Emperor Charles V, heir to the Burgundian domains and King of Spain, expanded his territories in the Netherlands towards the Northeast. In 1524 Frisia came under his suzerainty. Charles took the lands of his Great-Uncle David of Burgundy, Prince Bishop of Utrecht upon his death in 1528, although the County of Drenthe, ruled by the Bishopric only recognized him in 1536. In that year the City of Groningen and dependencies, having tried out several suzerains, finally decided on Charles, and so a territory emerged that was known in hindsight as the Seventeen Netherlands. This term represents the lands under Habsburg suzerainty, roughly resembling the present Benelux or Low Countries. The only thing that unified them was their joint Suzerain, and the Estates-General, a joint meeting of deputies from the Estates of all the Provinces, that took place in Brussels from time to time. That institution had been founded by Philip the Good, as we have seen. Furthermore in 1549 Charles V reorganised his Seventeen Provinces by a Pragmatic Sanction that established them as united territories within the Holy Roman Empire of which the Habsburgs would be the ruling dynasty. The Seventeen Netherlands are coloured green on the map. The Cleves-Juliers dominions (still around at the time) from which Charles took the Duchy of Gueldres in 1543 have been depicted in light-blue. Purple is used for the ecclesiastical states within the Empire. The other German states are yellow-green. You will notice that the border of the Holy Roman Empire, depicted by the red line, has shifted to the West, to include the whole of Flanders and Artois. This was achieved by Charles V, who held the French King to ransom in 1521, thus achieving the very last addition to the Empire, to take place.
