House of Avesnes unify the Low Countries

Low born is not the correct term. William IV in TTL, survive and subdue the Frissians. Combined with he possesions of his wife, Brabant, they own a large real estate. I do think they prefere to mary their only son and heir to a daughter of royal blood. On the other hand the hous of Cleve is near by and give opportunities to enlarge their realm.
 
Low born is not the correct term. William IV in TTL, survive and subdue the Frissians. Combined with he possesions of his wife, Brabant, they own a large real estate. I do think they prefere to mary their only son and heir to a daughter of royal blood. On the other hand the hous of Cleve is near by and give opportunities to enlarge their realm.
So slowly by marriage expand their territory instead of going big by having them married royal blood at once.
 
So slowly by marriage expand their territory instead of going big by having them married royal blood at once.
Yes and no. A mariage with a daughter of a King was more a matter of prestige and a insurance against an other competing royal house. A mariage between the house of Avesnes and Dampiere would create a realm from the Frisian lands to deep in the realm of the French kings. How ever the hous of Dampiere was much influenced by the house of Valois and Dampiere had other concerns and priorities as well and a mariage with Avesnes was not in their best interest. It would be of the interst of the Flemish cities, but it still a highly feudal time. I do admit a mariage with Wittelsbach would be good as well and secure support against the Valois.
 
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The Low Countries around 1375
Yellow realm of the House of Avesnes, light yellow additions

Utrecht

Arnold (or Arnoud) II of Horne (1339–1389) was the son of William V of Horne and Elisabeth of Cleves. He was canon, provost, Bishop of Utrecht from 1371 to 1378, and Bishop of Liège from 1378 to 1389.

After the death of bishop Jan van Virneburg in 1371, the cathedral chapter nominated its provost as candidate for the bishopric, but the rest of the chapters supported the papal candidate Arnold van Horne, who as a result become bishop. Arnold seems to have been a forceful bishop, though he endangered the financial state of the bishopric.

He involved himself in the Gelre/ Guelders War of Succession, which almost led to his capture.

Fom 1373 to 1375 he waged war against the with Willam of Avesnes count of Holland, over the advantageously located trading town of Vreeswijk. The war against William V did not went well, and ended in the selling of Oversticht in 1375.

The wars emptied the coffers and in order to improve his finances, Bishop Arnold was forced to grant participation to the Utrecht burghers in the administration of the land, in the Landbrief (landletter) of 1375, after which they accepted new taxes. This Landbrief is an important document that is considered the first constitution of the Nedersticht.

After the wars ended, an old party struggle in the city erupted again, with the Gunterlingen on one side and the Lichtenbergers on the other side.

Bishop Arnold managed to keep the parties separate, but could not prevent that William of Avesnes gained influence in both rivaling parties.

He was moved to the Bishopric of Liège in 1378 by Pope Urban VI. However, the chapter at Liege had chosen someone else for the bishopric, and this candidate was supported by Antipope Clement VII. Only after a year of struggle was Arnold able to take his seat at Liege.

Arnold of Horne was a learned man who was a good organizer, and able to inspire.View attachment 322853
 
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At the death of Johan of Cleve in 1368 William IV made a claim to Cleve for his daughter in law, married to his only son William. The County was as well claimed by Adolf III of Mark. Adolf III was the second son of Adlf II of Mark and his mother was Margaretha daughter of Diederik IX of Cleve. Diederik was the father of John of Cleve. The dispite resulted in the war of the succession of Cleve. After the death of William IV of Avesnes the matter was not settled but due to intervention of the Emperror Charles IV, Cleve was issued to the House of Avesnes.
 
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The Low Countries around 1380
Yellow realm of the House of Avesnes.

William V of Avesnes and Sophia of Cleve the following children:
- Chatarina 1364
- Johan 1366
- William 1367

Chatarina was maried in 1379 to William I of Gelre and Jullich.
William I of Gelre was the eldest son of William II of Jullich and Maria of Guelders, half sister of Renaild III and Edward dukes of Guelders. The two brothers who disputed the Ducy of Guelders but eventually died whitout heirs, and their half sister Maria would inherrit the Ducy.
William I become William III of Jullich after the death of his father in 1377.

William of Jullich- Guelders rule is cited as an example of the chivalry of that time in France and the Netherlands.[1] He put on many tournaments and sports at arms, and has been called an ideal knight. He participated in crusades against the Lithuanians in East Prussia in the territories of the Teutonic Order with William of Avesnes, first in 1383, and later in 1388–89 and 1393.

As William of Avesnes, William of Jullich-Guelders was an ally of the English in the Hundred Years War.

His actions and alliance with England have been seen as reckless, and raised the ire of Charles VI of France, only the alliance with William of Avesnes Duke of Lothier, Brabant & Limburg; count of Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland, Frisia & Loon, prevented open war or invasion by Charles VI of France.
 
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Yes and no. A mariage with a daughter of a King was more a matter of prestige and a insurance against an other competing royal house. A mariage between the house of Avesnes and Dampiere would create a realm from the Frisian lands to deep in the realm of the French kings. How ever the hous of Dampiere was much influenced by the house of Valois and Dampiere had other concerns and priorities as well and a mariage with Avesnes was not in their best interest. It would be of the interst of the Flemish cities, but it still a highly feudal time. I do admit a mariage with Wittelsbach would be good as well and secure support against the Valois.

Dampierre would only have been a real possibility, if the last male Dampierre had more daughters. Then Flanders and maybe Artois could be acquired, Franche Comté is a question mark, but if the French claimant, or at least one of them, is the duke of Burgundy, then that seems unlikely. Anyhow in this case a Mary the Rich of Burgundy scenario might arise.
In the mean time Gelre, Cleves, Julich and Berg are interesting alternatives for expansion/unification. Especially Cleves and to a somewhat lesser degree Julich is close linguistically, though Dutch and German belong to the same dialect continuum, so Berg isn't very distant either. As for Gelre, that was a rival claimant of the Frisian Free Lands. Now with the inheritance of Cleves a start is made to achieve this.

The duchy of Luxembourg by this point is a secundogeniture of the ruling house of the kingdom of Bohemia, the house of (Limburg-) Luxembourg. The Habsburgs by this point were building up their powerbase in the South East of the Empire, after the assassination of king of the Romans Albert of Austria lost their house the Imperial Throne.
 
Dampierre would only have been a real possibility, if the last male Dampierre had more daughters. Then Flanders and maybe Artois could be acquired, Franche Comté is a question mark, but if the French claimant, or at least one of them, is the duke of Burgundy, then that seems unlikely. Anyhow in this case a Mary the Rich of Burgundy scenario might arise.
In the mean time Gelre, Cleves, Julich and Berg are interesting alternatives for expansion/unification. Especially Cleves and to a somewhat lesser degree Julich is close linguistically, though Dutch and German belong to the same dialect continuum, so Berg isn't very distant either. As for Gelre, that was a rival claimant of the Frisian Free Lands. Now with the inheritance of Cleves a start is made to achieve this.

The duchy of Luxembourg by this point is a secundogeniture of the ruling house of the kingdom of Bohemia, the house of (Limburg-) Luxembourg. The Habsburgs by this point were building up their powerbase in the South East of the Empire, after the assassination of king of the Romans Albert of Austria lost their house the Imperial Throne.

I agree that Dampiere is the only posibility by mariage. How ever as I understood there was considerable persuation from the house of Valois and a lot of money, to mary one of the sons of Valois.
Even the house of Avesnes by now controls a large realm, and with Brabant as one of the prosperos parts of Europe, I do think they had smaller purses than the Valois.
I do think the incorporation of Guelders, Cleve and Jullich, and perhaps Berg and maybe Bentheim will be better and leave Flanders, Artois to the Burgundies/Valouis. This might become part of the rest of the Low Countries if Valois and Avesnes mary each other or if one of the realms will be torn appart after the death of a male successor.
I do find it a bit complicated since policies and power is based on pure family intersts, where the realms are traded as pure personel possesions as today we treat our house or other properties and seaminly without any other concerns
 
The only Dampierre territory early up to grabs will be the margraviate of Namur under a cadet branch of the house of Dampierre. Furthermore if the house of Avesnes is to achieve the unification of the Low Countries, then they IMHO need at least Flanders, preferably Artois and maybe even Calais and the counties of St. Pol and Boulogne (ITTL more useful than Rethel and Nevers).
 
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Thanks, that is a good one the cadet branch of the house of dampiere via the margraviate of Namur. I agree Flanders and Artois need to be part of the Low countries and Calais (Kales) St Pol and Boulogne, as well. I thought I readsome where that Louis of Male achieved this for a short period of time,but can not find it any more. It is defenitly achieved unde Valois/Bourgogne. I was toiling with the idea to include Picardie as well, but this is probably unsustainable since it bring the border (river Somme or Zoom which means border or front) too close to Paris, the seat of the realm of the French kings.
 
William V reign was focussed on consilidattion of his power base in the various realms he inherrited.

In his role as lord of all his regions he conducted many reforms that had to facilitate the administration of his area. First of all, he began the introduction of a central government for all the regions, as well as a central case law (the Great Council) and a central collection of taxes in the form of a single sum for the whole area, which was allocated by the regions according to a Distribution key to be determined by them. In order to enable this central consultation, William introduced the first States-General. Their first major meeting was in Bois Le Duc. This meeting entered history as the first of the States-General. These central institutions of William formed the basis for the Low Countires as a country (as a larger whole than just the individual regions) by confronting the regions with the fact that they had common interests against a single ruler.


He and Philips the Bold of Burgundy aranged the marriage of Johan son of William with Margaretha of Burgundy, eldest daugther of Philips

William I of Gelre and Jullich died in 1404, he and his wife Catherine of Avesnes did not had any heirs. Catharine, remaining the title Duches of Gelre, handed Gelre and Jullich to her brother William V.

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The Low Countries around 1405
Yellow realm of the House of Avesnes, light yellow additions
 
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William V of Avesnes died in 1407 on a repsectable age. Johan Of Avesnes (the Older) became the new ruler. Johan and Margaretha of Burgundy had only one surviving child, Johan II 1390.
Johan of Avesnes the Older, continued the policies of his father, further centralising the rule of the various teritories where new governing layers were imposed above the exsisiting governing powers.
Johan the Older focussed gradually more to the Empire as an effort not to become involved with the wars in France and the various competing factions and the increasing power of the House of Valois. Mainly for economical reasons he kept good relations with England.
 
You do realize, that Johan is basically the same name as Jan/Jean? Johan would be third count of Holland baptized as Johannes and the fourth TTL duke of Brabant. The OTL duke Jan/Jean IV of Brabant (Valois-Burgundy-Brabant) left one profound lasting legacy he founded the University of Leuven/Louvain, the first University in the Low Countries.
One more thing, wouldn't the ruler of Berg from the same house of the dukes of Jülich/Gulik also raise his claims to Gelre/Geldern and Jülich/Gulik?
 
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