Abstract This article discusses the phenomenon of pied-piping in restrictive relative clauses in the Germanic languages Dutch, German, and English. Since it concerns possessive relatives primarily, an integrated approach to the syntax of relativization and attributive possession is sought for. Possessive relatives directly reflect the three basic types of attributive possession, namely, the prepositional, the genitive, and the possessive pronoun construction. It is claimed that the promotion theory of relative clauses can be successfully combined with an analysis of possession in which the prepositional construction is taken to be the basis for the other types. Furthermore, it is shown that heavy pied-piping is normally dependent on the presence of a prepositional phrase. In general, pied-piping is claimed to be a possible consequence of overt or covert head movement. Finally, the effect of the so-called R-transformation on pied-piping and preposition stranding in relative clauses is discussed. The different possibilities shown by English, Dutch, and German are argued to be consequences of the theoretical possibilities of creating a syntactic relation, namely, by XP movement, overt head movement, or covert movement.