Post by greaden on Oct 23, 2020 18:21:11 GMT
What is a Netherlands stamp doing in a German States thread?
It is postmarked Heerlen, which is a town that, from 1839-1867, was in the Duchy of Limburg. Limburg was a member-state of the German Confederation.
When Belgium became independent, it got a piece of Luxembourg which was then a German state. In compensation, the German Confederation got a sliver of the Netherlands with approximately the same population as the lost bit of Luxembourg, basically Limburg minus the towns of Maastricht and Venlo. This new Duchy of Limburg, not to be confused with its predecessors, remained a part of the Netherlands for all practical purposes, even though it was formally a German state.
Just as the Danish king's role as duke of Holstein and Lauenburg gave him a seat in the Confederation's Diet, so also the King of the Netherlands in his capacity as Duke of Limburg and Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
Heerlen and Roermond were the most significant towns in this entity.
