Breda

Gemeente (commune), Noord-Brabant provincie, southwestern Netherlands, at the confluence of the Mark (Merk) and Aa rivers. It was a direct fief of the duchy of Brabant; its earliest known lord was Godfrey I (1125 - 70), in whose family it continued until it was sold to Brabant in 1327. Chartered in 1252, it passed to the house of Nassau in 1404 and, ultimately, to William I of Orange (1533 - 84). Fortified (1531 - 36) by Count Henry