The Manifesto of the Province of Flanders (1790 Dutch: ''Manifest van de Provintie van Vlaenderen''; modern Dutch: ''Manifest van de Provincie Vlaanderen'') was the

declaration of independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

of 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 ...

on 4 January 1790, during the Brabantine Revolution. On this day, the

States of Flanders The States of Flanders were a representative institution in the medieval and early modern County of Flanders. Initially it consisted only of the Third Estate, with representatives of the three cities of Bruges, Ghent and Ypres. Around 1350 the rura ...

"solemnly declare in the name of the People, the province of Flanders to be an independent State, and definitively withdrawn from its loyalty and obedience to

emperor Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

, count of Flanders, and from the

House of Austria The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

." The States also declared "all officials, lieges and other servants, whoever they may be, free and absolved from all concluded and indebted contracts, and discharged from every oath done to the fallen count of Flanders." Resistance against the reign of Joseph II in the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The pe ...

, which worsened in 1786–87 when a number of States refused to pay their taxes (''beden'') and the '' landvoogden'' reversed all reform decrees on their own authority, escalated to open rebellion in the course of 1789, heavily influenced by the simultaneous

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

and

Liège Revolution The Liège Revolution, sometimes known as the Happy Revolution (french: Heureuse Révolution; wa, Binamêye revolucion), against the reigning prince-bishop of Liège, started on 18 August 1789 and lasted until the destruction of the Republic ...

which had commenced a few months earlier. On 24 October 1789, Hendrik van der Noot had already proclaimed the independence of 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 ...

by the '' Manifesto of the People of Brabant'', abjuring Joseph II as the

duke of Brabant The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven (who was duke of Low ...

., ''De Lage Landen 1780-1980. Twee eeuwen Nederland en België. Deel I: 1780–1914'' (2005) p. 59. Amsterdam/Antwerp: Olympus (part of Atlas Contact). From Breda in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

, a small army of patriots first conquered Brabant, next Flanders, Hainaut, Tournai and the Tournaisis, Namur and the rest of the

Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...

except

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 ...

, finally taking Brussels in December. The manifesto elaborates why the Habsburg princes had not fulfilled their "constitutional" duties, and therefore, the abjuration of Joseph II's right to rule was justified. After summing up all violations of their rightful freedoms, the States of Flanders conclude: "Thus, one sought to subject the brave Netherlanders to complete slavery, and treat them like the inhabitants of Moravia and Croatia." The text composed in Dutch and French by

Karel Jozef de Graeve Karel Jozef de Graeve (October 23, 1731, Ursel – August 2, 1805, Sint-Denijs-Westrem) − usually written Charles-Joseph De Grave after the French invasion− was Raadsheer in the Flemish Court and author of juridical, officialese and hist ...

Jean-Joseph Raepsaet Jean-Joseph Raepsaet (29 December 1750 in Oudenaarde – 19 February 1832) was a Belgian politician and historian. Biography Jean-Joseph Raepsaet was born to a family that had grown from rural civil servants in the south-east of the County of Flan ...

and . The ideas expressed in the manifesto were primarily inspired by the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

(1776). The States of the respective Southern Netherlandish provinces

united United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

in a new

confederal A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

republic, the

United Belgian States The United Belgian States ( nl, Verenigde Nederlandse Staten or '; french: États-Belgiques-Unis; lat, Foederatum Belgium), also known as the United States of Belgium, was a short-lived confederal republic in the Southern Netherlands (modern-da ...

(7 January – 11 December 1790), which was reconquered after eleven months by the Imperial army.Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Brabantse Omwenteling. §4. De mislukking van de Verenigde Belgische Staten". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Original Dutch text on Wikisource

1790 in the Habsburg monarchy County of Flanders United Belgian States Declarations of independence Republicanism in Belgium 1790 documents Political manifestos Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor