Flanders

FLANDERS (Flem. Vlaanderen), a name originally applied only to Bruges and neighbourhood but in the 8th and 9th cen turies extended to the coast region from Calais to the Scheldt. In the middle ages this was divided into two parts, one looking to Bruges, the other to Ghent. The name is retained in the two Belgian provinces of West and East Flanders.

I. West Flanders borders the North Sea, and its coast extends from the French to the Dutch frontier for a little over 4o miles. Its capital is Bruges, and the principal towns are Ostend, Cour trai, Furnes, Thielt, Ypres and Roulers. There are fine market gardens and fishing employs a large coast population. There are 31 cantons and 252 communes. Area 1,263 sq. miles. Pop. (193o), 901,588.

2. East Flanders lies east and north-east of the western prov ince, and extends north to near Antwerp. It is more productive than West Flanders, and is well watered by the Scheldt. The district of Waes, entirely reclaimed within the memory of man, is said to be the most productive district of its size in Europe. The principal towns are Ghent (capital), St. Nicolas, Alost, Termonde, Eecloo and Oudenarde. There are 34 cantons and 297 communes. Area 1,172 sq. miles. Pop. (193o) 1,149,199. (X.) The ancient territory of Flanders comprised not only the mod ern provinces known as East and West Flanders, but the southern most portion of the Dutch province of Zeeland and a consider able district in north-eastern France. In the time of Caesar it was inhabited by the Morini, Atrebates and other Celtic tribes, but in the centuries that followed the land was repeatedly overrun by German invaders, and finally became a part of the dominion of the Franks. After the break-up of the Carolingian empire Flanders was attached to the West Frankish monarchy (France). It thus acquired a position unique among the provinces of the territory known in later times as the Netherlands, which were included in that northern part of Austrasia assigned on the death of the emperor Lothaire (8S5) to King Lothaire II., and from his name called Lotharingia or Lorraine.

The first ruler of Flanders of whom history has left any record is Baldwin, surnamed Bras-de-fer (Iron-arm), who married Judith, daughter of the emperor Charles the Bald and was cre ated by him margrave of Flanders. The Northmen were at this time continually devastating the coast lands, and Baldwin was entrusted with the defence of this outlying borderland of the west Frankish dominion. His son, Baldwin II., from his stronghold at Bruges, maintained, like his father, a vigorous defence of his lands against the incursions of the Northmen. On his mother's side a descendant of Charlemagne, he strengthened the dynastic impor tance of his family by marrying Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great. On his death in 918 his possessions were divided between his two sons Arnulf the Elder and Adalulf, but the latter survived only a short time and Arnulf succeeded to the whole inheritance. His reign was filled with warfare against the North men. In his old age he placed the government in the hands of Baldwin, his son by Adela, daughter of the count of Vermandois, and the young man in a short reign did much for the commercial and industrial progress of the country, setting up the first weavers and fullers at Ghent, and instituting yearly fairs at Ypres, Bruges and other places.

On Baldwin III.'s death in 961 the old count resumed control and spent the few remaining years of his life in securing the suc cession of his grandson Arnulf II., who died in 989. He was fol lowed by his son Baldwin IV., who fought successfully both against the Capetian king of France and the emperor Henry II. Henry found himself obliged to grant to Baldwin IV. in fief Valenciennes, the burgraveship of Ghent, the land of Waes and Zeeland. The count of Flanders thus became a feudatory of the empire as well as of the French crown. The French fiefs are known in Flemish history as Crown Flanders (Kroon-Vlaanderen), the German fiefs as Imperial Flanders (Rijks-Vlaanderen). His successor, Baldwin V. (1036-67), greatly extended his power. He obtained from the emperor Henry IV. the territory between the Scheldt and the Dender as an imperial fief, and the margravate of Antwerp. So powerful had he become that on the decease of Henry I. of France in 106o he was appointed regent during the minority of Philip I. (see FRANCE). Before his death he saw his eldest daughter Matilda (d. 1083) sharing the English throne with William the Conqueror, his eldest son Baldwin of Mons in possession of Hainaut in right of his wife Richilde, heiress of Regnier V. (d. 1036) (see HAINAUT), and his second son, Robert the Frisian, regent (voogd) of the county of Holland during the minority of Dirk V., whose mother Robert had married (see HOLLAND). On his death in 1067 his son Baldwin of Mons, already count of Hainaut, succeeded to the countship of Flanders. Bald win V. had granted to Robert the Frisian on his marriage in 1063 his imperial fiefs. His right to these was disputed by Baldwin VI., and war broke out between the two brothers. Baldwin was killed in battle in 107o. Robert now claimed the tutelage of Bald win's children and obtained the support of the emperor Henry IV., while Richilde, Baldwin's widow, appealed to Philip I. of France. The contest was decided at Bavenshoven, near Cassel, on Feb. 20, 1071, where Robert was victorious. Richilde was taken prisoner and her eldest son Arnulf III. was slain. Robert obtained from Philip I. the investiture of Crown Flanders, and from Henry IV. the fiefs which formed Imperial Flanders.

The second son of Richilde was recognized as count of Hainaut (see HAINAUT), which was thus after a brief union separated from Flanders. Robert died in 1093, and was succeeded by his son Robert II., who acquired great renown by his exploits in the first crusade. He returned to Flanders in 11 oo, fought with his suzerain Louis VI. of France against the English, and was drowned in 1111. His son and successor, Baldwin VII., died at the age of 27 from the wound of an arrow, in 1119, leaving no heir. He nominated as his successor his cousin Charles, son of Knut II. of Denmark and of Adela, daughter of Robert the Frisian. Charles tried his utmost to put down oppression and to promote the welfare of his subjects, and obtained the surname of "the Good." His deter mination to enforce the right made him many enemies, and he was foully murdered on Ash Wednesday, 1127, at Bruges. He died childless, and there were no less than six candidates to the count ship. The contest lay between two of these, William Clito, son of Robert of Normandy and grandson of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, and Thierry or Dirk of Alsace, whose mother Gertrude was a daughter of Robert the Frisian. William was killed before Alost, and Thierry then became count without further opposition. He married the widow of Charles the Good and proved himself at home a wise and prudent prince, encour aging the growth of popular liberty and of commerce. In 1146 he took part in the second crusade; in 1157 he resigned the count ship to his son Philip of Alsace and betook himself once more to Jerusalem. On his return from the East 20 years later Thierry retired to a monastery to die in his own land.

Count Philip of Alsace did much to promote the growth of the municipalities for which Flanders was already becoming famous. Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, Lille and Douai under him made much progress as flourishing industrial towns. He also conferred rights and privileges on a number of ports, Hulst, Nieuwport, Sluis, Dunkirk, Axel, Damme, Gravelines and others. But while encour aging the development of the communes and "free towns," Philip sternly repressed any spirit of independence. He acted for a time as regent in France during the minority of his godson, Philip Augustus, whom he married to his niece Isabella of Hainaut (118o) . Philip took part in the third crusade and died in the camp before Acre in 1191.

Union with Hainaut.

As he had no children the succession passed to Baldwin of Hainaut, who had married Philip's sister Margaret. The countships of Flanders and Hainaut were thus united under the same ruler. Baldwin did not obtain possession of Flanders without strong opposition on the part of the French king, and he was obliged to cede Artois, St. Omer, Lens, Hesdin and a great part of southern Flanders to France, and to allow Matilda of Portugal, the widow of Philip of Alsace, to retain cer tain towns in right of her dowry. Margaret died in 1194 and Baldwin in the following year, and their eldest son Baldwin IX. succeeded to both countships. Baldwin IX. is famous in history as the founder of the Latin empire at Constantinople. He per ished in Bulgaria in 1206. His two daughters were both under age, and the government was carried on by their uncle, Philip, marquess of Namur, whom Baldwin had appointed regent on his departure to Constantinople. Philip allowed his nieces to fall into the hands of Philip Augustus, who married the elder sister, Johanna of Constantinople, to his nephew Ferdinand of Portugal. The Flemings were averse to the French king's supremacy, and Ferdinand, who acted as governor in the name of his wife, joined himself to the confederacy formed by Germany, England and the leading States of the Netherlands against Philip Augustus. Ferdi nand was, however, taken prisoner at the disastrous battle of Bouvines (121 4) and was kept for 12 years a prisoner in the Louvre. The countess Johanna ruled the united countships with prudence and courage until her death, without heir, in 1244. She was succeeded by her younger sister Margaret who died at the age of 8o in 1280, when her grandson, John II. of Avesnes, became count of Hainaut; Guy of Dampierre, her second son by her second marriage, became count of Flanders.

The government of Guy of Dampierre was unfortunate. It was the interest of the Flemish weavers to be on good terms with England, the wool-producing country, and Guy entered into an alliance with Edward I. against France. This led to an invasion and conquest of Flanders by Philip the Fair. Guy with his sons and the leading Flemish nobles were taken prisoners to Paris, and Flanders was ruled as a French dependency. But though in the principal towns, Ghent, Bruges and Ypres, there was a power ful French faction, the arbitrary rule of the French governor and officials stirred up the mass of the Flemish people to rebellion. The anti-French partisans were strongest at Bruges, where the French garrison was massacred (May 19, 1302), and on the fol lowing July 11 a French army of invasion was utterly defeated near Courtrai. Peace was concluded in 1305 but, owing to Guy of Dampierre and the leading Flemish nobles being in the hands of the French king, on terms very disadvantageous to Flanders. Very shortly afterwards the aged count Guy died. Robert of Bethune, his son and successor, had continual difficulties with France during the whole of his reign, the Flemings offering a stubborn resistance to all attempts to destroy their independence. Robert was succeeded in 1322 by his grandson Louis of Nevers, who had been brought up at the French court and had married Margaret of France. His sympathies were entirely French, and he made use of French help in his contests with the communes.

Under Louis of Nevers Flanders was practically reduced to the status of a French province. The latter part of his reign was remarkable for the successful revolt of the Flemish communes under Jacob van Artevelde (q.v.). Louis of Nevers fell at the battle of Crecy (1346), and was succeeded by his son Louis II. of Male. The reign of this count was one long struggle with the communes, headed by the towns of Ghent, for political supremacy. Louis was as strong in his French sympathies as his father, and relied upon French help in enforcing his will upon his refractory subjects. Had the great towns with their organized gilds and great wealth held together in their opposition to the count's des potism they would have proved successful; but Ghent and Bruges, always keen rivals, broke out into open feud. The power of Ghent reached its height under Philip van Artevelde (q.v.) in 1382. He defeated Louis, took Bruges and was made ruward of Flanders, but on Nov. 27, 1382, he suffered a crushing defeat from a large French army at Roosebeke and was slain. Louis of Male died two years later, leaving an only daughter Margaret, who had married in 1369 Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy.

Subjection to Burgundy.—The history of Flanders as a separate State ceases from the time of the acquisition of the countship by the Burgundian dynasty (see BURGUNDY; NETHER LANDS) . There were revolts from time to time of great towns against the exactions even of these powerful princes, but they were in vain. The conquest and humiliation of Bruges by Philip the Good in 1440, and the even more relentless punishment in flicted on rebellious Ghent by the emperor Charles V. exactly a century later are the most remarkable incidents in the long-con tinued but vain struggle of the Flemish communes to maintain and assert their privileges. The Burgundian dukes and their succes sors of the house of Habsburg were fully alive to the value to them of Flanders and its rich commercial cities. It was Flanders that furnished to them no small part of their resources, but for this very reason, while fostering the development of Flemish in dustry and trade, they were the more determined to brook no opposition which sought to place restrictions upon their authority. The effect of the revolt of the Netherlands and the War of Dutch Independence which followed was ruinous to Flanders. Albert and Isabel on their accession to the sovereignty of the southern Netherlands in 1599 found "the great cities of Flanders and Brabant had been abandoned by a large part of their inhabi tants; agriculture hardly in a less degree than commerce and industry had been ruined." In 1633, with the death of Isabel, Flanders was restored to Spanish rule. Under the Treaty of Munster the north-western portion of Flanders, since known as States (or Dutch) Flanders, was ceded by Philip IV. to the United Provinces (1648) . By a succession of later treaties—of the Pyrenees (1659), Aix-la-Chapelle (i668), Nijmwegen (1679) and others—a large slice of the southern portion of the old county of Flanders became French territory and was known as French Flanders.

From 1795 to 1814 Flanders, with the rest of the Belgic prov inces, was incorporated in France, and was divided into two departments—departesnent de l'Escaut and departement de la Lys. This division has since been retained, and is represented by the two provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders in the modern kingdom of Belgium. The title of count of Flanders was revived by Leopold I. in 1840 in favour of his second son, Philip Eugene Ferdinand (d. 1905). (G. E.)