Count of Flanders

The count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders, beginning in the 9th century.[1] The title was held for a time by the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. During the French Revolution in 1790, the county of Flanders was annexed to France and ceased to exist. In the 19th century, the title was appropriated by Belgium and granted twice to younger sons of Belgian kings. The most recent holder died in 1983.[2]

"Countess of Flanders" redirects here. For the wife of a Count of Flanders, see List of countesses of Flanders by marriage.
Coat of arms of the counts of Flanders.

In 862 Baldwin I was appointed as the first Margrave of Flanders by King Charles II, it was a military appointment, responsible for repelling the Vikings from the coast of Francia. The title of margrave evolved into marquis and then count. Arnulf I was the first to name himself as Count, by the Grace of God. The title of Margrave largely fell out of use by the 12th century. Since then, the rulers of Flanders have only been referred to as Counts.

The counts of Flanders enlarged their estate through a series of diplomatic marriages. The counties of Hainaut, Namur, Béthune, Nevers, Auxerre, Rethel, Burgundy, and Artois were all acquired in this manner. However, the County of Flanders suffered the same fate in turn. As a result of the marriage of Countess Margaret III with Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, the county and the subsidiary counties, entered a personal union with the Duchy of Burgundy in 1405.[3]

The counts of Flanders were also associated with the Duchy of Brittany prior to its union with France. In c 1323, Joan, the daughter of Arthur II, Duke of Brittany, married the second son of Count Robert III. Joanna of Flanders, the granddaughter of Count Robert III and daughter of his son, Count Louis I, married John Montfort.[4] During Montfort's imprisonment, she fought on his behalf, alongside English allies, during the Breton War of Succession for the ducal crown, which was won definitively by her son John V, Duke of Brittany. It was through this alliance that the Duchy of Brittany was eventually joined to the throne of France.[5]

List of counts

House of Flanders
  • Baldwin I, Iron Arm (r. 862–879), married Judith (daughter of Charles the Bald) and was granted lands and honours, which would evolve into the County of Flanders.
  • Baldwin II the Bald (r. 879–918), son of Baldwin I and Judith
  • Arnulf I the Great (r. 918–965), son of Baldwin II, jointly with:
    • Baldwin III (r. 958–962), jointly with his father Arnulf I
  • Arnulf II (r. 965–988), son of Baldwin III
  • Baldwin IV the Bearded (r. 988–1035), son of Arnulf II
  • Baldwin V of Lille (r. 1035–1067), son of Baldwin IV
  • Baldwin VI (r. 1067–1070), son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut
  • Arnulf III (r. 1070–1071), son of Baldwin VI, Count of Hainaut
  • Robert I the Frisian (r. 1071–1093), son of Baldwin V
  • Robert II (r. 1093–1111), son of Robert I
  • Baldwin VII Hapkin (r. 1111–1119), son of Robert II

House of Estridsen

House of Normandy

House of Alsace or House of Metz
  • Theodoric (also Thierry, or Diederik) (r. 1128–1168), grandson of Robert I, recognised by Louis VI of France
  • Philip I (r. 1168–1191), son of Theodoric
  • Margaret I (r. 1191–1194), daughter of Theodoric, jointly with her husband Baldwin of Hainaut.

House of Flanders
  • Baldwin VIII (r. 1191–1194), husband of Margaret I, patrilineal great-great-grandson of Baldwin VI, also Count of Hainaut
  • Baldwin IX (r. 1194–1205), son of Baldwin VIII, also Latin Emperor of Constantinople
  • Joan I (r. 1205–1244), daughter of Baldwin IX, jointly with her husbands
    • Ferdinand of Portugal (r. 1212–1233)
    • Thomas of Savoy-Piedmont (1237–1244)
  • Margaret II (r. 1244–1278), sister of Joan, married first to Burchard IV of Avesnes and then William of Dampierre, jointly with her sons from second marriage, William III of Dampierre (r. 1247–1251) and Guy of Dampierre (r. 1251–1305)

In 1244, the Counties of Flanders and Hainaut were claimed by Margaret II's sons, the half-brothers John I of Avesnes and William III of Dampierre in the War of the Succession of Flanders and Hainault. In 1246, King Louis IX of France awarded Flanders to William.

House of Dampierre
  • William II (r. 1247–1251), son of Margaret II and William II of Dampierre
  • Guy I (r. 1251–1305), son of Margaret II and William II of Dampierre, imprisoned 1253–1256 by John I of Avesnes, also Count of Namur
  • Robert III ("the Lion of Flanders") (r. 1305–1322), son of Guy
  • Louis I (r. 1322–1346), grandson of Robert III
  • Louis II (r. 1346–1384), son of Louis I
  • Margaret III (r. 1384–1405), daughter of Louis II, jointly with her husband, Philip II
    • Philip II jointly with his wife Margaret III of Flanders.

House of Burgundy

House of Habsburg

Charles V proclaimed the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 eternally uniting Flanders with the other lordships of the Low Countries in a personal union. When the Habsburg empire was divided among the heirs of Charles V, the Low Countries, including Flanders, went to Philip II of Spain, of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg.

  • Philip V (r. 1555–1598), son of Charles III, also King of Spain as Philip II
usurpation by Francis, Duke of Anjou (Valois) (1582–1584)[6]
  • Isabella Clara Eugenia (r. 1598–1621), daughter of Philip II, jointly with her husband Albert, Archduke of Austria)
  • Philip VI (r. 1621–1665), grandson of Philip III, also King of Spain as Philip IV
  • Charles IV (r. 1665–1700), son of Philip IV, also King of Spain as Charles II
  • Philip VII (House of Bourbon) (r. 1700–1706), great-grandson of Philip IV

Between 1706 and 1714, Flanders was invaded by the English and the Dutch during the War of the Spanish Succession. The fief was claimed by the House of Habsburg and the House of Bourbon. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht settled the succession and the County of Flanders went to the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg.

  • Charles V (r. 1714–1740), great grandson of Philip III, also Holy Roman Emperor (elect)
  • Maria Theresa (r. 1740–1780), daughter of Charles IV, jointly with
    • Francis I (r. 1740–1765), jointly with his wife Maria Teresa
  • Joseph I (r. 1780–1790), son of Maria Theresa and Francis I
  • Leopold (r. 1790–1792), son of Maria Theresa and Francis I
  • Francis II (r. 1792–1835), son of Leopold, also Holy Roman Emperor

The title was abolished de facto after revolutionary France annexed Flanders in 1795. The Emperor Francis II relinquished his claim to the Low Countries in the Treaty of Campo Formio of 1797, and the area remained part of France until the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Modern usage

House of Belgium (formerly House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)

In modern times, the title was granted to two younger sons of the kings of the Belgians.

  • Prince Philippe, son of King Leopold I of Belgium (1840–1905)
  • Prince Charles, son of King Albert I of Belgium (1910–1983)

House of Bourbon

The title, Count of Flanders, is one of the titles of the Spanish Crown. It is a historical title which is only nominally and ceremonially used.

Sources
  1. Gilliat-Smith, Ernest (1909). The story of Bruges (4th ed.). London: J. M. Den & Co. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-4446-6629-8. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  2. "Prince Regent Charles". www.monarchie.be. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  3. Wim Blockmans; Walter Prevenier (3 August 2010). The Promised Lands: The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369-1530. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-0070-5.
  4. History of England, by F.Y. Powell and (T.F. Tout). 1885. pp. 228–.
  5. John A. Wagner (2006). Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 182–. ISBN 978-0-313-32736-0.
  6. Knecht, Catherine de' Medici, Longman, 1998, p. 212.
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See also
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