page_title: County of Flanders
section_title: The seventeen provinces in the 16th century (1506–98)
hierarchical_section_title: County of Flanders / History / The seventeen provinces in the 16th century (1506–98)
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the county of Flanders by Matthias Quad (cartographer) and Johannes Bussemacher (engraver &amp; publisher, Cologne) Nederlands: Kaart van het graafschap Vlaanderen door Matthias Quad (kartograaf) en Johannes Bussemacher (graveur en uitgever, Keulen) Français&#160;: Carte du comté de Flandre par Matthias Quad (cartographe) et Johannes Bussemacher (graveur et éditeur, Cologne) Español: Mapa del condado de Flandes, de Matthias Quad (cartógrafo) y Johannes Bussemacher (grabador y editor, Colonia, Alemania)
context_page_description: 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 and Ypres formed one of the most affluent regions in Europe.
  Up to 1477, the area under French suzerainty was located west of the Scheldt River and was called "Royal Flanders". Aside from this the counts of Flanders from the 11th century onward also held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, an area called "Imperial Flanders". Part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1384, the county was finally removed from French to Imperial control after the Peace of Madrid in 1526 and the Peace of the Ladies in 1529.
  In 1795, the remaining territory within the Austrian Netherlands was incorporated by the French First Republic and passed to the newly established United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. The former County of Flanders, except for French Flanders, is the only part of the medieval French kingdom that is not part of modern-day France.
context_section_description: Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (born in the Flemish city Ghent), Flanders became a member of the Burgundian Circle. The county was later involved in the Guelders Wars.
  Through the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, the County of Flanders was officially detached from France. It became an independent territory of the Holy Roman Empire. This constitutional act made Flanders part of the Seventeen Provinces, that constituted the Low Countries and from then on would be inherited as a whole.
  The Low Countries held an important place in the Empire. For Charles personally, they were the region where he spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the rich cities, they were also important for the treasury. Lordship transferred to the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg with Philip II of Spain, and after 1556 belonged to the Kings of Spain.
  It was in Steenvoorde (In French Flanders) in 1566 that the Beeldenstorm broke loose. The Beeldenstorm spread through all of the Low Countries and eventually led to the outbreak of the Eighty Years' war and the secession of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Originally Flanders cooperated with the northern provinces as a member of the Union of Utrecht, and also signed the Act of Abjuration in 1581, but from 1579 to 1585, in the period known as the "Calvinist Republic of Ghent", it was reconquered by the Spanish army.
caption: Map of the county of Flanders from 1609 by Matthias Quad, cartographer, and Johannes Bussemacher, engraver and publisher, Cologne
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