W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

496 The Coins of Europe
not seem to be more reasonable than that which claims for
France the German Emperors of the West, or, indeed, any rulers
anterior to Charles le Chauve. The monetary alliance with
Burgundy is clearly narrowed not merely to the duchy, but
to those portions of it which were appropriated by Louis XI.
in 1477-78, and from that date the autonomous coinage
limited itself to the titular pretensions of the house of
Austria, which were maintained almost within living memory.
Till the outbreak of the French Revolution the Valois and
Bourbon dynasties scarcely exerted any sensible influence on
the destinies of the Netherlands for good or for evil. German
and Spanish ascendency, the rise of Holland, and
English sympathy and help, put a term to farther projects
of conquest in this quarter ; and the numismatic history of
much of the extensive possessions of the last Dukes of Burgundy
of Flanders, Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburgh, the
Dutch Provinces merges in that of communities governed
by wholly different conditions. The former currency or
currencies of Burgundy are lost in those of France on the
one hand, and of the Flemings, Austrians, Spaniards, and
Hollanders on the other ;
and so far as the duchy proper was
concerned, it does not seem to have preserved, after its seizure
by the French, like Dauphiny and Navarre, any share of its
old individuality, but, as in the case of Brittany and Normandy,
to have conformed to the general monetary regulations
of the kingdom. A coup dc main extinguished the
growth of six centuries ;
but let us remember that the
seigniorial or baronial element survived, and that, for the
most part, the tenants under the Crown of Burgundy were
also the tenants under that of the new master, and parted
with none of their local jurisdiction.
We have had occasion to note how, under the reign of
Edward III., the monetary relations between England and
the Netherlands had already become tolerably constant and
friendly and it is ; interesting, in connection with the Dutch
copies of the rose-noble of Edward IV., to observe that so
late as 1469 a conference was held at Bruges between the
representatives of the English prince and those of Charles le