This article is about the historical county of Flanders. For the present-day state of Flanders, see Flanders. For other uses, see Flanders (disambiguation).
Coat of arms of the counts of Flanders (or a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules).
The County of Flanders was a historical region in the Low Countries.
The county of Flanders originates with Judith, daughter of the King of FranceCharles the Bald. She married twice to English kings but returned and eloped with Baldwin Iron Arm. Charles disapproved at first, but Judith could not be induced to return. So Charles relented and granted the region of Flanders, called pagus flandrensis to the two of them. At first as a march county or margraviate, later as simple county.
The county of Flanders was formally established as a feudalfief in the year 862 by Charles the Bald, king of francia occidentalis. It was one of the six original lay pairies of the French realm, the kingdom of Western Francia. The count of Flanders being the swordbearer in the coronation ceremony of the kings of France.
The original flemish pagus was expanded throughout the years, to the North, with the lordship of The Four Amts and the Southern isles of Zeeland, to the East with the burgraviate of Aalst and to the South with the county of Artois, a historical region in today's French département of Pas-de-Calais. It remained part of Flanders until it became a separate county in 1237. After that date, the county of Artois at various times still came under the dominion of the count of Flanders as a separate title, until it was absorbed by the French crown.
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.
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 shortly 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.
The Low Countries held an important place in the Empire. For Charles personally, they were the region where he spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the rich cities, they were also important for the treasury. Lordship transferred to the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg with Philip II of Spain, and after 1556 belonged to the Kings of Spain.
Map of the county of Flanders, 1609
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 Norddépartement.
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