9, 1533, to help keep matters calm. His policy of tolerance bore fruit, and no religious revolts took place during his reign.
Great job, the Dutch are quickly spreading out. 
Was the horn of Africa out of your colonization range?
Also, are you going to convert?
Was the horn of Africa out of your colonization range?
Also, are you going to convert?
I'm not sure yet how and if I will convert. Most of my European provinces are Protestant, but that religion isn't so great for colonization. Reformed would be better. Perhaps when my religious turmoil dies down I'll see about converting. Converting would destroy my alliances though.
I cannot colonize the Horn of Africa yet, I can just about reach Namibia in that direction until Luanda gets a core. Other colonizers are fairly slow, though Portugal controls Mexico and Castile most of West Africa. Portugal also has Kongo and a bunch of provinces in Benin. Both have a couple of provinces in North America. England and France aren't in the game at all yet (not surprising, since France has collapsed).
I cannot colonize the Horn of Africa yet, I can just about reach Namibia in that direction until Luanda gets a core. Other colonizers are fairly slow, though Portugal controls Mexico and Castile most of West Africa. Portugal also has Kongo and a bunch of provinces in Benin. Both have a couple of provinces in North America. England and France aren't in the game at all yet (not surprising, since France has collapsed).
Colonial Ventures can offset that. The other bonuses for Protestant are better than Reformed.
Great to see a new Solmyr AAR. The CK subforum died a little when you stopped posting. Good luck with this one, especially since it shows me what to expect from the new expansion.
Nicely done. I enjoy the style & presentation in your AAR. Look forward to the next installment.
I like this AAR, especially your trying to rule as an actual ruler, and not as a PGM ("which bonus is better?" )
Consider me subscribed.
)Consider me subscribed.