page_title: County of Flanders
section_title: Growth in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries (864–1071)
hierarchical_section_title: County of Flanders / History / Growth in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries (864–1071)
caption_attribution_description: English: Institution of Baldwin I 'Bras de Fer', the first count of Flanders by Charles the Bald, the Frankish king Contents: Aegidius of Roya, Compendium historiae universalis Place of origin, date: Southern Netherlands, Dreux Jean, Master of Margaret of York, Jean Hennecart (illuminators); c. 1450-1460 Material: Vellum, ff. 296, 362x256 (232x159) mm, 35 lines, littera hybrida, Binding: 17th-century vellum; blind Decoration: 3 two-column miniatures (180/160x155 mm); 10 column miniatures (80/68x70/67 mm); 1 illustration in the margin; decorated initials with border decoration (ff. 1r, Ir, IIr, IIIr, XXIr, etc.); penwork initials with pen-flourishes throughout## Provenance: Made for David of Burgundy, bishop of Utrecht (d. 1496##); his half-brother Antony, the Great Bastard of Burgundy; his grandson Adolphe of Burgundy, Lord of Vere. Annotated in 1644 at Middelburg by M.Z. Boxhorn of Leiden. G. Meerman (cat. of 1756; d. 1771); by descentto his son J. Meerman (d. 1815); purchased in 1824 at the Meerman sale (lot 735) by W.H.J. van Westreenen
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: Militarily, economically and politically, Europe went through a deep crisis. The Vikings invaded from the north, the Magyar from the east and the Saracens from the south. All left trails of destruction. The central authorities of the two Frankish kingdoms were unable to organise an effective defensive, causing the population to lose faith and trust in their far-removed rulers. In the wake of this power vacuum, local powerful individuals saw their chance. Often these individuals were the descendants of people associated with Charlemagne.
  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 first Margrave(Count) of Flanders was Baldwin I, who became count in 862, and a romantic anecdote is connected to this: Baldwin eloped with the daughter of the Frankish king Charles the Bald, Judith of West Francia. Judith, who had previously been married to two English kings, refused her father's command to return to him. After mediation by the pope, the Frankish king reconciled with his son-in-law, and gave him the title of margrave, and the corresponding feudal territories as dowry. Margrave was primarily a military appointment and some versions of the story theorize that King Charles made Baldwin Margrave in the hope that he would be killed by the Vikings.
  Initially the French kings meant to secure the safety of the northern French border from Viking invasions with this act. The counts, however, made good use of the crisis situation by incorporating the surrounding plundered territories into the county. The counts expanded the influence of the original Flemish pagus over the years over all territories south and west of the Scheldt river, including presentday the lordship of the Four Amts, Zeelandic Flanders, the burgraviate of Aalst to the east and the County of Artois to the south, which remained part of Flanders until it became a separate county in 1237. After that date, the county of Artois at various times still came under the dominion of the count of Flanders as a separate title, until it was absorbed by the French crown.
caption: Institution of Baldwin I, the first count of Flanders by Charles the Bald, the Frankish king.
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