The Battle of Vlaardingen 1018 AD

[@trygveplaustrum4634]

"Vlachislaw the Wise" "Aethelred the Unready" *"Dirk."*

[@Robi2009]

He had nickname "Jerusalemite" as apparently he went on a pilgrimage to Holy Land around 1030

[@Hilltycoon]

@Godd Howard 'Dolk' = Dagger. Dirk is still a pretty common name in The Netherlands

[@Xalerdane]

I’m waiting for the day someone is introduced with a name that translates to “That Guy”.

[@scottvanzoomeren8067]

@Godd Howard Dirk is the dutchified (?) name for latin Theoderic. We are quite pragmatic so Theoderic is way too long, hence derik-> Dirk

[@orwendil]

@@scottvanzoomeren8067 close :P, 'Dirk' is the modern shortend form of 'Diederik', meaning 'people's ruler' or 'folk ruler'. Combining 'Diede', meaning 'folk/people' and 'Rik', meaning ruler. Theodoric is the latinised version of the name. Also the French name 'Thierry'

[@Emperor_Atlantis]

I live in Vlaardingen. 2years ago we had a 1000year anniversary. A whole festival. It was great to wear my costume and partake!

[@Emperor_Atlantis]

@@mastermirror2842 you will be surprised how little Dutch people care about history. Historyprograms in school are almost entiraly focused on World War 2 and there is no focus at all on our roots. If there are they talk about the slave trade briefly. And with our open arms towards other cultures it is even more out of commision. So nope, not a local hero for most people since our culture isn't worth anything(to policymakers, media and the general public). I envy my European ('neighbour') countries like France or Poland where their nationalistic and origin roots are strong.

[@Emperor_Atlantis]

@@mastermirror2842 Yea I know right! My girlfriend lived near the border and is fluent in German. She always has great stories of Germany. All german tourists I have met were always super nice and polite. The traditional food is the Best and you guys have such a rich history. Really be a proud Deutsche! Much love from the Netherlands neighbour👍

Very cool

[@Lightningshattr]

@@Emperor_Atlantis thats because almost everything in the netherlands is controlled by the left wing globalists scumbags. they control the media awell, they promote imigration and support everything that fights AGAINST the dutch culture. Netherlands is going down the drain, i know, because im dutch. Leftwing scumbags will downvote my comment because for them the truth cannot be spoken when it is a truth that does not support their views.

[@MrDyuziak]

@@Lightningshattr You got triggered really quick there. This is why we can't have nice things, everything gets political.

[@Dayvit78]

Wait a minute. They had a meeting to organize an armed expedition against Dirk, and Dirk was at that meeting? dayum that's bold.

[@frenstcht]

Spent the whole meeting saying, "Dudes! I'm _right here!_ "

[@galenusv7831]

They must have been at a church or something, like you wouldn't be able to take advantage of the others in holy ground.

[@frenstcht]

@hi there Laughed out loud ^_^

[@Stripedbottom]

How about, like, negotiation that would avoid any military action at all? Not fashionable at the time or what?

[@frenstcht]

@@Stripedbottom I think I read somewhere that at that around that time in European history, battles were how they let God decide who was right by choosing the winner. Caveat lector, I'm just some slob, not a historian.

[@tredsquire]

Time to stop everything to watch rectangles fight :)

[@PT5-Shorts]

Rectangle battle royal!

[@Freya27395]

i like it actually i smoke some kush before battles and leave the visuals to my imagination :)

[@cjhaigler1234]

WRECK-Tangles, you mean.

[@bigswedefishing2028]

BattleBoxes...not to be confused with BattleBots

[@guestimator121]

Fucking Blue Rectangles! Go Reds!

[@Star_moses]

Godfrey: Guys I'm alive! Soilders: But how can we be sure? Godfrey: God dammit I hate peasants.

[@stopit3869]

poor guy, he tried

[@frenstcht]

Godfrey: I _knew_ I should have put my face on a coin!

[@stopit3869]

@@frenstcht lol right, those battle's results are obvious, one with the better statue/painting made on them wins

[@Saeronor]

MFW the only man who knows how I look is the opposing commander.

[@Strrroke]

Soldiers: RUN! IT"S A ZOMBIE!!!!

[@ZachValkyrie]

It was the morning of the 31st of July, 2020. Carl Sailor had the day off from work, and had slept late. After fixing a late breakfast and settling down to check the news, Carl noticed something on the top right corner of his browser window. A number of notifications had appeared for him. One of them was from the KZbin Channel BazBattles. A new video had just been released. Not wasting a single moment, Carl dropped everything and clicked on the notification. The battle was about to begin...

[@eagleofbrittany7231]

Impossible to not read this in the narrator's voice

[@Vrangelrip]

@@eagleofbrittany7231 I know, he used such an identical style

[@carlos89784]

Hahhahahaaha

[@BrayOfTheDonkey]

Carl Sailor saw an opportunity!

[@Marco905905]

great show 10/10

[@jimmythebuddhistbee8786]

Dirk: “GET OUT OF MAH SWAMP”

[@daltonevans3412]

I'd like this comment more than once if i could. Well done.

[@Andre_vyent]

Ga godverdomme uit mijn moeras!

[@brycyndremestrydr1595]

"GET OUT OF MAH SWAMP, GODFREY!"

[@tobiassanders3831]

literally laughed out loud

[@blacktemplar9499]

The Dutch against everyone:

[@Alduin101]

The Medieval Lowlands rarely gets attention, thanks for covering this.

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Godfrey trying to get his men to recognise him is like that episode of Monty Python where the knight tries to test if the girl was a witch.

[@alphahelix7948]

@Jan Meh Poor Godfrey probably had shit all over him from trudging through the swamp. That's why no one believed he was the Duke.

[@sjonnieplayfull5859]

@Jan Meh then he would be a King (even though i did not vote for him)

[@HistoryTime]

Amazing. I’d never heard of this battle. & here I was thinking I knew the 11th century.

[@safiyarani4448]

@@Sam-wm9xh ok thanks, I'll let you know when I'm there!

[@captaindak5119]

Godfrey: hmm, the only usable path is narrow. Troops: check Godfrey: Lots of vegetation on the flanks. Troops: check Godfrey: a series of unguarded ditches. Troops: checkity check! Godfrey: Timmy Turner voice* what could possibly go wrong!? Troops: Cosmo voice* we know right

[@foxymetroid]

More of a case of "beggars can't be choosers". He likely knew the area was perfect for an ambush, but also knew it was practically the only way to the stronghold. It's possible the battle could have gone better for him if it wasn't for that stupid rumor. Once the troops started to believe their commander was dead (despite his best efforts to convince them otherwise), a possible victory turned into a guaranteed defeat.

[@las1147]

Dirk was actually quite young when he was dispatched to Vlaardingen. The stronghold was initially intended to guard the river and warn the inland in case of a Viking attack, but by the time they were ready to go, the Vikings never returned so Dirk probably got a little bored and that's why he started the toll thing and expending his territory.

[@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki]

And a 1,000 years later the Dutch are still kicking ass in their little swamp: dominate agriculture, genetics from flowers to horses, and reclaiming land all over the world, dropping "Pitt Poulder" in BC Canada into a numbered company and then going home for 100 years.......to wait for golf courses to become trendy. No wonder they do so well. Hard work pays and pays.

[@memento5113]

The story of this episode was crazy good! I thought to myself the whole time, how can Dirk dare to go up against his own Empire/Holy roman Emperor with the tax trade. It all made sense from taking the opportunity with a strategic location but made no sense from a military pov. Then he executed his plan to perfection. He sure had ambition.

[@basilharpham9372]

it helps that the HRE is not really an empire in the traditional sense. The land Dirk took must not of been consider worth enough too fight a war over especially after Godfrey was captured (Honor and all that)

[@formgrya6927]

The story also reveals really well what the capabilities of the emperor were when faced with wayward vassals. Apparently he could not reasonably levy an army and go out himself. That's too expensive and too dangerous. So since direct action is impossible he could only embue other vassals with legal power and try to get them to fight the wayward vassal. Imagine if Texas didn't pay taxes to the federal government, and they had to go ask oklahoma to beat them up. It'd really hard to maintain strong authority like that, lol.

[@milesdavis607]

@@formgrya6927 Which is why, to no surprise, the HRE is no longer. It lasted hundreds of years longer than it should have lol.

[@zephyrus339]

@@formgrya6927ctually Henry's actions are perfectly reasonable and completely in line with the capabilities and limitations of an medieval European feudal monarch. Had this happened in France or England their kings would have done the same thing. The emperor levying and leading his own army was impossible for the following reasons: 1 The realm of Henry was Bavaria (modern-day south east Germany). Munich is about 750 km away from Vlaardingen. Combine this with the fact that Europe at this time has zero infrastructure (except for rivers, but Bavaria and Vlaardingen aren't connected that way) so it would take a TERRIBLE long time to reach his destination. Which is especially bad considering point 2 and 3. 2 In medieval Europe there are no standing armies. An army basically consist of all the peasants you can press into service and all the nobleman (with their retainers) who hopefully bother to show up. The nobleman have their lands and titles in exchange to fight. The peasants get nothing as they just have the feudal obligation to march to war with their lord for a maximum of 40 days a year. I bet it takes more than 40 days to march from Munich to Vlaardingen. So combine this with point 1 and before the fighting even started you already have a demoralised army that only wants to go home as they are already on warpath for longer than they should. Also while the peasants are in the army, they can't grow food. The food you and they eat and on the taxation of which you depend financially. 3 No logistics. In a medieval army no one gets paid (except mercenaries, but they are expensive so forget about them) so on every one of those 40 days each soldier marches on his own wallet. Also everyone has to arrange their own equipment and bring their own food. Can you carry 40 days of food with you? Neither can the peasants. So after a while the peasants will have to start to purchase food to survive. Peasants are so poor they can't do this for long (if at all). At that point the army starts to pillage the farms and towns along the way just to feed itself. Combine this with point 1 and what you are doing is leaving a trail of fire and destruction through either your own lands (making your own peasants hate you) or those of a loyal vassal who now has a good reason to hate your guts (and from this point on has more respect for Dirk than you). It was however customary to hand out food to troops on longer campaigns (like sieges), but that made the whole thing outrageously expensive. 4 This is what the Counts, Dukes, Bishops were for. From the days of Clovis I the Frankish kings (and their descendants, the German emperors) had more territory than they could rule. And with the total collapse of the Roman economy and taxation system they had no money to hire administrators. So instead they divided their realm in little pieces and started handing out counties (civil administrates) and duchies (military administrates) with the message: "This land is yours but in exchange you must uphold the royal laws and defend this land". So by letting the bishops and the duke deal with Dirk the emperor was simply saying: "Do the job I hired you for". Also take a look at the map to see where these bishops and duke have their fiefs located: all are located upstream of the same rives system as Dirk. This eliminates problem 1, 2 and 3. It was common in the middle ages to fight wars with troops that were on hand locally or on the border of the conflict area. 5 Priorities. A quick glance at Wikipedia reveals that around this time the emperor was in the last phase of a war against the kingdom of Poland and a continuing conflict with the Byzantines in Italy. These are more pressing concerns than a non-taxpaying count in the swampy fringes located on the other side of the empire. Let the vassals take care of that so that the emperor can deal with the important stuff.

[@zephyrus339]

​@@milesdavis607 Well strictly speaking, the HRE did outlast the french Ancien Régime who had solved this problem of decentralization, by way of absolutism. But unlike the french the HRE didn't collapse on its own. Instead Napoleon had to fight his biggest battle yet to end it by force.

[@zaboomafool1911]

Imagine being at the meeting where the boss tells your co-workers to take your office by force. That's basically what happened at that diet.

[@UtkarshShah1]

More like, you've been embezzling, so corporate tells the local HR guy to fire you. Then, when he shows up at your desk, you beat him up and make a deal with corporate where you keep your job, take some of the HR guy's office space, and still get to embezzle a little.

[@lkcdarzadix6216]

@@UtkarshShah1 kek

[@arphaxadbasilona1871]

Living off the Holy Roman Empire's territories and levying tax off lucrative trade routes while not giving a cent to the empire... ...now that's a Dirk move...

[@MrCount84]

Oh an ordinary American corporation.

[@cradle222]

I love the mix of history we get with this channel

[@StrikingEnergy210]

Thats the city I live in! We had this massive re-enactment 2 years ago to celebrate the 1000 year anniversary of that battle. Really epic! They even made manhole covers to commemorate!

[@frenstcht]

"You, peasant! If you help me stab some guys, I'll give you three acres." "You had me at 'stab some guys'."

[@jorikrouwenhorst7220]

Trying to fight in a marsh (-1),when disembarked (-2) and crossing a river (-1) what could go wrong?

[@saruhan9760]

-2 for marsh minus -1 for river

[@OlafJorigson]

@@saruhan9760 -1 for marsh -1 for river -2 for embarking with less than 3 maneuver.

[@Hlodolog]

@@OlafJorigson I thought it's either embarking or river, but not both at once.

[@OlafJorigson]

@@Hlodolog Well since they were just embarking, got ambushed and crossed a river, I'd say both apply.

[@Hlodolog]

@@OlafJorigson Well from the game's perspective i disagree with you, but from the history's perspective... well, easy to see. :)

[@MMvanOoststroom]

This is great stuff. I grew up in Vlaardingen, so is it strange I feel somewhat honoured (in lack of a better term) that this piece of history once took place right under my feet? Thank you for making these lovely concise battle reports.

[@alexkoppers7882]

Finally a battle in the Netherlands. There have been relatively few major battles in the Netherlands, So I am happy to see someone makes a video about this.

[@SklhroiKariolidesThsIstorias]

That's what I call a Dirk move. Hey we love your videos. Be well.

[@Kyle_Hubbard]

Baz: "It is a hot summer afternoon in the year 1018" Me: Yeah tell me about it. *With a lining of sweat on my whole body dealing with rare 36c temperature on a sunday afternoon.*

[@Kurogumo]

How is 36c hot?

[@Kyle_Hubbard]

@@Kurogumo How is water wet?

[@talamahmoud10]

it is hot in celsius you idiot

[@gusspeeltmuziekdingen1190]

man oh man thanks alot! I rarely can find well explained dutch history before the 80 years war and this was wildly interesting

[@marvin117]

Love the Dutch history. Bring us more!

[@resileaf9501]

Not just Dutch, but also Holy Roman Empire! That's great, most of the battles we hear about of the time period rarely involve them.

[@Dutchman_NL]

Yes!

[@honkytonk4465]

By that time there were no dutch people.There were only different germanic tribes within the Holy Roman Empire.

[@ironfromicey8700]

Dutch history is always so different and fun to watch.

[@medroa69]

6:28 Not convincing enough Godfrey: GUYS I'M ALIVE!!! Army: Naaaah. xD

[@Oli_Olberius]

I love these more obscure battles where most people don't know the outcome. I was barracking for Dirk and he came out the victor. Good stuff.

[@RedmilesShark]

2 years ago, there were festivities and a reenacted battle done. Though, it wasn't as big as the 750 years of city rights were around 52 years back. Our local brewery even made beer from an old medieval recipe, lol. Nice to see some of this history for once. c:

[@schawty]

Narrator: "It is a hot summer afternoon…" Me: Press that Like button press it press it!

[@danboud8135]

XD

[@eldorados_lost_searcher]

Count Dirk: So, um, does... does anyone have any ideas for how to stop this army? S. Baldrick: My Lord! I have a cunning plan.

[@lastmanstanding5423]

Count Dirk: *_No turnips this time, Baldrick_* S. Baldrick: *_oooh... never mind then_*

[@mikewdf8548]

This speaker is simply brilliant! This is the best voice of all historical channels I know! Respect! Of course the graphics and the chosen themes are complementing it to master pieces. Keep doing, you are the best!

[@danboud8135]

/blushes

[@Canofasahi]

The name Dirck III (no misspelling here) is still in use today, it is the name of chain of liquor stores in the Netherlands.

[@theblackprince1346]

It's a hot summer afternoon in the year 2020, a young man gets a notification on his smart phone telling him a new BazBattles video has just been uploaded. He eagerly clicks on the video. His mind.....is about to be blown.

[@kaasbroodje1597]

i found your channel a few months ago and i'm loving the content, keep it up man!

[@avengermkii7872]

How does someone spread a rumor that your lord is dead even though he was the one leading the vanguard lol?

[@Thraim.]

Soldier 1: "There could be hundreds of enemies hiding in the marshes. I sure hope they don't ambush us and kill Godfrey." Soldier 2: "Godfrey died in an ambush?" Soldier 1: "What? No, I didn't say-...." Everyone: "Holy shit we better run away!"

[@AuroraBoredealis]

Early flat earthers, clearly. "What do you mean I'm dead? I'm standing right here in front of you, you peasant!" "It's obviously an elaborate system of mirrors and paintings, THE DUKE IS DEAD EVERYBODY! HE'S DEAD!"

[@florians9949]

The Hand God it would be mire accurate to say “IT IS A GOSTH, CALL A PRIEST!!!!”

[@Iason29]

Even in those times they had medieval trolls

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

@@Thraim. This s why you need an officer corps. When you have officers soldiers care about their officer not the army leader.

[@andrewjohnson6716]

The graphics on these videos is incredible. Not only instructive, but also halfway between a cartoon and a video game. As a habitant of the “low country”, I found this especially interesting.

[@MarcvanExel]

I call Vlaardingen my home town, nice to come across some of it's rich history

[@brendanchoi8889]

I really appreciate that you cover some of the lesser known battles. This is one of the few channels where I have no knowledge (or very little) of the unfolding events.

[@Cowslippoetry]

Uncle Baz: It was a hot summer afternoon-, Kids: Aww come on uncle, it's always a hot summer in your stories.

[@petergray2712]

It was a tepidly cool day under an overcast day, and Sir Beef of Wellington was roasting on an open barbecue pit.....

[@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki]

@@petergray2712 and in the tree shaded hills, Sir Loin and RB (Roast Beef) awaited their chance........the BBQ was about to begin. Pass the sauce.

[@garrettkilmer846]

Its a good day when BazBattles uploads! 😁

[@Robi2009]

7:00 - that plan was so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a fox ;)

[@immortalis7577]

i love the navy battles and would love to see the battle of midway from this perspective!

[@frenstcht]

Or this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/anLHlKl6nqZmoqc

[@racspartan1]

Excellent Videos Baz 👍. Always Full of Information and the Visuals of Characters moving across the Maps really helps to get an understanding of the Battles.

[@Magavynhigara]

While simple, i love the way you do your videos. Very educational and visually appealing for younger people to understand how things went. Thank you for your hard work and look forward to seeing more.

[@rancor6858]

Please keep making these videos they fill me with joy

[@operationhighjump4656]

Wonderful another episode thank you I am waiting for the next one

[@thekurkgaming1139]

Finally another video. I waited for sooooo long thank you for making such a videis

[@reveriesend4668]

So I guess Dirk prob planted some agents inside the enemy's ranks?

[@ttaibe]

I was thinking the same thing ^^

[@Nozylatten]

I needed this to be honest thankyou

[@baldbread3693]

fantastic..... as always. man i dont know many more channels this good

[@The_Starfleet_Ensign]

Love any bazbattle ep. Always worth the wait

[@omniqwerty4175]

I love new videos because I watch all of them so fast

[@cheeseburgerrunner5217]

We need more videos Baz, they’re so awesome and extremely well done!

[@hiddensalami4334]

Hearing about Friese takes me back to M & B Viking Conquest, and the Frisian empire i built after i liberated Friese from the Danes with my Frisian noble, good times. Excellent video as always!

[@patriciogarza9634]

DO MORE VIDEOS PLEASE! LOVE THE CONTENT.

[@pisvis5746]

Love this video! In Vlaardingen there was a reanactment about this battle about 12 years ago

[@Johankenzeler]

Godfrey: I'm alive you fools! Soldiers: Checking Google images and Wikipedia...

[@Dennell_Mount_and_Blade]

Lmao

[@schroedingersdog7965]

Count Dirk levies a toll on merchant shipping. The (Holy Roman) Empire strikes back! A very fine presentation! It's fascinating how these long-ago and comparatively obscure battles influence our modern world. Thank you, BazBattles!

[@Czar_B]

You used the correct map for Holland. Excellent!! Keep up the good work.

[@sethvanrossum277]

At last another episode of medieval tactics. Good video

[@fethimohamed288]

A video in bazbattles and 2 in historymarche, what an amazing day

[@Lord-Lexz0r]

Thats my hometown, their was a massive celebration of this historical event in 2018 were there were reinactments of the battle and a 2 weekend medieval festival. Great to see a piece of local history on the channel.

[@MrDauntess]

Thank you for creating a video on the topic of the low countries, it is rarely spoken of but highly interesting. I do hope you create more featuring the Benelux.

[@st4ne4rmthevill63]

Been waiting for your next uploads.

[@its-abit-fishyraver3974]

I'm on a serious 'BazBattles' spree Your videos are great, Thankyou.

[@hugovanpayns9557]

Great video again BazBattles. Nice to see you're covering battles close to my home. Keep up the good work and God bless! :)

[@BulletproofMeatFlaps]

Truly the superior visualized battle channel

[@imacie]

Thanks for giving more time to read the notes at the end 😊

[@trajanaugustus3501]

Your channel is beyond the amazing my friend

[@RedOrm68]

I must say I don't remember this from my history classes. Just as big a game changer as the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066. You learn something new every day.

[@donchichivagabond1578]

I am so looking forward to watching this video!

[@TimvanderLeeuw]

That was an interesting bit of my country's history which I wasn't really aware of until now, thank you for posting this video! :)

[@aeternitasromae]

So glad to see historical battles back

[@semkoops]

It's fun to hear more about a bit of Dutch history from.so long ago. Your pronunciation is good too

[@mkooij]

That was an awesome video man. Thanks! I never knew this and I'm from the region AND I love history

[@henkypenks]

Lived my entire life in Nijmegen but never knew this. Thanks!

[@judsonwall8615]

Love the small battles. 99% of medieval battles were of this sort, lord vs count; count vs duke; lord vs lord, etc. This battle kind of reminds me of the George RR Martin short story of Dunk the knight and Egg, his squire, when Dunk enters into a year of service with a minor lord who gets entangled in a water rights dispute with the local Count. It’s these petty disputes, rather than the War of the Five Kings or War of the Roses, that’s happening most of the time.

[@ecurewitz]

you know it's a good day when you get a new video from Baz Battles

[@YoreHistory]

Great video and well done with the pronunciation of Nijmegen :)

[@francopiffero1786]

Keep em coming! Your videos are awesome

[@lazylucy2329]

Thank you for giving attention to this. Although much is clouded by history I must say I find the map interesting, because it really gives a good dipiction of what at the moment is known about Vlaardingen and the several small rivers, welles that had floated there. Also the mention of the fries is a delight, since most of my fellow dutchpeople have no idea that the term fries origanated at the part of the Netherlands we now call the county Zeeland and the lower part of the county Zuid/Holland.

[@spacexfan1281]

Usually I give likes only to songs, to find them in future... But this must be respected. Thank you for amazing video.

[@modupesanusi1877]

Nothing better than baz battles

[@jeremikorybutwisniowiecki8333]

The battle was about to begin I love it when you say that

[@philRminiatures]

2020 AD...another splendid and informative video, thanks!

[@paolomesterom6899]

Yess, finnaly a video About the frissians

[@yavyav2281]

Nice story that Ive never heard of ! Such a pleasure to see triangles fight themselves.

[@clamum]

It's Friday which is good already, and now a new BazBattles video? Nuts will be busted

[@coodude5686]

another great video brother

[@R3GARnator]

The river delta is a massive geopolitical boon to the Netherlands, and has made it a valuable ally for great powers thought history.

[@phunglung69420]

Love these videos!!!!!!!

[@lenterlaak]

Please do more battles in the Netherlands like this one

[@gunnarherzog5538]

I absolutely love the economic angle behind this video!

[@c.a.1929]

The Dutch and especially the ‘Hollanders’ were always a stubborn and a bold breed of men, whom always made calculated risks with potential great pay out. The VOC is a good example of such an endeavor.

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

Great video once again! This time period is when you see the beginning of the great European countries take root. Interesting how they were still hanging on to the vestiges of the western Roman empire. With the " Holy Roman" title started by Charlamagne.

[@ozzyman75]

Thanks spacedock for informing me about this channel

[@dylanandrejic4902]

Oh my god! I love me some Frisian History! I never thought this day would come

[@Briselance]

I swear, "the battle was about to begin" is going to be this channel's signature-sentence.

[@robotslug]

Signed up for CuriosityStream, thanks for the free month, definitely going to use the hell out of it!