Duke of Brabant

As Brussels grew, the first city walls were constructed around 1100, which enclosed the lower town around the market area.

where Grande Place is now located, and the upper town on Kudenberg Hill, where the Dukes of Brabant built their palace.

And you can read about Kudenberg Palace on my travel blog on veryallatravel.com.

There was economic growth in Belgium due to the cloth trade and tapestry.

It's on postcards.

Where does the complexity come from? Medieval treaties, land swaps, sales between the Lords of Breda and the Dukes of Brabant, ratified in the 1843 Treaty of Maastricht.

and one parcel h twenty two had contested nationality from the eighteen thirties until nineteen ninety five

a hundred and sixty-five years of not knowing which country

But Gloucester never stopped to count the cost.

In October 1423 he set out from Calais to Hainaut, which was then in the possession of Jacqueline's former husband, the Duke of Brabant.

Gloucester had with him 5,000 men raised in England.

This was fully up to the numbers of the armies usually employed by the English generals in France in the reign of Henry VI.

Gloucester won Hainaut, but then found himself opposed by the Duke of Burgundy to whom Jacqueline's former husband had appealed for help.

In 1425 Gloucester, leaving Jacqueline in Mons, returned to England to get ready for a duel to which the Duke of Burgundy had challenged him.

But he did not return, and Jacqueline, after defending Mons for some time with great spirit, had to surrender to the Duke of Burgundy.

French queens have seldom been a success in England, being often characterised by too much will and a desire to guide affairs in their own way.

Now, the reason for all this goes back more than 800 years.

In 1198, the local Lord of Breda and the Duke of Brabant were divvying up the land.

The details are magnificently medieval.

Essentially, the Duke gave territory back while keeping hold of various parcels that already belonged to him or others.

It was nicknamed by the Germans Handwerpen or hand throwing, while the Dutchmen called it Antwerp, which meant the same thing.

The Duke of Brabant, or Lord of the Land, came to the big fellow's fortress and told him to stop.

He even shook his fist under the giant's huge nose and threatened to attack his castle and burn it.

But Antigonus only snapped his fingers and laughed at him.

Then let the arms of Antwerp be two red hands above a castle.

Agreed, cried the citizens with a shout.

The Duke of Brabant approved and gave new privileges to the city on account of Braboe's bravery.

So from high to low all rejoiced to honor their hero, who was richly rewarded.

It would seem from subsequent events that he had no present intention of doing more than placing it upon record, but we may observe here the first example of that halting, uncertain, double-handed policy which throughout his reign characterized the whole of his transactions with the French kings.

While maintaining an outward attitude of amity towards France, he took measures for fortifying the Channel Islands, negotiated with the Duke of Brabant for the hire of mercenary troops, and wrote to his seneschals in Aquitaine, telling them that it was his full intention to recover the heritage of his mother by all means in his power, and engaged them secretly to enlist certain Gascon nobles on his side by promising them indemnity for any risks which they might run.

Philip in all probability had no suspicion of the existence of a counterclaim to his throne, and thought of the young king of England only as a liege man, owing homage to himself as feudal suzerain of the English fiefs in France.

At the time of his accession, however, he was not in a position to stir up any dangerous questions, for he found himself involved in a war with the Flemings, whose sovereign, Count Louis, having been expelled by his subjects, had sought the French king's protection and assistance in recovering his rights in 1328.

Finally, however, Edward determined on allying himself with the popular party, and in order to satisfy the scruples of the French Flemings, who in spite of their democratic aspirations were proud of their position as the first fief of the crown of France, he constituted himself their lawful suzerain by publicly assuming the title of King of France, and challenging Philip as a usurper.

These steps were taken under the influence of Van Artevelde, who was determined at all hazards to prevent the probable intended absorption of the fief of Flanders in the French monarchy, and looked to the English alliance as the best security against this danger.

The Duke of Brabant was another powerful feudatory of the empire whom Edward much wished to gain over to his side.

His people were the most successful rivals of the Flemings in the manufacture of wool, and like them wished to secure the raw material of the best quality from England.