Low Countries
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| * Most were coastal regions bounded by the [[North Sea]] or the [[English Channel]]. The countries not having access to the sea politically and economically linked to the ones that had so as to form one union of port and [[hinterland]]. A poetic description also calls the region ''the Low Countries by the Sea'' | * Most were coastal regions bounded by the [[North Sea]] or the [[English Channel]]. The countries not having access to the sea politically and economically linked to the ones that had so as to form one union of port and [[hinterland]]. A poetic description also calls the region ''the Low Countries by the Sea'' | ||
| - | * Most spoke [[Middle Dutch]] out of which later would evolve Dutch. However some regions, such as the [[Bishopric of Liège]], the [[Romance Flanders]] around [[Cambrai]], [[Lille]], [[Tournai]] and [[Marquis of Namur|Namur]], where French was the dominant language are often considered as part of the Low Countries as well. | + | * Most spoke [[Middle Dutch]] out of which later would evolve [[Dutch]]. However some regions, such as the [[Bishopric of Liège]], the [[Romance Flanders]] around [[Cambrai]], [[Lille]], [[Tournai]] and [[Marquis of Namur|Namur]], where French was the dominant language are often considered as part of the Low Countries as well. |
| * Most of them depended on a lord or count in name only, the cities effectively being ruled by guilds and councils and although in theory part of a kingdom, their interaction with their rulers was regulated by a strict set of liberties describing what the latter could and could not expect from them. | * Most of them depended on a lord or count in name only, the cities effectively being ruled by guilds and councils and although in theory part of a kingdom, their interaction with their rulers was regulated by a strict set of liberties describing what the latter could and could not expect from them. | ||
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The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse (Maas) rivers.
Linguistic distinction
In English, the plural form Netherlands is used for the present-day country, but in Dutch that plural has been dropped; one can thus distinguish between the older, larger Netherlands and the current country. So Nederland (singular) is used for the modern nation and de Nederlanden (plural) for the domains of Charles V.
Geo-political situation
The term is not particularly current in modern contexts because the region does not very exactly correspond with the sovereign states of The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, for which an alternative term, the Benelux was applied after World War II.
Before early modern nation building, the Low Countries referred to a wide area of northern Europe roughly stretching from Dunkirk at its southwestern point to the area of Schleswig-Holstein at its northeastern point, from the estuary of the Scheldt in the south to Frisia in the north. The Low Countries were the scene of the early northern towns, built from scratch rather than developed from ancient centres, that mark the reawakening of Europe in the 12th century.
A collection of several regions rather than one homogeneous region, all of the low countries still shared a great number of similarities.
- Most were coastal regions bounded by the North Sea or the English Channel. The countries not having access to the sea politically and economically linked to the ones that had so as to form one union of port and hinterland. A poetic description also calls the region the Low Countries by the Sea
- Most spoke Middle Dutch out of which later would evolve Dutch. However some regions, such as the Bishopric of Liège, the Romance Flanders around Cambrai, Lille, Tournai and Namur, where French was the dominant language are often considered as part of the Low Countries as well.
- Most of them depended on a lord or count in name only, the cities effectively being ruled by guilds and councils and although in theory part of a kingdom, their interaction with their rulers was regulated by a strict set of liberties describing what the latter could and could not expect from them.
- All of them depended on trade and manufacturing and encouraging the free flow of goods and craftsmen.
