City rights in the Low CountriesCity rights are a feature of the medieval history of the Low Countries. A liege lord, usually a count, duke or similar member of the high nobility, granted to a town or village he owned certain town privileges that places without city rights did not have. In Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, a town, often proudly, calls itself a city if it obtained a complete package of city rights at some point in its history. Its current population is not relevant, so there are some very small cities.
EindhovenEindhoven (ˈɛintˌɦoːvə(n)) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest and is also located in the Dutch part of the natural region the Campine. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022, it is the fifth-largest city of the Netherlands and the largest outside the Randstad conurbation. Eindhoven was originally located at the confluence of the Dommel and Gender. A municipality since the 13th century, Eindhoven witnessed rapid growth starting in the 1900s by textile and tobacco industries.
HollandHolland is a geographical region and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th century, Holland proper was a unified political region within the Holy Roman Empire as a county ruled by the counts of Holland. By the 17th century, the province of Holland had risen to become a maritime and economic power, dominating the other provinces of the newly independent Dutch Republic.
MaastrichtMaastricht (ˈmɑːstrɪxt , USalsomɑːˈstrɪxt , maːˈstrɪxt; Mestreech məˈstʀeːç; Maestricht ; Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the Meuse (Maas), at the point where the Jeker joins it. Mount Saint Peter (Sint-Pietersberg) is largely situated within the city's municipal borders. Maastricht is adjacent to the border with Belgium and is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, an international metropolis with a population of about 3.
UtrechtUtrecht (ˈjuːtrɛkt , ˈytrɛxt, Utrecht dialect: Utreg ˈytʁɛχ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Netherlands. It has a population of 361,699 as of . Utrecht's ancient city centre features many buildings and structures, several dating as far back as the High Middle Ages. It has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century.