The Estates General of 1464 was a parliamentary assembly of representatives of the constituent territories of the

Burgundian Netherlands In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands (french: Pays-Bas bourguignons, nl, Bourgondische Nederlanden, lb, Burgundeschen Nidderlanden, wa, Bas Payis borguignons) or the Burgundian Age is the period between 1384 and ...

(now parts of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

). It was the first such assembly.

Convocation

Each of the territories represented already had parliamentary institutions ( provincial estates) of its own. The convocation of a meeting of representatives of all of these territories was the initiative of the States of Flanders (between 20 and 24 December), followed by Philip the Good (on 25 December), and his son

Charles the Bold Charles I (Charles Martin; german: Karl Martin; nl, Karel Maarten; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), nicknamed the Bold (German: ''der Kühne''; Dutch: ''de Stoute''; french: le Téméraire), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ...

(on 26 December). Although in first instance reacting to the initiative of the States of Flanders, Duke Philip and his son were quick to adopt the convocation of the Estates General in support of their policy of centralizing their rule over their various territories.

Composition

The precise composition of the Estates General of 1464 is unknown. A total of at least 81 delegates attended from the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Neth ...

, the

County of Flanders The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Yp ...

(with a distinct delegation from Lille, Douai and Orchies), the

County of Artois The County of Artois (, ) was a historic province of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659. Present Artois lies in northern France, on the border ...

, the County of Hainaut, the

County of Holland The County of Holland was a State of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1433 part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic, of which it remained a par ...

, the

County of Namur Namur ( nl, Namen) was a county of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, a region in northwestern Europe. Its territories largely correspond with the present-day Belgian arrondissement Namur plus the northwestern par ...

, the

Lordship of Mechelen The Lordship of Mechelen was until 1795 a small authonomous Lordship in the Low Countries, consisting of the city of Mechelen and some surrounding villages. In the early Middle Ages, it was part of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, which was con ...

, the

County of Boulogne The County of Boulogne was a county within the Kingdom of France during the 9th to 15th centuries, centred on the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer. It was ruled by the counts of Flanders in the 10th century, but a separate House of Boulogne emerged duri ...

, and the

County of Zeeland The County of Zeeland ( nl, Graafschap Zeeland) was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries. It covered an area in the Scheldt and Meuse delta roughly corresponding to the modern Dutch province of Zeeland. The County of Zeeland d ...

.J. Gilissen, "Les Etats Généraux des Pays de par deçà (1464-1632)", ''Standen en Landen'', 33 (1965), p. 287.

References

{{Authority control Historical legislatures in Belgium States General of the Netherlands 1460s in the Burgundian Netherlands 1460s in France 1460s in the Holy Roman Empire 1464 in Europe