Habsburg Netherlands

Habsburg Netherlands
Personal union of Imperial fiefs
1482–1581
Flag Coat of arms
Habsburg Netherlands (orange) in 1548, with the ecclesiastical enclaves of Liège (purple) and Stavelot-Malmedy (pink)
Capital		Brussels
Languages		Dutch, Low Saxon, Frisian, Walloon, Luxembourgish, French
Religion		Roman Catholic Protestant
Government		Monarchy
Historical era		Early modern period
•	Inherited by House of Habsburg	1482
•	Incorporated into Burgundian Circle	1512
•	Part of Habsburg Monarchy	1526
•	Pragmatic Sanction	1549
•	to Habsburg Spain	1556
•	Eighty Year's War	1568–1648
•	Dutch Act of Abjuration	1581
•	Southern Netherlands annexed by French First Republic	1795
Preceded by Succeeded by Burgundian Netherlands Episcopal principality of Utrecht Dutch Republic Spanish Netherlands

Habsburg Netherlands is the collective name of Holy Roman Empire fiefs in the Low Countries held by the House of Habsburg and later by the Spanish Empire, also known as the Spanish Netherlands. The rule began in 1482, when after the death of the Valois-Burgundy duke Charles the Bold the Burgundian Netherlands fell to the Habsburg dynasty by the marriage of Charles's daughter Mary of Burgundy to Archduke Maximilian I of Austria.

Then known as Seventeen Provinces, they were held by the Spanish Empire from 1556, and are therefore also known as the Spanish Netherlands from that time on. In 1581, the Seven United Provinces seceded to form the Dutch Republic; the remaining Spanish Southern Netherlands eventually passed on to Habsburg Austria. Finally the Austrian Netherlands were annexed by the French First Republic in 1795.

The Habsburg Netherlands was a geo-political entity covering the whole of the Low Countries (i.e. the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and French Nord-Pas-de-Calais) from 1482 to 1581.

Already under the rule of the Burgundian duke Philip the Good (1419–1467), the provinces of the Netherlands began to grow together: Flanders, Artois and Mechelen, Namur, Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut, Brabant, Limburg and Luxembourg were ruled in personal union by the Valois-Burgundy monarchs and represented in the States-General assembly. The centre of the Burgundian possessions was the Duchy of Brabant, where the Burgundian dukes held court in Brussels.