Editing Holland (section)

=== County of Holland ===
{{Further|County of Holland}}
[[File:Wapen graafschap Holland.svg|150px|thumb|right|Historical [[coat of arms]] of the County of Holland]]
Until the start of the 12th century, the inhabitants of the area that became Holland were known as [[Frisians]]. The area was initially part of [[Frisia]]. At the end of the 9th century, West-Frisia became a separate [[county]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The first [[Count of Holland|count]] known about with certainty was [[Dirk I, Count of Holland|Dirk I]], who ruled from 896 to 931. He was succeeded by a [[Counts of Holland family tree|long line of counts]] in the House of Holland (who were in fact known as counts of Frisia until 1101). When [[John I, Count of Holland|John I]] died childless in 1299, the county was inherited by Count [[John II of Hainaut]]. By the time of [[William V, Count of Holland|William V]] ([[House of Wittelsbach]]; 1354–1388) the count of Holland was also the count of [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] and [[Zeeland|Zealand]].

After the [[St. Lucia's flood]] in 1287 the part of Frisia west of the later [[Zuiderzee]], [[West Friesland (historical region)|West Friesland]], was conquered. As a result, most provincial institutions, including the [[States of Holland|States of Holland and West Frisia]], would for more than five centuries refer to "Holland and West Frisia" as a unit. The [[Hook and Cod wars]] started around this time and ended when the countess of Holland, Jacoba or [[Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut|Jacqueline]] was forced to cede Holland to the [[House of Valois-Burgundy|Burgundian]] Philip III, known as [[Philip the Good]], in 1432.

In 1432, Holland became part of the [[Burgundian Netherlands]] and since 1477 of the [[Habsburg]] [[Seventeen Provinces]]. In the 16th century the county became the most densely [[urbanisation|urbanised]] region in Europe, with the majority of the population living in cities. Within the Burgundian Netherlands, Holland was the dominant province in the north; the political influence of Holland largely determined the extent of Burgundian dominion in that area. The last count of Holland was Philip III, better known as [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], king of Spain. He was deposed in 1581 by the [[Act of Abjuration]], although the kings of Spain continued to carry the titular appellation of Count of Holland until the [[Peace of Münster]] signed in 1648.