About the middle of the ninth century, Baldwin, a Fleming of great power, who had defended the coast against the Normans, carried off Judith, daughter of the French king, Charles the Bald. Much against his will, Charles was obliged to give his consent to the marriage, and settled upon Baldwin all the land between the Scheldt and the Somme. Baldwin, named _Bras-de-fer_ (of the Iron Arm), was thus the first Count of Flanders. Some authorities consider this the oldest hereditary title of nobility in Europe. It is borne today by the second son of the King. Other powerful vassals of this period were the counts of Louvain and Namur. Still mightier was the Bishop of Liège, who felt himself so strong that he even made an attempt--unsuccessful, however--to seize the domain of the Count of Louvain. Under Baldwin II, son of _Bras-de-fer_, who married the daughter of Alfred the Great of England, the cities of Bruges, Ghent, Courtrai and Ypres were fortified, and thus insured the opportunity of becoming the great mediæval centers of freedom and progress. After cloth weaving was begun, the first markets were opened at Ghent, Courtrai and Bruges. The word _kermesse_, the Belgian name for fair or fête, is linked in an interesting way with these markets of the Middle Ages. They were called _kerk_ (church) _messe_ (market), because held around the church or cathedral, and only the inconvenient letter _k_ needed to be dropped out to give the word _kermesse_. At first sight, the history of the Netherlands from about the tenth century down to the nineteenth appears a confused and confusing story of wars and uprisings, of conspiracies and persecutions--count against bishop, city against city, nobles and even, in one instance, a king, against the Emperor. But if we look more closely, we discern, three great forces at work through all the turmoil. These were feudalism, the Crusades, and the rise of the towns, or _communes_. A fourth influence, the power of the Church, was closely associated with these, sometimes as a direct impelling force, sometimes as a guiding or restraining hand, and again battling for its own temporal power with little more regard for the well-being of the masses than was manifested by the lay barons themselves. [Illustration: COMTE DE FLANDRE, SECOND SON OF KING ALBERT.]