Editing Stadtholder (section)

=== Seventeen Provinces ===
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''Stadtholder''s in the [[Middle Ages]] were appointed by [[feudal]] lords to represent them in their absence. If a lord had several dominions (or, being a [[vassal]], [[fief]]s), some of these could be ruled by a permanent ''stadtholder'', to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A ''stadtholder'' was thus more powerful than a governor, who had only limited authority, but the stadtholder was not a vassal himself, having no title to the land. The local rulers of the independent [[Seventeen Provinces|province]]s of the [[Low Countries]] (which included the present-day [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]]) made extensive use of ''stadtholder''s, e.g. the [[Duke of Guelders]] appointed a ''stadtholder'' to represent him in [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]].

In the 15th century the [[Duke of Burgundy|Dukes of Burgundy]] acquired most of the Low Countries, and the constituent parts (duchies, counties, lordships) of these [[Burgundian Netherlands]] mostly each had their own ''stadtholder'', appointed by the Duke in his capacity of duke, count or lord.

In the 16th century, the [[Habsburg]] [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], also King of Spain, who had inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, completed this process by becoming the sole feudal overlord: Lord of the Netherlands. Only the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] and two smaller territories (the [[Principality of Stavelot-Malmedy|Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy]] and the [[Duke of Bouillon|Duchy of Bouillon]]) remained outside his domains. ''Stadtholder''s continued to be appointed to represent Charles and King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], his son and successor in [[Spain]] and the Low Countries (the electoral Imperial title would be held by his brother [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]] and his heirs in the separate Austrian branch of Habsburgs). Due to the centralist and [[absolutism (European history)|absolutist]] policies of Philip, the actual power of the ''stadtholder''s strongly diminished, compared to the ''landvoogd (es)'' or governor-general.