County of Flanders

County of Flanders
Graafschap Vlaanderen (Dutch)
Groafschap Vloandern (West Flemish)
Comté de Flandre (French)
Comté d'Flande (Picard)
Comitatus Flandriae (Latin)
862–1384/1797
County of Flanders, 1350, in relation to the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire. The county was located where the border between France and the Holy Roman Empire met the North Sea.
County of Flanders, 1350, in relation to the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire. The county was located where the border between France and the Holy Roman Empire met the North Sea.
StatusFrench and Imperial fiefdom
CapitalBruges, later Ghent and Lille
Common languages
Religion
GovernmentFeudal monarchy
Count of Flanders 
• 862–879
Baldwin I
• 1792–1797
Francis II
Historical eraMiddle Ages/Early modern period
• Fief granted to Count Baldwin I
862
• Annexed by France
1797
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Magraviate of Ename
Gallia Belgica
Burgundian Netherlands
Dutch Republic
Kingdom of France
Escaut (department)
Lys (department)
Austrian Netherlands
United Belgian States
Flanders
Belgium
Today part of
History of the Low Countries (schematic)
Further information: Lists of rulers in the Low Countries
Frisii Germanic tribes Belgae & Celts
Frisii Cana–
nefates		 Chamavi,
Tubantes		 Gallia Belgica (55 BC–c. 5th century AD)
Germania Inferior (83–c. 5th century)
Salian Franks Batavi
unpopulated (4th –c. 5th centuries) Saxons Salian Franks (4th–c. 5th centuries)
Frisian Kingdom (c. 6th century – 734) Frankish Kingdom (481–843)—Carolingian Empire (800–843)
Austrasia (511–687)
Middle Francia (843–855) West
Francia (from 843)		 Middle Francia (843–855)
Kingdom of
Lotharingia (855–959)
Duchy of
Lower Lorraine (from 959)		 Kingdom of
Lotharingia (855–959)
Duchy of
Lower Lorraine (from 959)		 Kingdom of
Lotharingia (855–959)
Duchy of
Lower Lorraine (from 959)
Frisia
County of
Flanders (862–1384)

Frisian
Freedom (11th–16th
centuries)
County of
Holland (880–1432)
Bishopric of
Utrecht (695–1456)
Duchy of
Brabant (1183–1430)

Duchy of
Guelders (1046–1543)
County of
Hainaut (1071–1432)

County of
Namur (981–1421)
Prince-
Bishopric of
Liège
(980–1791)
Duchy of
Luxembourg (1059–1443)

Burgundian Netherlands (1384–1482)
Burgundian Netherlands (1384–1482)

Habsburg Netherlands (1482–1795)
(Seventeen Provinces after 1543)
Habsburg Netherlands (1482–1795)
(Seventeen Provinces after 1543)

Dutch Republic (1581–1795)
Spanish Netherlands (1556–1714)
Spanish Netherlands (1556–1714)

Austrian Netherlands (1714–1795)
Austrian Netherlands (1714–1795)

United States of
Belgium (1790)
Republic of
Liège (1789–'91)
United States of
Belgium (1790)

Austrian Netherlands (1795–1797)
P.-Bish.
of Liège (1791–1794)
Austrian Netherlands (1795–1797)

Batavian Republic (1795–1806)
Kingdom of Holland (1806–1810)
associated with French First Republic (1795–1804)
part of First French Empire (1804–1815)

part of First French Empire (1810–1813)

Sovereign Principality of the
Netherlands (1813–1815)
United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1830)
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (from 1815)

Kingdom of the Netherlands (from 1839)
Kingdom of Belgium (from 1830)

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (from 1890)

The County of Flanders was one of the most powerful political entities in the medieval Low Countries, located on the North Sea coast of modern-day Belgium and north-eastern France. Unlike the neighbouring states of Brabant and Hainaut, it was within the territory of the Kingdom of France. The counts of Flanders held the northernmost part of the kingdom, and were among the original twelve peers of France. For centuries, the economic activity of the Flemish cities, such as Ghent, Bruges, Ypres and Lille, made Flanders one of the most affluent regions in Europe, and also gave them strong international connections to trading partners.

Up to 1477, the core area under French suzerainty was west of the Scheldt. Historians call this area "Royal Flanders" (Dutch: Kroon-Vlaanderen, French: Flandre royale). Aside from this, the counts, from the 11th century onward, held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, and this is referred to as "Imperial Flanders" (Rijks-Vlaanderen or Flandre impériale). From 1384, the county was politically united to the Duchy of Burgundy, and it formed the starting point for more acquisitions in the area by the duchy, and the eventual creation of the Burgundian Netherlands. The expansion of Flemish ("Burgundian") power deep into the Holy Roman Empire further complicated the relationship between Flanders and France, but reinforced the connections with Brabant, Hainaut, Holland and other parts of the Low Countries. The link to the empire was strengthened even more when the Burgundian Netherlands came into the hands of the imperial Habsburg dynasty in 1477. Most of Flanders became part of the empire after the Peace of Madrid in 1526 and the Peace of the Ladies in 1529, although it came to be ruled under the Habsburg crown of Spain. Most of the old county's territory lies outside of present-day France, one of only two parts of medieval France that are no longer part of the country; the other being Catalonia, renounced in 1258.

By 1795, the entire Austrian Netherlands, the successor of the Spanish Netherlands, was acquired by France under the French First Republic, and this was recognized by treaty in 1797. After the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, these territories, including most of the old county of Flanders, passed to the newly established United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was split up between 1830 and 1839 into the modern countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Although the French Republic had avoided using the names of the great medieval counties for their administrative départements, the Dutch and Belgian regimes brought back such names, and as a consequence the two westernmost provinces of the Flanders region of modern Belgium are now called West Flanders and East Flanders.

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