The States of Flanders were a representative institution in the medieval and early modern

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 a ...

. Initially it consisted only of the

Third Estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

, with representatives of the three cities of

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

and

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality ...

. Around 1350 the rural Liberty of Bruges also obtained representation in the States.

History

In 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 ...

, the States of Flanders were the first host of the

States-General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

, convened in Bruges on 9 January 1464. In 1579–1581, during the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Ref ...

, the cities and the States of Flanders subscribed to the

Union of Utrecht The Union of Utrecht ( nl, Unie van Utrecht) was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Netherlands, until then under the control of Habsburg Spain. History The Union of Utrecht is r ...

and the

Act of Abjuration The Act of Abjuration ( nl, Plakkaat van Verlatinghe; es, Acta de Abjuración, lit=placard of abjuration) is the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from the allegiance to Philip II of Spain, during the Dut ...

declaring independence from Habsburg rule, but royal troops reconquered most of the Flemish territory (excepting

Zeelandic Flanders Zeelandic Flanders ( ; zea, Zeêuws-Vlaonderen; vls, Zêeuws-Vloandern)''Vlaanderen'' in isolation: . is the southernmost region of the province of Zeeland in the south-western Netherlands. It lies south of the Western Scheldt that separates ...

) and restored Habsburg rule. Under the government of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella a representation of the

First Estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

was included in the composition of the States of Flanders. From 1754 smaller towns in Flanders were granted representation in the States, and the responsibilities of the body were extended from voting taxes and levying troops to oversight of public works and public assets. On 4 January 1790, the States of Flanders declared independence from Austrian rule, and seven days later, on 11 January 1790, joined the

United States of Belgium 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 ...

. All Southern Netherlands "States" disappeared four years later, during French revolutionary occupation.

Literature

Wim Blockmans Willem Pieter Blockmans (born 26 May 1945, Antwerp, Belgium) was Professor of Medieval History at Leiden University between 1987 and 2010. He earned a PhD from the University of Ghent. He has been Rector of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced ...

and Walter Prevenier, ''Handelingen van de Leden en van de Staten van Vlaanderen, 1467-1477'' (Brussels, 1971) *M. Nuyttens and A. Zoete, "De Vier Leden en de Staten van Vlaanderen", ''De gewestelijke en lokale overheidsinstellingen in Vlaanderen tot 1795'', ed. W. Prevenier and B. Augustyn (Brussels, 1997), pp. 67-78. *M. Nuyttens, ''Inventaris van het Archief van de Staten van Vlaanderen'' (Brussels, 1986) *Walter Prevenier, ''Handelingen van de Leden en van de Staten van Vlaanderen, 1384-1405'' (Brussels, 1959) *H. Van Houtte, ''Tafels van de resolutieboeken der Staten van Vlaanderen'', vol. 1 (Brussels, 1936), for the years 1582-1583, 1614-1631 *J. Dhondt, ''Tafels van de resolutieboeken der Staten van Vlaanderen'', vol. 2 (Brussels, 1941), for the years 1631-1656 {{DEFAULTSORT:States of Flanders County of Flanders Historical legislatures in Belgium Political history of the Dutch Republic States General of the Netherlands History of Flanders

History

Archives

Literature