Glorious past
The lord of Heusden was for a long time a small but independent lord, whose territory was sandwiched between the county of Holland, the duchy of Brabant and the county (later duchy) of Gelre. These powerful neighbors were eager to add town and country of Heusden to their own territories, not only because of its strategic location at a medieval tri-border point, but certainly also because of the toll that had to be paid at Heusden by passing boatmen. Initially the lord of Heusden managed to play the surrounding princes off against each other skilfully, but in the first half of the fourteenth century he fell more and more under the influence of the duke of Brabant. This suddenly changed in 1357, when the Dutch count succeeded in taking control of Heusden and the surrounding area. For centuries, Heusden remained a Dutch town until this region became part of the province of North Brabant in 1815.
