A lordship in the very north of the province of North-Brabant, between the Dammed Maas, the Upper Merwede, the Biesbos and the Bergse Maas, its geographical centre between Rotterdam, 28 miles (46 km.) to the west, and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), 20 miles (32 km.) to the east. It had been a part of the Carolingian county of Teisterbant, which disintegrated in the early 11th century. Altena then became a fief of the counts of Cleves.