Breda

Breda stands where the Mark and Aa meet, its name recalling the broad Aa. The fortified town acquired a charter in 1252, and in 1403 Johanna of Polanen's marriage brought the lordship to the House of Nassau. Its new rulers made Breda a residence that attracted other nobles. The great Church of Our Lady rose in Brabantine Gothic style, while Henry III of Nassau rebuilt the castle as a Renaissance palace. A devastating fire destroyed most of the town in 1534, though the great church survived.

During the Dutch Revolt Breda repeatedly changed hands. Spanish troops seized it in 1581 and killed many inhabitants; in 1590 Maurice of Nassau's men entered concealed in a peat boat and retook it. After a long siege Spinola captured Breda for Spain in 1625, an event later painted by Velázquez. Frederick Henry of Orange recovered it in 1637, and the Peace of Münster confirmed it for the Dutch Republic in 1648. Breda also provided a refuge for the exiled Charles II of England. His Declaration of Breda in 1660 set out conditions on which he would accept the English crown. The town's Nassau residence and its contested fortress thus remained closely bound to the politics of both the Low Countries and Britain.