Counts of Holland I

[Leo van de Pas]

The area now known as Holland was formerly known as Friesland,
or West-Friesland, and its first counts were entitled Count of
Friesland. At that time, Friesland covered the area from the
mouth of the river Weser (near Germany's Bremen) to nearly
inside modern Belgium. Today this area is divided into five
provinces : Zeeland, South-Holland, North-Holland, Friesland
and Groningen.

However, the area ruled over by these counts was only a small
section of the total. From when the first known count lived
around the year 889, it took until 1100 before his descendants
became known as Counts of Holland. Apparently the name Holland
was derived from the word 'Holtland', which meant either
'Land with a hollow' or 'wood (hout/holt) land'.

In 922, Count Dirk I received (from Charles The Simple, King of
the West-Franks, or France) the church in Egmond and its estates
which became the centre of his county. In 925, while formally
belonging to the Lorraine area, Holland became part of the Holy
Roman Empire. However, the Count and his subjects preferred to
think themselves independent of any overlord; accordingly they
made their own alliances as they saw fit.

Leo van de Pas