Holland’s Advance

Abstract

Until recently, a pronounced Hollando-centric bias dominated the teaching of history in the Netherlands, especially at primary-school level. The emphasis was placed solely on historical developments in the province of Holland, and events in the other provinces were mentioned only in so far as they were of importance for the history of Holland. This bias can be seen most clearly in the treatment of the history of the middle ages — a period when Holland was but one of the many sovereign territories, originally no more important or powerful than its neighbours, and when its development was largely autonomous. Thus today’s older generation of Netherlanders often had to learn all the counts of Holland off by heart. They were told colourful stories about bold Thierry III, who defeated the army sent by the emperor to present him from setting up a toll on the Merwede; about Florence V, friend of townsman and peasant, who was murdered by the nobility; and about the party-strife of the late middle ages, known to us as the wars of the Hoeks and Kabeljauws.

This article is a slightly modified version of H.P.H. Jansen, Holland’s Voorsprong. Inaugural Lecture Leiden University (Leiden, 1976).