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The county of Flanders originated from the Gau of Pagus Flandrensis, led by the Forestiers dynasty, who had been appointed by Charlemagne, who had made a small contribution by uniting small feudal territories in the higher parts of the Flemish Valley. The forestiers dynasty also strengthened the hold of the church on the relatively desolate area.
The County of Flanders was created in the year 862 as a feudal fief in West Francia, the predecessor of the Kingdom of France. After a period of growing power within France, it was divided when its western districts fell under French rule in the late 12th century, with the remaining parts of Flanders came under the rule of the counts of ...
Flanders, medieval principality in the southwest of the Low Countries, now included in the French département of Nord (q.v.), the Belgian provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders (qq.v.), and the Dutch province of Zeeland (q.v.). The name appeared as early as the 8th century and is believed to mean “Lowland,” or “Flooded Land.”
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Up to 1477, the core area under French suzerainty was west of the Scheldt and was called "Royal Flanders" (Dutch: Kroon-Vlaanderen, French: Flandre royale ). Aside from this, the counts, from the 11th century onward, held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire: "Imperial Flanders" ( Rijks-Vlaanderen or Flandre impériale ).
The secular principalities that arose in the Low Countries and whose borders were more or less fixed at the end of the 13th century were the counties of Flanders and Hainaut, the duchies of Brabant and Limburg (after 1288 joined in personal union), the county of Namur, the county of Loon (which was, however, to a large degree dependent on the bi...
Consolidation of territorial states (1384–1567) Among the many territorial principalities of the Low Countries, Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut-Holland, and Gelderland (Guelders) in the mid-14th century had a dominating military and diplomatic position. Flanders had already arrested the course of French domination, and its feeling of ...
French Flanders ( French: La Flandre française, pronounced [flɑ̃dʁə fʁɑ̃sɛz]) [1] is a part of the historical County of Flanders, where Flemish —a Low Franconian dialect cluster of Dutch —was (and to some extent, still is) traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day northern French region of Hauts-de-France, and roughly ...
