History
Around 800, under Charlemagne, the Frankish Empire covered a great deal of Europe. In much of this empire an important unit of regional administration, corresponding roughly to a shire or county in England, was the gau (Frankish), or pagus (Latin). A comes or Count ruled over one or more gaue. Because of the low trade, the negative trade balance with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim states, and the disappearance of currency, the economy was more or less reduced to bartering. The king's vassals could only be rewarded by giving them land (beneficium, from the tenth century on feodum) and usufruct. From this the system of Feudalism developed. The vassals, who were generally appointed by the king, strove for a system of inheritance. This become more and more the rule, and in 877 it was legalised in the Capitulary of Quierzy.
Upon the death of a king, the Frankish kingdom was frequently divided among his heirs. This partible inheritance often caused internal struggle which made centralized government problematic. The Viking Raids further undermined centralized government. At the end of the reign of Emperor Louis the Pious, the royal power had weakened because of the flood of 838, but also because of infighting between the king's sons. After Louis died in 840, his son Emperor Lothair I, King of Middle Francia, rewarded the Danish brothers Rorik and Harald with Frisia - current day Friesland and Holland - in an attempt to resist the attacks of the Vikings.
Read more about this topic: County Of Holland
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