Present Description

Due to the course of its tumultuous history, the County of Flanders' vast territory is now divided over three countries: Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Short history with bibliography

• General

  The County of Flanders has a very rich history, which was chiefly dictated by France's drive to dominate that rich area.

  Not only the French were interested in the wealth of the Flemish nation, but every occupant and ruler pilfered the land and it's people until in the 19th century it became one of the poorest in Europe.

  A small image gallery is accessible from the parishs page

• Contemporary history

  See the French Departements Nord, the Belgian provinces West-Flanders, East-Flanders and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the Dutch province Zeeland

• Ancien Régime

  • Austrian Era

  • Spanish Era

    • History of Flanders: the Spanish Netherlands

  • Burgundian Era

  • Hapsburg Era

  • Late Middle Ages

    The county was around 1500 divided in the following castellanies:

    • Quarter of the city of Bruges
      • Castellany of the Franc of Bruges
      • Castellany of Bergues (Sint-Winnoksbergen) (now France)
      • Castellany of Bourbourg (Burburg) (now France)
      • Castellany of Veurne (now partly France)
    • Quarter of the city of Ghent
      • Castellany of Oudburg of Ghent
      • Castellany of Land of Waas
      • Castellany of Aalst
      • Castellany of Courtrai (Kortrijk)
      • Castellany of Oudenaarde
      • Castellany of the Four Offices (Vier Ambachten) (now partly Netherlands)
      • Land of Dendermonde
    • Quarter of the city of Ypres
      • Castellany of Ypres (Ieper)
      • Castellany of Bailleul (Belle) (now France)
      • Castellany of Cassel (Kassel) (now France)
    • Walloon Flanders (now France)

      Armorial of Walloon Flanders (French - shows the Arms of the towns currently in France)

      • Castellany of Douai (now France)
      • Castellany of Lille (now France)
    • La Tournaisie
      The bishopry of Tournay was the bishop for the County of Flanders, and did have also temporal powers for a part of la Tournaisie. This territory was also very enclaved with parts of other castelannies of the County of Flanders and with parts of the County of Hainaut.
    Source: "Medieval Flanders", p. 446-447, by David Nicholas, 1992

  • Early Middle Ages

    • Chronics of the County of Flanders (866-1384) (French)
    • Genealogy of the Counts of Flanders (866-1384) (Table - French)
    • Polders en wateringen (in Dutch - covers the period from the 12th century until now

Sources

Repositories

Societies

Migration / Emigration / Immigration

Families and Family Histories

Sciences

• Cartography, Maps, and Plans

  • General

    • Map of the County of Flanders around 1700

  • Oriented towards France

    Modern map of the County of Flanders around 1302

  • Oriented towards Germany

  • Oriented towards the Low Countries

• Heraldry, Coats of Arms, and Seals

  Count of Flanders before 1127

  

  Count of Flanders Thierry of Alsace (and his successors) (1127-1384)

  

• Onomastics

  Surnames in the old Duchy of Limbourg (French)

• Chronology

  Timelines of History: Flanders

This web site is the collective work of the subscribers to the mail list BELGIUM-ROOTS-L founded June 1998 by Georges Picavet (see our members page and the copyrights page for more info) Q:\webbeta\rw_belgiumroots\bel\bel_ar\flanders\index.html (br_bel_ar) This Global file was last updated 18/01/2007 23:48:07 CET and uploaded Thursday, 18-Jan-2007 16:17:21 MST