Seventeen Provinces

Seventeen Provinces
Personal union of Imperial fiefs
1549–1581
Flag Coat of arms
Map of the Seventeen Provinces, 1581 secession outlined in red
Capital		Brussels
Languages		Dutch, Low Saxon, Frisian, Walloon, Luxembourgish, French
Religion		Roman Catholic Protestant
Government		Monarchy
Historical era		Early modern period
•	Pragmatic Sanction of 1549	1549
•	Dutch Act of Abjuration	1581
Preceded by Succeeded by Habsburg Netherlands Dutch Republic Spanish Netherlands

The Seventeen Provinces was a term applied to the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 15th and 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e. the current Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, plus most of the modern French department of Nord including Artois, French Flanders, and French Hainaut. Also enclosed in this area were semi-independent fiefdoms, mainly ecclesiastical ones, such as Liège, Cambrai and Stavelot-Malmedy.

The Seventeen Provinces arose from the Burgundian Netherlands, a number of fiefs held by the House of Valois-Burgundy and inherited by the Habsburg dynasty in 1482, from 1556 held by Habsburg Spain. Since 1512 the Provinces formed the major part of the Burgundian Circle. In 1581 the Seven United Provinces seceded to form the Dutch Republic.

After the Habsburg emperor Charles V had re-acquired the Duchy of Guelders from Duke William of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by the 1543 Treaty of Venlo, the Seventeen Provinces comprised: