E198 - Ep. 198 – How Holland was Lost to the Holy Roman Empire (Part 1 - the Politics)

Today begins a two part series about how the Low countries modern day Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg shifted out of the Holy Empire. These lands, with the exception of Flanders, had been part of the empire for hundreds of years, ever since Henry the Fowler acquired Lothringia for east Francia in 925 – not by conquest but through diplomacy – as was his way.

There are two ways to tell the story of the split away from the empire, one is about the dynastic machinations, the marriages, poisonings and inability to produce male heirs, the other one is about economics and...