County of Loon (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles The County of Loon (Dutch: Graafschap Loon, French: Comte de Looz) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, lying west of the Meuse river in present-day Flemish-speaking Belgium, and east of the old Duchy of Brabant. The most important cities (bonnes villes) of the county were Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and Stokkem. Its territory corresponded closely to that of the current Belgian province of Limburg. Like other areas which eventually came under the power of the Prince Bishop of Liege, Loon did not become politically linked with the rest of Belgium until the French revolution, but these events also brought the county to an end. Under various new names it first became part of France, and then of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands ("Holland"), before finally joining the new kingdom of Belgium definitively in 1839, some 9 years after after the rest of Belgium had been become independent of Holland.