Treaty of Verdun
The region's name is first recorded as the Carolingian shire "pagus Bracbatensis", located between the rivers Scheldt and Dijle, from "braec" "marshy" and "bant" "region". Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun it was part of Lotharingia within short-lived Middle Francia, and was ceded to East Francia according to the 880 Treaty of Ribemont.