The Burgundian Circle (German: Burgundischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. It was created in 1512 during the Imperial Reforms of the Emperor Maximilian I. The original territories of the circle were Breda (centre of the House of Nassau in the Netherlands), the Counties of Hoorn, Bergen and Egmont, and the various Imperial lands of the Duchy of Burgundy. Most of the territories of the Circle were alienated from the rest of the Empire so at the Diet of Augsburg in 1548 the Circle was extracted from the upper rule of the Empire, but the territories continued to enjoy the protection of the Empire and to provide the equivalent of two armies of the electors for the general defence of the Empire, and as much as three during the Turkish Wars. That year the circle wa