Flanders (county)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article deals with the historical county of Flanders; for present-day Flanders see Flanders
The former county of Flanders consists not only of the two Belgian provinces of East-Flanders and West-Flanders but also the present-day French département of Nord, in parts of which there is still a Flemish-speaking minority, and the southern part of the Dutch province of Zeeland known as Zeeuws-Vlaanderen ("Sealandic Flanders").
The county was one of the six original lay pairies of the French realm. The Artois area of today's French département of Pas-de-Calais was also part of it until it became a separate county in 1237. After that date, Artois at various times still came under the dominion of the count of Flanders as a separate title.
Thus defined, Flanders covers a total area of 12,500 km² with 5.2 million inhabitants since 2004, or 16,500 km² with 6.2 million inhabitants if Artois is included. During the later Middle Ages its trading towns (notably Ghent (Gent), Bruges (Brugge) and Ypres (Ieper) made it one of the most urbanised parts of Europe, weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for domestic use and export.
Created in the year 862, the county of Flanders was divided when its western districts fell under French rule in the late 12th century. The remaining parts of Flanders came under the rule of the Counts of neighbouring Hainaut in 1191.
Increasingly powerful from the 12th century, the territory's autonomous urban communes were instrumental in defeating a French attempt at annexation (1300-1302), finally defeating the French in the Battle of the Golden Spurs (July 11, 1302), near Kortrijk. Flemish prosperity waned in the following century, however, owing to widespread European population decline following the Black Death of 1348, the disruption of trade during the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (1338-1453), and increased English cloth production. Flemish weavers had gone over to Worstead and North Walsham in Norfolk in the 12th century and established the wool industry.
Marriages led to a union with neighbouring provinces (Seventeen Provinces) and the entire area passed in 1384 to the dukes of Burgundy (see Burgundian Netherlands). In 1477, the territories fell to the Habsburg dynasty and after 1556 belonged to the Kings of Spain (see Southern Netherlands).
Due to the expansive policies of Louis XIV of France, the western districts of Flanders came finally under French rule under successive treaties of 1659 (Artois), 1668 and 1678. These districts became one of the provinces of France and eventually the Nord département.
In 1715 the remaining territory of the Southern Netherlands passed to Austria. In 1794 it was conquered by France, but after the defeat of Napoleon passed to the Netherlands. In 1830 it became (a part of) Belgium.
