Editing Flanders (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of Flanders}}

=== Early history ===
{{main|Belgae}}

When [[Julius Caesar]] conquered the area he described it as the less economically developed and more warlike part of ''[[Gallia Belgica]]''. His informants told him that especially in the east, the tribes claimed ancestral connections and kinship with the [[Germanic peoples|"Germanic" peoples]] then east of the [[Rhine]]. Under the [[Roman Empire]] the whole of ''Gallia Belgica'' became an administrative province. The future counties of Flanders and Brabant remained part of this province connected to what is now France, but in the east modern Limburg became part of the Rhine frontier province of ''[[Germania Inferior]]'' connected to what is now the Netherlands and Germany. ''Gallia Belgica'' and ''Germania Inferior'' were the two most northerly continental provinces of the [[Roman Empire]].

In the future county of Flanders, the main [[Belgic tribe]] in early Roman times was the [[Menapii]], but also on the coast were the [[Marsacii]] and [[Morini]]. In the central part of modern Belgium were the [[Nervii]], whose territory corresponded to medieval Brabant as well as French-speaking Hainaut. In the east was the large district of the [[Tungri]] which covered both French- and Dutch-speaking parts of eastern Belgium. The Tungri were understood to have links to Germanic tribes east of the Rhine. Another notable group were the [[Toxandrians]] who appear to have lived in the [[Campine|Kempen]] region, in the northern parts of both the Nervian and Tungrian districts, probably stretching into the modern Netherlands. The Roman administrative districts (''[[civitas|civitates]]'') of the Menapii, Nervii and Tungri therefore corresponded roughly with the medieval counties of Flanders, Brabant and [[County of Loon|Loon]], and the modern Flemish provinces of East and West Flanders (Menapii), Brabant and Antwerp (the northern Nervii), and Belgian Limburg (part of the Tungri). Brabant appears to have been separated from the Tungri by a relatively unpopulated forest area, the [[Silva Carbonaria]], forming a natural boundary between northeast and southwest Belgium.

Linguistically, the tribes in this area were under [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] influence in the south, and [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] influence in the east, but there is disagreement about what languages were spoken locally (apart from [[Vulgar Latin]]), and there may even have been an intermediate "[[Nordwestblock]]" language related to both. By the first century AD, [[Germanic languages]] appear to have become prevalent in the area of the Tungri.

As Roman influence waned, Frankish populations settled in the Tungiran area east of the Silva Carbonaria, and eventually pushed through it under [[Chlodio]]. They had kings in each Roman district (''civitas''). In the meantime, the Franks contributed to the Roman military. The first Merovingian king [[Childeric I]] was king of the Franks within the military of Gaul. He became leader of the administration of ''Belgica Secunda'', which included the ''civitas'' of the Menapii (the future county of Flanders). From there, his son [[Clovis I]] managed to conquer both the Roman populations of northern France and the Frankish populations beyond the forest areas.

=== Historical Flanders ===
{{Main|County of Flanders}}
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2 DS-90 (cropped).jpg|thumb|A Flemish lady and gentleman in the year 1400, illustrated in the manuscript "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel". Painted by [[Lucas de Heere|Lucas d'Heere]] in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Preserved in the [[Ghent University Library]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel par Luc Dheere peintre et sculpteur Gantois[manuscript]|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2#?c=&m=&s=&cv=49&xywh=-2919,638,11313,6316|access-date=25 August 2020|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]]

The County of Flanders was a [[feudal]] [[fief]] in [[West Francia]]. The first certain Count in the comital family, [[Baldwin I of Flanders]], is first reported in a document of 862, when he eloped with a daughter of his king [[Charles the Bald]]. The region developed as a medieval economic power with a large degree of political autonomy. While its trading cities remained strong, it was weakened and divided when districts fell under direct French royal rule in the late 12th century. The remaining parts of Flanders came under the rule of the counts of neighbouring imperial [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] under [[Baldwin V of Hainaut]] in 1191.

During the late [[Middle Ages]], Flanders's trading towns (notably [[Ghent]], [[Bruges]] and [[Ypres]]) made it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe, weaving the [[wool]] of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export. As a consequence, a sophisticated culture developed, with impressive art and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Ghent, Bruges, Ypres and the [[Franc of Bruges]] formed the [[Four Members]], a form of parliament that exercised considerable power in Flanders.<ref>''Philip the Good: the apogee of Burgundy'' by Richard Vaughan, p201</ref>

Increasingly powerful from the 12th century, the territory's autonomous urban [[Medieval commune|communes]] were instrumental in defeating a French attempt at annexation (1300–1302), finally defeating the French in the [[Battle of the Golden Spurs]] (11 July 1302), near [[Kortrijk]]. Two years later, the [[Franco-Flemish War (1297-1305)|uprising was defeated]] and Flanders indirectly remained part of the French Crown. Flemish prosperity waned in the following century, due to widespread European population decline following the [[Black Death]] of 1348, the disruption of trade during the Anglo-French [[Hundred Years' War]] (1337–1453), and increased English cloth production. Flemish weavers had gone over to [[Worstead]] and [[North Walsham]] in Norfolk in the 12th century and established the woolen industry.

The County of Flanders started to take control of the neighbouring [[County of Brabant]] during the life of [[Louis II, Count of Flanders]] (1330–1384), who fought his sister-in-law [[Joanna, Duchess of Brabant]] for control of it.

The entire area, straddling the ancient boundary of France and the Holy Roman Empire, later passed to [[Philip the Bold]] in 1384, the [[Duchy of Burgundy|Duke of Burgundy]], with his capital in [[Brussels]]. The titles were eventually more clearly united under his grandson [[Philip the Good]] (1396 – 1467). This large Duchy passed in [[<!--same year: Great Privilege + Habsburg by her marriage-->Mary of Burgundy|1477]] to the [[Habsburg]] dynasty, and in [[<!--Charles V abdicated-->Philip II of Spain|1556]] to the kings of Spain. Western and southern districts of Flanders were confirmed under French rule under successive treaties of [[Treaty of the Pyrenees|1659]] (Artois), [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668)|1668]] and [[Treaties of Nijmegen|1678]].

The County of Loon, approximately the modern Flemish province of Limburg, remained independent of France, forming a part of the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] until the French Revolution, but surrounded by the Burgundians, and under their influence.

=== Low Countries ===
{{main|Low Countries}}

==== Beeldenstorm ====
In 1500, [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] was born in [[Ghent]]. He inherited the [[Seventeen Provinces]] (1506), Spain (1516) with its colonies and in 1519 was elected [[Holy Roman Emperor]].<ref>William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V (NY, 1874), p 116</ref> Charles V issued the [[Pragmatic Sanction of 1549]], which established the Low Countries as the Seventeen Provinces (or [[Spanish Netherlands]] in its broad sense) as an entity separate from the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and from France. In 1556 Charles V abdicated due to ill health (he suffered from crippling [[gout]]).<ref>William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V (NY, 1874), p 456</ref> Spain and the Seventeen Provinces went to his son, [[Philip II of Spain]].

Over the first half of the 16th century [[Antwerp]] grew to become the second-largest European city north of the [[Alps]] by 1560. Antwerp was the richest city in Europe at this time.<ref>{{cite book
 |last = Dunton
 |first = Larkin
 |title = The World and Its People
 |url = https://archive.org/details/worldanditspeop05duntgoog
 |publisher = Silver, Burdett
 |year = 1896
 |page = [https://archive.org/details/worldanditspeop05duntgoog/page/n171 163]}}</ref> According to Luc-Normand Tellier "It is estimated that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Americas]]."<ref>Luc-Normand Tellier (2009). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC&pg=PA308 Urban world history: an economic and geographical perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025052002/https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC&pg=PA308 |date=25 October 2015 }}''. PUQ. p. 308. {{ISBN|2-7605-1588-5}}.</ref>

[[File:Incendio Ayuntamiento Amberes.jpg|thumb|The [[Sack of Antwerp]] in 1576, in which about 7,000 people died]]

Meanwhile, Protestantism had reached the Low Countries. Among the wealthy traders of Antwerp, the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] beliefs of the German [[Hanseatic (class)|Hanseatic]] traders found appeal, perhaps partly for economic reasons. The spread of Protestantism in this city was aided by the presence of an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] cloister (founded 1514) in the St. Andries quarter. Luther, an Augustinian himself, had taught some of the monks, and his works were in print by 1518. The first Lutheran martyrs came from Antwerp. The [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] resulted in consecutive but overlapping waves of reform: a Lutheran, followed by a militant [[Anabaptist]], then a [[Mennonite]], and finally a [[Calvinism|Calvinistic]] movement. These movements existed independently of each other.

[[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], a devout Catholic and self-proclaimed protector of the [[Counter-Reformation]], [[suppression of dissent|suppressed]] Calvinism in Flanders, [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and Holland (what is now approximately [[Limburg (Belgium)|Belgian Limburg]] was part of the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] and was Catholic ''de facto''). In 1566, the wave of [[iconoclasm]] known as the ''[[Beeldenstorm]]'' was a prelude to religious war between Catholics and Protestants, especially the Anabaptists. The ''Beeldenstorm'' started in what is now [[French Flanders]], with open-air sermons ({{langx|nl|hagepreken}}) that spread through the Low Countries, first to Antwerp and Ghent, and from there further east and north.

==== The Eighty Years' War and its consequences ====
Subsequently, Philip II of Spain sent [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba|the Duke]] of [[Duchy of Alba|Alba]] to the Provinces to repress the revolt. Alba recaptured the southern part of the Provinces, who signed the [[Union of Arras|Union of Atrecht]], which meant that they would accept the Spanish government on condition of more freedom. But the northern part of the provinces signed the [[Union of Utrecht]] and settled in 1581 the [[Republic of the Seven United Netherlands]]. Spanish troops quickly started fighting the rebels, and the Spanish armies conquered the important trading cities of Bruges and Ghent. Antwerp, which was then the most important port in the world, also had to be conquered. But before the revolt was defeated, a war between Spain and England broke out, forcing Spanish troops to halt their advance. On 17 August 1585, Antwerp fell. This ended the Eighty Years' War for the (from now on) [[Southern Netherlands]]. The [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] (the Northern Netherlands) fought on until 1648 – the [[Peace of Westphalia]].

[[File:Het Kranenhoofd aan de Schelde te Antwerpen Rijksmuseum SK-A-1699.jpeg|thumb|Winter scene at the Scheldt river in Antwerp by [[Sebastian Vrancx]], 1622]]

During the war with England, the rebels from the north, strengthened by refugees from the south, started a campaign to reclaim areas lost to [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]]'s Spanish troops. They conquered a considerable part of Brabant (the later [[North Brabant]] of the Netherlands), and the south bank of the Scheldt estuary ([[Zeelandic Flanders]]), before being stopped by Spanish troops. The front at the end of this war stabilized and became the border between present-day Belgium and the Netherlands. The Dutch (as they later became known) had managed to reclaim enough of Spanish-controlled Flanders to close off the river [[Scheldt]], effectively cutting Antwerp off from its trade routes.

The [[fall of Antwerp]] to the Spanish and the closing of the [[Scheldt]] caused considerable emigration.{{efn |An ''Antverpian'', derived from ''Antverpia'', the Latin name of [[Antwerp]], is an inhabitant of this city; the term is also the [[adjective]] expressing that its substantive is from or in that city or belongs to it.}} Many Calvinist merchants of Antwerp and other Flemish cities left Flanders and migrated north. Many of them settled in [[Amsterdam]], which was a smaller port, important only in the [[Baltic trade]]. The Flemish exiles helped to rapidly transform Amsterdam into one of the world's most important ports. This is why the exodus is sometimes described as "''creating a new Antwerp''".

Flanders and Brabant, went into a period of relative decline from the time of the [[Thirty Years' War]].<ref name="FiifAntwHist">{{cite web
|title=Antwerp – History
|work=Find it in Flanders
|publisher=Tourism Flanders & Brussels, Flanders House, London, UK
|url=http://www.visitflanders.co.uk/cont61_Antwerp_history.aspx
|access-date=2 January 2007
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929214129/http://www.visitflanders.co.uk/cont61_Antwerp_history.aspx
|archive-date=29 September 2006
|url-status=live
}}</ref> In the Northern Netherlands, the mass emigration from Flanders and Brabant became an important driving force behind the [[Dutch Golden Age]].

==== Southern Netherlands (1581–1795) ====
[[File:Flandria (Vlaanderen Flanders) 1584 Map by Abraham Ortelius.jpg|thumb|1584 map of the county of Flanders]]

Although arts remained relatively impressive for another century with [[Peter Paul Rubens]] (1577–1640) and [[Anthony van Dyck]], Flanders lost its former economic and intellectual power under Spanish, Austrian, and French rule. Heavy taxation and rigid imperial political control compounded the effects of industrial stagnation and Spanish-Dutch and Franco-Austrian conflict. The Southern Netherlands suffered severely under the [[Franco-Dutch War]], [[Nine Years' War]] and [[War of the Spanish Succession]]. But under the reign of Empress Maria-Theresia, these lands again flourished economically. Influenced by [[Age of Enlightenment|the Enlightenment]], the Austrian Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] was the first sovereign who had been in the Southern Netherlands since King Philip II of Spain left them in 1559.

==== French Revolution and Napoleonic France (1795–1815) ====
In 1794, the [[History of France#Revolution|French Republican Army]] started using Antwerp as the northernmost naval port of France.<ref name="FiifAntwHist" /> The following year, France officially annexed Flanders as the ''[[The 130 départements|départements]]'' of [[Lys (département)|Lys]], [[Escaut (département)|Escaut]], [[Deux-Nèthes]], [[Meuse-Inférieure]] and [[Dyle (département)|Dyle]]. Obligatory (French) army service for all men aged 16–25 years was a main reason for the uprising against the French in 1798, known as the ''Boerenkrijg'' (''Peasants' War''), with the heaviest fighting in the [[Campine]] area.

==== United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1830) ====
After the defeat of [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]] at the 1815 [[Battle of Waterloo]] in [[Province of Brabant|Brabant]], the [[Congress of Vienna]] (1815) gave sovereignty over the [[Austrian Netherlands]] – Belgium minus the [[East Cantons]] and Luxembourg – to the [[Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands|United Netherlands]] (Dutch: ''Verenigde Nederlanden'') under Prince William I of Orange Nassau, making him [[William I of the Netherlands|William I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands]]. William I started rapid industrialisation of the southern parts of the Kingdom. But the political system failed to forge a true union between the north and south. Most of the southern [[bourgeoisie]] was Roman Catholic and French-speaking, while the north was mainly Protestant and Dutch-speaking.

In 1815, the Dutch Senate was reinstated (Dutch: ''Eerste Kamer der Staaten Generaal''). The nobility, mainly coming from the south, became increasingly estranged from their northern colleagues. Resentment grew between the Roman Catholics from the south and the Protestants from the north, and also between the powerful liberal bourgeoisie from the south and their more moderate colleagues from the north. On 25 August 1830 (after the showing of the opera '[[La Muette de Portici]]' of [[Daniel Auber]] in Brussels) the [[Belgian Revolution]] sparked. On 4 October 1830, the [[Provisional Government of Belgium|Provisional Government]] (Dutch: ''Voorlopig Bewind'') proclaimed its independence, which was later confirmed by the [[National Congress of Belgium|National Congress]] that issued a new Liberal Constitution and declared the new state a [[Constitutional Monarchy]], under the House of [[Saxe-Coburg]]. Flanders now became part of the Kingdom of Belgium, which was recognized by the major European Powers on 20 January 1831. The cessation was recognized by the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]] on 19 April 1839.

=== Kingdom of Belgium ===
{{further|History of Belgium}}

In 1830, the [[Belgian Revolution]] led to the splitting up of the two countries. Belgium was confirmed as an independent state by the [[Treaty of London, 1839|Treaty of London]] of 1839, but deprived of the eastern half of Limburg (now Dutch Limburg), and the Eastern half of Luxembourg (now the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg). Sovereignty over [[Zeelandic Flanders]], south of the [[Westerscheldt]] river delta, was left with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was allowed to levy a toll on all traffic to Antwerp harbour until 1863.<ref name="FiifAntwHist" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.planetware.com/map/belgium-kingdom-of-belgium-map-b-belg.htm |title=Kingdom of Belgium map (politically outdated) |website=Planet Ware |access-date=15 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203029/http://www.planetware.com/map/belgium-kingdom-of-belgium-map-b-belg.htm |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Rise of the Flemish Movement ====
{{main|Flemish Movement}}

In 1873, Dutch became an official language in public secondary schools. In 1898, Dutch and French were declared equal languages in laws and Royal orders. In 1930, the first Flemish university was opened.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES |title=GHENT UNIVERSITY FLEMISH. Belgian Parliament Votes to Have All Instruction in That Tongue |url=https://nyti.ms/3U3banV |access-date=12 September 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=New York Times Company |date=28 February 1930}}</ref>

The first official translation of the Belgian constitution in Dutch was not published until 1967.

==== World War I and its consequences ====
[[File:Gesneuvelden Koksijde - België.jpg|thumb|[[Koksijde]], a memorial to soldiers killed in [[World War I]]]]

Flanders (and Belgium as a whole) saw some of the greatest loss of life on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] of the [[First World War]], in particular from the three battles of [[Ypres]].

The war strengthened Flemish identity and consciousness. The occupying German authorities took several Flemish-friendly measures. The resulting suffering of the war is remembered by Flemish organizations during the yearly [[Ijzerbedevaart|Yser pilgrimage]] in [[Diksmuide]] at the monument of the [[IJzertoren|Yser Tower]].

==== Right-wing nationalism in the interbellum and World War II ====
{{main|Flemish National Union|Verdinaso|Dietsland|Cyriel Verschaeve}}

During the interbellum and [[World War II]], several right-wing [[fascist]] and/or national-socialistic parties emerged in Belgium. Since these parties were promised more rights for the Flemings by the German government during World War II, many of them collaborated with the Nazi regime. After the war, collaborators (or people who were ''Zwart'', "Black" during the war) were prosecuted and punished, among them many Flemish nationalists whose main political goal had been the emancipation of Flanders. As a result, until today [[Flemish nationalism]] is often associated with [[right-wing politics]]. Flemish nationalism is however a direct consequence of the events of the years prior to the first World War, in which many were oppressed by the French speaking majority. This ultimately gave way to a rising feeling of cultural autonomy and even a sense of a nationalism.

==== Flemish autonomy ====
{{main|State reform in Belgium|2007–2011 Belgian political crisis|Partition of Belgium}}

After World War II, the differences between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking Belgians became clear in a number of conflicts, such as the [[Royal Question]], the question whether King Leopold III should return (which most Flemings supported but Walloons did not) and the use of Dutch in the [[Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)|Catholic University of Leuven]]. As a result, several [[State reform in Belgium|state reforms]] took place in the second half of the 20th century, which transformed the unitary Belgium into a federal state with [[Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium|communities, regions and language areas]]. This resulted also in the establishment of a [[Flemish Parliament]] and [[Flemish Government|Government]]. During the 1970s, all major political parties split into a Dutch and French-speaking party.

Several Flemish parties still advocate for more Flemish autonomy, some even for Flemish independence (see [[Partition of Belgium]]), whereas the French-speakers would like to keep the current state as it is. Recent governments (such as [[Verhofstadt I Government]]) have transferred certain federal competences to the regional governments.

On 13 December 2006, a [[Flemish Secession hoax|spoof news broadcast]] by the Belgian Francophone public broadcasting station [[RTBF]] announced that Flanders had decided to declare independence from Belgium.

The [[Belgian federal election, 2007|2007 federal elections]] showed more support for Flemish autonomy, marking the start of the [[2007–2011 Belgian political crisis]]. All the political parties that advocated a significant increase of Flemish autonomy gained votes as well as seats in the [[Belgian federal parliament]]. This was especially the case for [[Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams|Christian Democratic and Flemish]] and [[New Flemish Alliance]] (N-VA) (who had participated on a shared [[electoral list]]). The trend continued during the [[Belgian regional elections, 2009|2009 regional elections]], where CD&V and N-VA were the clear winners in Flanders, and N-VA became even the largest party in Flanders and Belgium during the [[Belgian federal election, 2010|2010 federal elections]], followed by the [[2010–2011 Belgian government formation|longest-ever government formation]] after which the [[Di Rupo I Government]] was formed excluding N-VA. Eight parties agreed on a [[Sixth Belgian state reform|sixth state reform]] which aim to solve the disputes between Flemings and French-speakers. However, the [[Belgian provincial and municipal elections, 2012|2012 provincial and municipal elections]] continued the trend of N-VA becoming the biggest party in Flanders.

However, sociological studies show no parallel between the rise of nationalist parties and popular support for their agenda. Instead, a recent study revealed a majority in favour of returning regional competences to the federal level.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20160124_02088008 |title=Staatshervorming richting België wint aan politieke steun |language=nl |trans-title=State reform towards Belgium is gaining political support |date=25 January 2016 |author=Peter De Lobel |work=De Standaard |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312005648/http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20160124_02088008 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>