User:HP1740-B/Ethnic History/Text

General
The first stage of Dutch ethnogenesis falls within the frame of an ethnic category. This essentially means that though certain characteristics of the Dutch ethnic group start to appear; the people displaying these traits did not have any, or a very limited, awareness of belonging to this specific group.

Following the end of the migration period in the West around 500 CE, with large federations (such as the Franks, Vandals, Alamanni and Saxons) settling the Roman Empire, great changes take hold of Germanic peoples; who inhabited much of Northwestern Europe at the time.

Prior to this, the Germanic tribes formed tribal societies with no apparent form of autocracy (chiefs only being elected in times of war), beliefs based Germanic paganism and speaking a dialect still closely resembling Common Germanic. Yet following their incursions into (and eventual overthrow of) the Roman Empire, a series of monumental changes took place within these Germanic societies. Among the most important of these are their conversion from Germanic paganism to Christianity, the new emerging of a political system; centered on kings and, continuing process of emerging unintelligibly of their various dialects.

Specific
As the general situation described above is applicable to most if not all modern European ethnic groups with origins among the Germanic tribes; such as the Frisians, Germans, English and the North-Germanic peoples; this paragraph will detail the specific process for the Dutch.

In the Low Countries, this phase began, when the Franks, themselves were a union of multiple smaller tribes (many of them, such as the Batavi, Chauci, Chamavi and Chattuarii, already living in the Low Countries prior to the forming of the Frankish confederation) began to incur the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire. Eventually, in 358 CE, the Salian Franks, one of the three main subdivisions among the Frankish alliance settled the area the Southern lands as a foederati, Roman allies in charge of border defense.

As mentioned before, at this time no Dutch identity existed, but its first outlines emerged. Linguistically the Frankish language gradually evolved into Old Dutch, which was first attested in the 6th century, whereas religiously the Franks (beginning with the upper class) converted to Christianity from around 500 to 700 CE. On a political level, the Frankish warlords abandoned tribalism (thus beginning the process of de-identification as 'Frank' among the Franks) and founded a number of kingdoms, eventually culminating in the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne.

It should however be noted that the population make up of the Frankish Empire, or even early Frankish Kingdoms such as Neustria and Austrasia, was not dominated by Franks. Though the Frankish leaders indeed controlled most of Western Europe, the Franks themselves were confined to the Northwestern part (i.e the Low Countries and Northern France) of the Empire. Eventually, the Franks in Northern France were assimilated by the general Gallo-Roman population, and took over their dialects (which became French), whereas the Franks in the Low Countries retained their language, which would evolve into Dutch. The current Dutch-French language border has (with the exception of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France) remain virtually identical ever since, and could be seen as marking the furthest pale of gallicization among the Franks.

Stage II
During the second stage; an ethnic network starts to appear; signaling growing ties between the people exhibiting the traits described in the first stage; among the Dutch this mainly focuses on the political and cultural preeminence of the emerging burghers in the Dutch medieval cities and the consolidation of the Dutch fiefs under the Dukes of Burgundy.

These cities, who experienced major growth during the 11th and 12th century were instrumental in breaking down (the already relatively loose form of) feudalism in the Low Countries. As they became increasingly powerful, they used their economical strength to influence the politics of their nobility. During the early 14th century, beginning in and inspired by the County of Flanders, the cities in the Low Countries gain huge autonomy and generally dominate or greatly influence the various political affairs of the fief, including marriage succession.

While the cities were of great political importance, they also formed catalysts for medieval Dutch culture. Trade flourished, population numbers increased dramatically, and (advanced) education was no longer limited to the clergy and Dutch epic literature such as Elegast (1150 CE), the Roelantslied and Van den vos Reynaerde (1200 CE) were widely enjoyed. The various city guilds as well as the necessity of water boards (in charge of dikes, canals, etc.) in the Dutch delta and coastal regions resulted in an exceptionally high degree of communal organization. It is also around this time, that ethnonyms such as Diets and Nederlands emerge.

In the second half of the 14th century, the dukes of Burgundy gained a foothold in the Low Countries through the marriage in 1369 of Philip the Bold of Burgundy to the heiress of the count of Flanders. This was followed by a series of marriages, wars, and such tricks of fate as inheritances among the other Dutch fiefs and around 1430 the most important fiefs are under Burgundian rule, while complete control is achieved in 1503; thereby unifying the Dutch fiefs under one ruler. This process marks a new episode in the development of the Dutch ethnic group, as now political unity starts to emerge, consolidating the strengthened cultural and linguistic unity.

Stage III
During the final phase an ethnic community, in which the members themselves have clear conceptions of being a named human population with, common ancestry, shared historical memories, common elements of culture, solidarity and an association with a homeland,has emerged. Among the Dutch, the last factor which was still underdeveloped was that of solidarity. Despite the linguistic, cultural and (in the case of Flanders, Brabant and Holland) economical similarities; there was still little sense of political unity among the Dutch.

However, the centralist policies of Burgundy in the 14th century, at first violently opposed by the Dutch cities, had a profound impact and changed this. During Charles the Bold's many wars, which were a major economic burden for the Burgundian Netherlands, tensions slowly increased. In 1477, the year of Charles' sudden death at Nancy, the Dutch lands rebel against their new liege, Mary of Burgundy and present her with a set of demands.

The subsequently issued great privilege met a lot of these demands (which included that Dutch, not French, should be the administrative language and that the states general had the right to hold meetings without the monarchs permission or presence) and despite the fact that the overall tenure of the document (which was declared void by her son, and successor, Philip IV) aimed for more autonomy for the Dutch counties and duchies, the fact that all Dutch fiefs present their demands together, rather than separately, are evidence that by this time a sense of political unity had clearly emerged.

Following Mary's marriage to Maximilian of Habsburg, the Netherlands were now part of the Habsburg lands. Further centralized policies by the Habsburgs (like their Burgundian predecessors) again met with resistance, but, peaking with the forming the collateral councils of 1531 and the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, were still implemented. The rule of Philip II of Spain sought even further centralist reforms, which, accompanied by religious dictates, excessive taxation resulted in the Dutch Revolt. The Dutch provinces, though fighting alone now, for the first time in their history, found themselves fighting a common enemy. This, together with the growing number of Dutch intelligentsia and the Dutch Golden Age in which Dutch culture, as a whole, would get unprecedented international prestige consolidated the Dutch as an ethnic group.