Dutch was regarded as a dialect of German.

The most illustrious Netherlander of the time, Erasmus, in discussing his race, does not even contemplate the possibility of there being a nation composed of Dutch and Flemish men.

The only alternative that presents itself to him is whether he is French or German and, having been born at Rotterdam, he decides in favor of the latter.
{236} [Sidenote: Classes] The Burgundian princes found their chief support in the nobility, in a numerous class of officials, and in the municipal aristocracies.

The nobles, transformed from a feudal caste to a court clique, even though they retained, as satellites of the monarch, much wealth and power, had relatively lost ground to the rising pretensions of the cities and of the commercial class.

The clergy, too, were losing their old independence in subservience to a government which regulated their tithes and forbade their indulgence-trade.