The Seventeen Provinces

The Seventeen Provinces was a term applied to the Low Countries during their time under Burgundian, Spanish, and Hapsburg rule, back when they were still divided into many fiefdoms. According to Wikipedia, the seventeen are:

1. Duchy of Brabant
2. Duchy of Luxembourg
3. Duchy of Guelders
4. Duchy of Limburg
5. County of Flanders
6. County of Holland
7. County of Zeeland
8. County of Hainaut
9. County of Namur
10. County of Artois
11. County of Zutphen
12. Lordship of Mechelen
13. Lordship of Utrecht (formerly the Prince-Bishopric of)
14. Lordship of Overijssel
15. Lordship of Drenthe
16. Lordship of Frisia
17. Lordship of Groningen

Some lists separate Walloon Flanders (Lille, Orchies, and Douai) and the Lordship of Tournais from Flanders, replacing Zutphen (merged with Guelders) and Drenthe (sometimes considered part of Overijssel).

What if there was an alternate list of 17 provinces, or a more definite grouping? Some scenarios:

-Drenthe isn't separated from Overijssel as it was too poor
-Groningen and Frisia are treated as one lordship
-the prince-bishoprics of Cambrai and Liege are secularized like Utrecht and added as provinces
-Mechelen is added into Brabant, or is kept as part of Flanders as it was historically.
-the distant County of Burgundy and Free City of Besancon are added as they are part of the Burgundian Inheritance
-Tournais and/or Walloon Flanders are officially separated from Dutch-speaking Flanders
-Utrecht with Overijssel and Drenthe are never taken by the Hapsburgs

What would the effects be on the development of the Low Countries?
 
Top