Flanders

Flanders (French, Flandre; Flemish, Vlaanderen), historic principality of northern Europe that is now an extensive region embracing the provinces of East and West Flanders in Belgium, the southern portion of Zeeland Province in the Netherlands, and the Nord Department in France. Cities in Flanders began to prosper and grow with the development of an internationally successful cloth industry in the 13th century, helping a distinct Flemish culture to emerge. The painting, literature, and architecture of the region elevated it to a leading position in European civilization. Politically, however, the strategic location and small size of Flanders has meant that control of the region has changed hands many times in its history.

Flanders was inhabited by Celts in the 1st century bc and conquered by Germanic tribes in the next several hundred years, finally becoming a part of the empire established by Charlemagne in the 9th century ad. Around 862 Baldwin I, son-in-law of the Carolingian emperor Charles the Bald (later Charles II, Holy Roman Emperor), was created the first count of Flanders. Under Baldwin I and Baldwin II, Flanders was secured against the incursion of the Vikings. In the early part of the 10th century, Baldwin III laid the basis for the industrial and commercial greatness of the region by establishing the wool and silk industries at Ghent and instituting annual fairs at Bruges, Ypres, and other towns.

In the 11th century, Flanders became a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of the French crown. During the rule of Count Baldwin V, the territory between the Schelde and Dender rivers and the margravate of Antwerp were added to Flanders. By the middle of the 11th century, Flanders had acquired power equivalent to that of a kingdom, and its rulers wielded considerable influence in the political affairs of western Europe.

Between 1191 and 1280, Flanders and the neighbouring region of Hainaut were ruled as a united province. In 1280, following the death of Margaret of Flanders, the union was dissolved. Margaret's son Guy de Dampierre succeeded to the countship of Flanders, and her grandson John II of Avesnes became count of Hainaut. In the early 14th century Flanders was invaded and subjugated by King Philip IV of France. Although the countship was acknowledged nominally, France became the real ruler of Flanders. In 1369 Burgundy acquired Flanders through the marriage of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, to Margaret of Flanders, daughter of Louis II, count of Flanders. The history of Flanders as an independent state ceased that year. In 1477 Flanders passed to the House of Habsburg.

In the last years of the 16th century, Flanders was devastated in the uprising against the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs. In the first half of the 17th century, the north-west portion of Flanders, called Dutch Flanders, was ceded by Spain to the United Provinces of the Netherlands. France acquired the portion known as French Flanders by a succession of treaties in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. By the Treaty of Rastatt and Baden in 1714, which supplemented the Peace of Utrecht, what remained of the Spanish Netherlands passed to the Habsburgs of Austria. In the Napoleonic period from 1795 to 1814, Flanders was incorporated into the French Empire. In 1815 the Congress of Vienna united Flanders with Belgium and Holland to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1830 Belgium won its independence and retained what is now East and West Flanders.