Drenthe door Cornelis Pijnacker-gehele-kaart

The County of Drenthe ( nl, Landschap Drenthe, german: Grafschaft Drente), was a province of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

from 1046, and of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

from 1581 until 1795. It corresponds to the area west of the lower Ems, today the eponymous province of

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

in the Netherlands. Drenthe is first recorded in 820 as a '' Gau'', the basic division of the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...

east of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

. In 1046, the Emperor Henry III granted it to the

Bishopric of Utrecht The Bishopric of Utrecht ( nl, Sticht Utrecht) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it w ...

. At the time Drenthe included the city of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, which was governed by a

burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especial ...

(prefect) enfeoffed by the bishop. By the 14th century, the prefecture was hereditary and the

Lordship of Groningen The Lordship of Groningen ( nl, Heerlijkheid Groningen) was a lordship under the rule of the House of Habsburg between 1536 and 1594, which is the present-day province of Groningen. Before 1536 A distinction must be made between the City of Gr ...

was ''de facto'' separate from the County of Drenthe. Between 1225 and 1240, the free peasants of Drenthe were in conflict with the bishops over his lordship and his tithes. This even resulted in a crusade launched against them. The first and most intense phase of the conflict is retold in an eyewitness account, '' Quaedam narracio''. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Drenthe was affected by the factional struggle between the

Vetkopers and Schieringers The Vetkopers and Schieringers ( fry, Fetkeapers en Skieringers) were two opposing Frisian factional parties from the medieval period. They were responsible for a civil war that lasted for over a century (1350–1498) and which eventually led to t ...

. In 1402, it was attached to the ''

Oversticht Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the Episcopal principality of Utr ...

'', the eastern portion of the bishopric. In 1412, the county received its own '' Landrecht'' (territorial law). In 1522, during the

Guelders Wars The Guelders Wars (, German: ''Geldrische Erbfolgekriege'') were a series of conflicts in the Low Countries between the Duke of Burgundy, who controlled Holland, Flanders, Brabant, and Hainaut on the one side, and Charles, Duke of Guelders, ...

, the county fell to

Charles II, Duke of Guelders Charles II (9 November 1467 – 30 June 1538) was a member of the House of Egmond who ruled as Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen from 1492 until his death. He was the son of Adolf of Egmond and Catharine of Bourbon. He had a principal role ...

, but he was forced to cede it to the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infan ...

in the

Treaty of Grave The Peace of Grave was signed on December 10, 1536, during the Guelders Wars between Charles II, Duke of Guelders and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. In the treaty, Charles of Guelders handed over the City of Groningen, the Ommelanden and Dren ...

of 1536. It was thereafter governed by a Habsburg

stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

, but because it was only sparsely populated, it had the same stadtholder as the

. In the Treaty of Augsburg of 1548, Drenthe was removed from the

Westphalian Circle Westphalian may refer to: * The culture or people of the Westphalia region of Germany * Westphalian language, one of the major dialect groups of West Low German * Westphalian sovereignty, a concept in international relations * Westphalian (stage), ...

and attached to the Burgundian Circle, making it one of the

Seventeen Provinces The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the French departments of Nord (Fre ...

of the Habsburg Netherlands with a special status within the Empire. During the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) (Historiography of the Eighty Years' War#Name and periodisation, c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and t ...

against the Habsburgs, Drenthe joined the

Union of Utrecht The Union of Utrecht ( nl, Unie van Utrecht) was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Netherlands, until then under the control of Habsburg Spain. History The Union of Utrecht is r ...

. Although it became part of the republic, it was not one of the Seven Provinces and did not have a seat in the

States General The word States-General, or Estates-General, may refer to: Currently in use * Estates-General on the Situation and Future of the French Language in Quebec, the name of a commission set up by the government of Quebec on June 29, 2000 * States Genera ...

on account of its poverty.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drenthe, County of

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Seventeen Provinces