Limburg

“ Ever since 1283, when the Countess Ermengard of Limburg died without heirs, the dukes had cast covetous eyes on Limburg. Many pretenders, including several princes from the left bank of the Rhine, had sprung up. Duke John I of Brabant decided to strike the final blow [60] against the coalition formed against him by the lords of Fauquemont, the Count of Luxemburg, Renaud of Gueldre, and the mighty Archbishop of Cologne. The coming battle would decide to whom should belong the supremacy between the Rhine and the Meuse. ”

“ North-west of Hasselt is Beverloo, where all the Belgian troops go through a course of instruction annually. Among the towns are Hasselt, the capital, St Trond and Looz. From the last named is derived the title of the family known as the dukes of Looz, whose antiquity equals that of the extinct reigning family of Limburg itself. The title of duc de Looz is one of the four existing ducal titles in the Netherlands, the other three being d’Arenberg, Croy and d’Ursel. Limburg contains 603,085 acres or 942 sq. m. In 1904 the population was 255,359, giving an average of 271 per sq. ”

“ Duchies of Luxemburg and Limburg.♦ The great ecclesiastical principality of Lüttich or Liège, lying in two detached parts, divided the lands of which we have been speaking from the counties, afterwards duchies, of Lüzelburg or Luxemburg and of Limburg. Of these the more distant Limburg passed in the fourteenth century to the Dukes of Brabant. ♦Luxemburg a Duchy. 1353.♦ Luxemburg is famous as having given a series of princes to the kingdom of Bohemia and to the Empire, and in their hands it rose to the rank of a duchy. ”

“ The town is the seat of various iron and metal industries, while dyeing, cloth-making and linen-weaving are also carried on here. It is the chief town of the county of Limburg, and formerly belonged to the counts of Limburg, a family which became extinct in 1508. ”

“ The Lahn is by no means so powerful a stream as is the Main or the Neckar; nor is it either picturesque, or even important as a waterway.
It has this one virtue, however: it forms a setting to Limburg's many-spired cathedral that is truly grand.
Limburg played a great part in the middle ages, and its origin goes far back into antiquity. Under Drusus a castellum was erected here, which was destroyed by the Franks and the Alemanni.
The counts of the lower Lahn province were among the most powerful in all Germany. ”

“ What would be termed provinces to-day were the duchies of Gelderland, Brabant, Limburg, and Luxemburg, the counties of Holland, Zeeland, Flanders, Namur or Namen, Hainaut or Henegouwen, and Artois, and the lordships of Utrecht, Friesland, Groningen with Drenthe, Overyssel, and Mechlin or Malines. ”

“ Chief among these states were the duchy of Brabant, the counties of Flanders, Hainault, Holland, Gelderland, Limburg and Luxemburg, and the bishoprics of Utrecht and Liége. For their separate local histories and their dynasties, their wars and political relations with one another and with neighbouring countries, reference must be made to the separate articles Flanders, Holland, Brabant, Gelderland, Limburg, Luxemburg, Utrecht, Liége.
During the 9th and 10th centuries the Netherlands suffered cruelly from the attacks of the Northmen, who ravaged the shores and at times penetrated far inland. ”

“ It is quite a modern town, occupying the site of the lower town of the ancient city of Limburg, which was destroyed by Louis XIV. in 1675. On a rocky eminence above Dolhain are still to be seen the fine ruins of the old castle of Limburg, the cradle of the ancient family of that name from which sprang the Luxemburg family and several emperors of Germany. ”

“ He had purchased the county of Namur, and had usurped the duchy of Brabant, to which the duchy of Limburg, the marquisate of Antwerp, and the barony of Mechlin, had already been annexed. By his assumption of Jacqueline's dominions, he was now lord of Holland, Zeland, and Hainault, and titular master of Friesland. He acquired Luxemburg a few years later.
Lord of so many opulent cities and fruitful provinces, he felt himself equal to the kings of Europe. Upon his marriage with Isabella of Portugal, he founded, at Bruges, the celebrated order of the Golden Fleece. ”

“ A few days in the midst of August sufficed for the whole work. The number of churches desecrated has never been counted. In the single province of Flanders, four hundred were sacked. In Limburg, Luxemburg, and Namur, there was no image-breaking. In Mechlin, seventy or eighty persons accomplished the work thoroughly, in the very teeth of the grand council, and of an astonished magistracy. ”

“ The latter were held under the empire, and the youthful Charles, as Count of Flanders, was also a peer of France. The princely diocese of Liége, French in language and sympathy, but politically connected with the empire, was only separated from the Flemish group by the Burgundian lordship of Namur, Limburg, and Luxembourg. Lorraine stood between Franche Comté and the Netherlands, Franche Comté having a far closer connection with the Swiss than with the Netherlands, whilst the fortunes of Limburg and Luxembourg were destined to be quite distinct from those of the Dutch and Flemish provinces. ”

“ It was a difficult situation; and a conference of the Great Powers met at London on May 11 to deal with it. Its decision was that Luxemburg should remain as an independent state, whose neutrality was guaranteed collectively by the Powers, under the sovereignty of the House of Nassau; that the town of Luxemburg should be evacuated by its Prussian garrison; and that Limburg should henceforth be an integral part of the kingdom of the Netherlands. ”

“ Hainaut was on good terms with Namur and Luxemburg. Sometimes they fought one another: Brabant and Limburg were enemies for a long time. Later they became united under the same princes. The same phenomenon existed in the Northern Netherlands: Holland was friendly toward Cleves, but fought against Gueldre on account of Utrecht, against Flanders on account of Zealand, against Utrecht on account of Friesland, etc.
For the most part, Flanders or the western part of Belgium was a vassal of the French King; Lotharingia or the eastern part of Belgium was a vassal of the German Empire. ”

“ Belgium is divided into provinces, these provinces are: Antwerp, Brabant, Western Flanders, Eastern Flanders, Hainaut, Liège, Limburg, Luxemburg, Namur. It is the prerogative of law, if there is any reason, to divide the territory into a larger number of provinces. Colonies, possessions beyond the seas or protectorates which Belgium may acquire, are governed by particular laws. The Belgian forces appointed for their defense can only be recruited by voluntary enlistment. ”

“ In Limburg, the most southern province of the Netherlands, one finds a mixture of the German, Flemish, and Dutch types, and the language there is a dialect formed from all those three tongues, while in the most northern province, Groningen, the people speak a dialect resembling that spoken in Overyssel and Gelderland, and the Frisians, their neighbours, would feel themselves quite strangers in the last named provinces, and would not even be able to make themselves understood when speaking in their usual language. ”

“ He has also painted horses ploughing, water-colours that often display great power and are original by reason of the stiff lines of the agricultural slopes of Limburg, a very happy subject, to which he afterwards added glimpses of the life of the foundries, which give occcision for forcible illustration-work rather than for a well-considered harmonious whole, although we are bound to admire his powers as a draughtsman when he represents his puddlers at work. ”

“ Belgium’s chief territorial difficulties lie on the side of Holland, which controls the lower courses of her two great rivers, the Scheldt and the Meuse, and hems in Belgium on her northeast corner in Limburg and on her northwest corner in Flanders. The embarrassment is partly strategic, limiting Belgium’s freedom in time of war, partly economic, restricting the foreign commerce which is the lifeblood of the Belgian people. From any point of view, the Dutch-Belgian frontier is unnatural. ”

“ For three generations the possession of the ducal title was disputed between the rival houses of Limburg and Louvain. At length a reconciliation took place (1155) ; the name of duke of Lower Lorraine henceforth disappears, the rulers of the territory on the Meuse become dukes of Limburg, those of the larger territory to the west dukes of Brabant. With the death of Duke Walram IV. (1280) the succession passed to his daughter, Irmingardis, who was married to Reinald I., count of Guelders. Irmingardis died without issue (1282) , and her cousin, Count Adolph of Berg, laid claim to the duchy. ”

“ The names of the seventeen provinces summoned on these occasions were Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, Gelderland, Flanders, Holland, Zeeland, Artois, Hainault, Namur, Lille with Douay and Orchies, Tournay and district, Mechlin, Friesland, Utrecht, Overyssel with Drente and Groningen. The bishopric of Liège, though nominally independent, was under the strict control of the government at Brussels. The relations of Charles' Burgundian domains to the empire were a matter of no small moment, and he was able to regulate them in a manner satisfactory to himself. ”

“ Thrust into a loathsome prison at Limburg, La Noue, the admiration of all, of whatever faith, for his gallantry, honour and purity of character, was kept confined for five years by a powerful nation, whose reluctance to set him free is one of the sincerest tributes to his reputation. ”

“ It requires explanation as soon as you see it on the map. No one would draw such a frontier if he were starting afresh. But it is an historic frontier, and the ancient frontiers of a neutral power are hard things for a peace congress to disturb.
The long tongue of land which constitutes the southern prolongation of Dutch Limburg has diverse historical origins. Its chief town, Maestricht, with parts of the adjacent country, has been Dutch since the seventeenth century. Other parts belonged to the southern Netherlands, and were acquired by the king of Holland as ‘compensation’ in 1839. ”

“ The grand duke of Berg, over the lordships of Limburg- Styrum, Brugg, Hardenberg, Gimhorn, and Neustadt, Wildenberg; the counties of Hontburg, Bentheim, Steinfurt, and Horstmarn, the possessions of the duke of Looz, the counties of Siegen, Dillenburg (the manors of Werheim and Burgach excepted,) over Stadamar, the lordships Westerburg, Schadeck, and Beilstein, and the property so called, part of Runkel on the right bank of the Lahn. ”

“ The ecclesiastical jurisdiction was in the hands of the Protestant bishop of Wiesbaden and the Roman Catholic bishop of Limburg. Education was amply provided for in numerous higher and lower schools. The annual revenue of the dukedom was about £400,000 and it furnished a contingent of 6000 men to the army of the German Confederation. ”

“ The most that France could obtain was that 12,000 men might remain a fortnight longer than the rest and that a number of French officers might enlist in the Belgian service.
The conference now returned to the task of effecting a settlement in accordance with the terms of the protocol of June 26. On October 15 it provided for the partition of the grand duchy of Luxemburg between Holland and Belgium and for the indemnification of Holland with a larger portion of Limburg than had belonged to her in 1790. ”

“ Besides the dunes the only hilly regions of Holland are the southern half of the province of Limburg, the neighbourhood of Nijmwegen, the hills of Utrecht, including the Gooi hills, the Veluwe region in Gelderland, the isolated hills in the middle and east of Overysel and the Hondsrug range Relief and levels.in Drente. The remainder of the country is flat, and shows a regular downward slope from south-east to north-west, in which direction the rivers mainly flow. The elevation of the surface of the country ranges between the extreme height of 1057 ft. ”

“ Population.—A population which in 1900 numbered 6,693,548 had in 1910 become 7,423,782 an increase of 10.91%, or over 1% per annum. Density increased from 227 to 252 inhabitants per sq. kilometre. East Flanders contained 374 inhabitants per sq. km., the province of Antwerp, 342, Hainault, 331, the province of Liége, 306, West Flanders, 270, Limburg, 114, the province of Namur, 99, Luxemburg, 52. ”

“ Martin's at Cologne is another single-spired church, but it rises from its three apses in quite a different manner from that of St. Quirinus at Neuss, and must be considered in a class by itself.
The minster at Bonn, though having three steeples, is not overspired, like that of Mayence,—indeed, it is perhaps one of the most picturesque, if somewhat theatrical, of all the spired churches of the Rhine, excepting{61} always Limburg. The openwork spire of Freiburg is unequalled in grace by even that of Strasburg, whatever may be the actual value of its constructive details. ”

“ You are skirting the land inhabited by the ancient Saxons, the Veluwe, a sandy region extending between the Rhine, the Yssel, and the Zuyder Zee, here a few villages are scattered here and there over an undulating plain, like a tempestuous sea. Wherever the eye turns it sees nothing but arid hills, the most distant veiled in a blueish mist, the others in part darkened by a wild vegetation, in part white with the shifting sands which the wind spreads over the face of the country. There are no trees and no houses ”

“ When I set out from Cologne I went down the Rhine and the Vahal, as far as Dort, and from thence (without once going ashore) to Antwerp, which City I take to be the most beautiful of all the Netherlands. It makes a part of Austrian Brabant, and is the Capital of the Marquisate of the Holy Empire. 'Tis situate in a great Plain on the Right-side of the Schelde, at a Place where that River separates the Duchy of Brabant from the County of Flanders. It contains a number of Churches built in a very good Taste, and a great many very noble public Edifices. ”