Margravate, later County of Flanders | ||||||||||
Graafschap Vlaanderen (nl)
Comté de Flandre (fr) |
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French fiefdom | ||||||||||
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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.
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Capital | Bruges, later Ghent and Lille | |||||||||
Languages | Old Frisian, Old Dutch, Middle Dutch, Dutch, Flemish, Old French, Middle French, Picard | |||||||||
Religion |
Roman Catholic Protestant |
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Government | Feudal monarchy | |||||||||
Count of Flanders | ||||||||||
• | 918–958/962–965 | Arnulf I | ||||||||
• | 1405–1419 | John the Fearless | ||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
• | Fief granted to Count Baldwin I | 862 | ||||||||
• | Acquired by Duke Philip the Bold | 1384 | ||||||||
• | Merged with the Duchy of Burgundy to become Burgundian Netherlands | 1405 | ||||||||
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Comté de Flandre (fr)
The County of Flanders (Dutch: Graafschap Vlaanderen, French: Comté de Flandre) was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards the Counts of Flanders were one of the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres formed one of the most affluent regions in Europe.
Up to 1477, the area under French suzerainty was located west of the Scheldt River and was called "Royal Flanders" (Dutch: Kroon-Vlaanderen, French: Flandre royale). Aside from this the Counts of Flanders from the 11th century on also held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, an area called "Imperial Flanders" (Rijks-Vlaanderen or Flandre impériale). Part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1384, the county was finally removed from French to Imperial control after the Peace of Madrid in 1526 and the Peace of Ladies in 1529.
In 1795 the remaining territory within the Austrian Netherlands was incorporated by the French First Republic and passed to the newly established United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. The former County of Flanders, except for French Flanders, is the only part of the medieval French kingdom that is not part of modern-day France.