| Margravate of Flanders | ||||||
| "Graafschap Vlaanderen" | ||||||
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 In red: the Margravate of Flanders
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| Capital | Brugge, later Gent | |||||
| Languages | Flemish | |||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | |||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | |||||
| Margrave of Flanders | ||||||
| • | 862-879 | Baldwin I (first) | ||||
| • | 879-918 | Baldwin II (last) | ||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||
| • | Margravate of Flanders established | 862 | ||||
| • | Divided between the Spanish Netherlands and France | 1713 | ||||
The Margravate of Flanders was a historical region in the Low Countries.
It consisted of the two Belgian provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders, much of the present-day French département of the Nord (French Flanders), and the southern part of the Dutch province of Zeeland known as Zeelandic Flanders (Dutch Flanders). Its most important cities were Ghent (Gent), Bruges (Brugge), Tournai (Doornik), Kortrijk, Ypres (Ieper), Oudenaarde, Aalst, Lille (Rijsel), Cambrai (Kamerijk), Douai (Dowaai), Dunkirk (Duinkerke) and Valenciennes (Valencijn).
The territory of the historic country of Flanders is now divided between France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In parts of the Nord département of France, a minority speaks the French Flemish dialect of Dutch.
History
The Margravate of Flanders originated with Judith of Flanders, daughter of Charles the Bald, King of France. She married two successive English kings of Wessex; Æthelwulf, father of Alfred the Great, and his son Æthelbald. She later returned to Flanders and eloped with Baldwin Iron Arm. Her father disapproved at first, but Judith could not be induced to return. Charles relented and granted the region of Flanders, called pagus Flandrensis, to Judith and Baldwin, first as a "march county" or margraviate, and later as a simple county.[1]
The Margravate of Flanders was formally established as a feudal fief in the year 862 by Charles the Bald, king of Francia Occidentalis (Western Francia). It was one of the six original lays pairies of the French realm. The Count of Flanders acted as the swordbearer in the coronation ceremony of the Kings of France.
The original Flemish pagus expanded over time. To the north, it absorbed the lordship of The Four Amts and the Southern Isles of Zeeland; to the East the Burgraviate of Aalst; and to the South the County of Artois, a historical region in today's French département of Pas-de-Calais. Artois remained part of Flanders until it became a separate county in 1237. After that date, at various times, it came under the dominion of the count of Flanders as a separate title, until it was absorbed by the French crown.
References
Sources
- Gurney, Gene (1 February 1982). Kingdoms of Europe: an illustrated encyclopedia of ruling monarchs from ancient times to the present. Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-517-54395-5.