APTER IV

FROM THE FORMATION OF HOLLAND TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS DE MALE

A.D. 1018--1384

The district in which Dordrecht is situated, and the grounds
in its environs which are at present submerged, formed in those
times an island just raised above the waters, and which was called
Holland or Holtland (which means _wooded_ land, or, according to
some, _hollow_ land). The formation of this island, or rather its
recovery from the waters, being only of recent date, the right to
its possession was more disputable than that of long-established
countries. All the bishops and abbots whose states bordered the
Rhine and the Meuse had, being equally covetous and grasping,
and mutually resolved to pounce on the prey, made it their common
property. A certain Count Thierry, descended from the counts
of Ghent, governed about this period the western extremity of
Friesland--the country which now forms the province of Holland;
and with much difficulty maintained his power against the Frisons,
by whom his right was not acknowledged. Beaten out of his own
territories by these refractory insurgents, he sought refuge in
the ecclesiastical island, where he intrenched himself, and founded
a town which is believed to have been the origin of Dordrecht.

This Count Thierry, like all the feudal lords, took advantage
of his position to establish and levy certain duties on all the
vessels which sailed past his territory, dispossessing in the
meantime some vassals of the church, and beating, as we have
stated, the bishop of Utrecht himself. Complaints and appeals
without number were laid at the foot of the imperial throne.
Godfrey of Eenham, whom the emperor had created duke of Lower
Lorraine, was commanded to call the whole country to arms. The
bishop of Liege, though actually dying, put himself at the head
of the expedition, to revenge his brother prelate, and punish
the audacious spoiler of the church property. But Thierry and
his fierce Frisons took Godfrey prisoner, and cut his army in
pieces. The victor had the good sense and moderation to spare
his prisoners, and set them free without ransom. He received
in return an imperial amnesty; and from that period the count
of Holland and his posterity formed a barrier against which the
ecclesiastical power and the remains of the imperial supremacy
continually struggled, to be only shattered in each new assault.
John Egmont, an old chronicler, says that the counts of Holland
were "a sword in the f