A Pocket Guide To The Low Countries

The history of the smaller European countries is rather neglected in the teaching of European history at university level. We are therefore pleased to announce the publication of the first comprehensive history of the Low Countries - in English - from Roman Times to the present. Remaining politically and culturally fragmented, with its inhabitants speaking Dutch, French, Frisian, and German, the Low Countries offer a fascinating picture of European history en miniature. For historical reasons, parts of northern France and western Germany also have to be included in the "Low Countries," a term that must remain both broad and fluid, a convenient label for a region which has seldom, if ever, composed a unified whole. In earlier ages it as even more difficult to the region set parameters, again reflecting Europe as a whole, when tribes and kingdoms stretched across expanses not limited to the present states of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Nevertheless, its parts did demonstrate many common traits and similar developments that differentiated them from surrounding countries and lent them a distinct character. Internationally, the region often served both as a mediator for and a buffer to the surrounding great powers, France, Britain, and Germany; an important role still played today as Belgium and the Netherlands have increasingly become involved in the broader process of European integration, in which they often share the same interest and follow parallel policies. This highly illustrated volume serves as an ideal introduction to the rich history of the Low Countries for students and the generally interested reader alike.

Touring the Low Countries is an anthology of approximately forty travel documents by British tourists - journals, letters, and financial accounts - most of them published here for the first time. The United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands, with all the variety of their contrasting cultural climates, were regarded as an ideal destination for a short trip abroad. A six weeks' tour through Holland, Brabant and Flanders could be just as educational and enjoyable as a Grand Tour, which for most people was financially out of reach. More direct and colorful than any analytical study of the subject, this book presents the reader with images of the Low Countries that the tourists wished to convey to their contemporaries at home. The anthology will appeal both to students of travel and to those interested in the cultural history of the Low Countries. It offers a wealth of new information on social and artistic life in Holland and Flanders.