Burgundy & Brittany
In 1004 Burgundy was annexed by France. All Capetian dukes named 'Eudes' are somtimes called 'Odo', they being the same name. The comital family was a collateral branch of the Burgundian dynasty, descended from Hugh the Black, a 10th century brother of king Raoul, and from Hugh's son-in-law Gilbert. The first Count, Otto-William (died 1027), was the son of Adalbert of Lombardy and Gerberge of Dijon. At the partition of the domains of Charlemagne in A.D. 843 the Rhine formed the boundary between Germany and the middle kingdom of Lotharingia, but by 870 the latter had been absorbed by the larger country.
The Kingdom of Burgundy was refounded as an independent entity in 888, at the time of the collapse of the Carolingian Empire containing Burgundy and Austrasia. The countship passed under the control of the Holy Roman Empire, with its capital at Dôle. With Charles ended the Carolingian dynasty. After the removal of Charles the Fat there came a lapse of seventy-four years.
Conrad I (911-919) founded the Gascon dynasty of Germany, and was succeeded by Henry the Fowler (919-936). His son, Otto I, called the Great (936-973), was crowned Roman Emperor in 962. In 936 his elevation to the Germanic kingdom was a popular one. A portion of Gaul to the west of the Rhine along the banks of the Meuse and the Moselle was ceded to the Germans. Otto's supremacy between the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Alps was acquired and held for his successors. The German Emperors, however, still continued to exercise the right of electing the Pope, thereby reducing the Roman Church to a level of servitude but Otto I propagated Christianity, subdued Italy, and delivered the Pope from his enemies, invested him with the imperial title. Toward the close of the Carolingian dynasty France and Germany had become irrevocably detached. The Slavonians penetrated into the Empire, even to the banks of the Rhine. Feudal princes began to make war upon each other, and, within their respective districts, were virtual sovereigns.
The growth of German municipalities since the days of their founder, Henry the Fowler, was not without effect upon the Empire. Lübeck, had the satisfaction of seeing all cities between the Rhine and the Vistula thus connected. The 'League of the Rhine' and that of the Hanse Towns emerged as the fruit of this policy. The influence of the Hanseatic League of the Rhine district in the fourteenth century extended over the whole commercial radius of Germany, Prussia, Russia, the Netherlands, and Britain. The Russian towns, under the leadership of Novgorod the Great, commenced a crusade against the Hanse Towns' monopoly in that country. The general rising in England, which was one of the great warehouses, under Henry VI and Edward IV reflected upon them. The Netherlands followed England's example. In the seventeenth century their existence was confined to three German towns--Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen.
Antwerp was the headquarters of Edward III during his early negotiations with Jacob van Artevelde, and his son Lionel, earl of Cambridge, was born there in 1338. In the 4th century Antwerp is mentioned as one of the places in the second Germany. It was not, however, till after the closing of the Zwyn and the decay of Bruges that the Brabantine city of Antwerp became of importance. At the end of the 15th century the foreign trading gilds or houses were transferred from Bruges to Antwerp, and the building assigned to the English nation is specifically mentioned in 1510.
Most spoke Middle Dutch out of which later would evolve Dutch. However some regions, such as the Bishopric of Liège or the Walloon Flanders around Cambrai, Lille, Mons and Namur, where French was the dominant language are often considered as part of the Low Countries as well. Cambrai is the seate of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the historical Flanders, included large parts of the Low Countries. The bishop of Liège received secular powers over part of the diocese of Liège in the 10th century. The bishopric was expanded with the county of Bouillon in 1096 (ceded to France in 1678), the county of Loon (in French: Looz) in 1366 and the county of Horne (near Weert, Netherlands) in 1568. The Bishopric of Liege territory of the principality was united to France, and thenceforward shared the destines of the other Belgian provinces. The diocese, too, disappeared in the Revolution.
In 1366, the county of Loon was annexed to the bishopric which then included most of the current province of Limburg. Louis of Bourbon (1456-82) was placed on the throne by the political machinations of the dukes of Burgundy, who coveted the principality. The destruction of Dinant, in 1466, and of Liège, in 1468, by Charles the Bold, marked the ending of democratic ascendancy. The Burgundian Netherlands (1384-1477) became Seventeen Provinces (1477-1556). After the Seventeen Provinces declared their independence from Habsburg Spain, the provinces of the Southern Netherlands were recaptured (1581) and are sometimes called the Spanish Netherlands. Luxembourg was invaded by Louis XIV of France in 1684, an action that caused alarm among France's neighbours and resulted in the formation of the League of Augsburg in 1686.