Republic of Bouillon The Republic of Bouillon was a short - lived French client republic , around the city of Bouillon in present - day Belgium , based on the duchy of Bouillon , which had existed between France and the Austrian Netherlands since the 15th century . Reforms , sponsored by the duke , abolishing manorialism and feudalism and establishing a did not prevent what many sources describe as the proclamation of a republic in April 1794 . The republic was short - lived , however , as the territory was annexed by the French First Republic 18 months later . In 1815 , after the Napoleonic Wars , the duchy was absorbed into the promoted Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , becoming a part of Belgium when that nation was founded in the 1830s . Influence of the French Revolution . Godefroy III ( b . 1728 , r . 1771 , d . 1792 ) , duke of Bouillon and prince of Turenne , favourable to the French Revolution , committed his duchy to the path of reform by an edict of 24 February 1790 and supported his " assemblée générale " ( parliament ) when it voted to abolish manorial and feudal rights on 26 May 1790 . On 23 March or 1 May 1792 , the duchy became a constitutional monarchy , becoming occupied by the French Revolutionary Army the following 19 November . Duke Jacques Léopold , who had succeeded his father in December 1792 but lived at the Château de Navarre , near Évreux ( the last dukes of Bouillon did not reside in their duchy ) , was arrested and imprisoned in France under The Terror on 7 February 1794 ; like his father , he was a French citizen , as well as prince of a sovereign state . Proclamation of the Republic . Noting that contact with the sovereign duke was temporarily impossible , on 24 April 1794 the " assemblée générale " convened a Special Meeting of the Representatives of the People ( ) , which may have proclaimed a republic . Some sources believe , however , that the " assemblée générale " did not proclaim the end of the ducal monarchy , but only reaffirmed the " essential democratic and popular " state and the transfer of executive authority to an " ad hoc " Council of State , meaning the ducal monarchy would not have really ended . Subsequent official documents cease to refer to the duke , possibly due to his imprisonment in France . The territory was annexed to the French First Republic on 26 October 1795 ( 4 Brumaire , year IV in the French Revolutionary Calendar ) and integrated in the départements of Forêts , Ardennes and Sambre - et - Meuse , but not before the " assemblée générale " publicly denounced the annexation . From 10 December 1793 ( 10 Frimaire II ) the duke had been deprived of rents from his estates under French decree . A decree of 22 March 1800 ( 1 Germinal VIII ) , after Napoléon ' s accession to the French throne , ended the sequester of the ducal estates and allowed him to regain possession . However , he was still obliged to pay the 25 % of assessed value he had offered to pay , and woods larger than were returned to him only on a provisional basis . The loss of his income during five years had left him with 3 million livres in debts , he was hounded by the tax collectors and his creditors , and his expenses exceeded current revenues by 200 000 francs every year . Jacques Léopold died , without issue , in February 1802 as " citoyen Léopold la Tour d ' Auvergne " . After the war . After the end of the French occupation in April 1814 , the territory of the former duchy was occupied by the Allied Powers , the duchy was restored briefly , headed by a British admiral from Jersey , Philippe d ' Auvergne , cousin of the ducal family , adopted by duke Godefroy , who had agreed with the " assemblée générale " as heir should Jacques Léopold die without issue . At the Congress of Vienna , however , another of Godefroy ' s cousins , Charles Alain de Rohan , Prince of Guéméné , a major - general of the Imperial and Royal Austrian Army and a citizen of the Austrian Empire since 1808 , challenged the validity of the succession and claimed the ducal throne for himself . After several months of uncertainty , Article 69 of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna established the integration of the duchy into the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ( in personal union with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands ) as of 9 June 1815 . The question of compensation for rights - holders and other ducal pretenders was not settled , however , and became a subject of legal dispute for over a decade ; the princes of Guéméné now hold claim to the throne of the extinct duchy . The king of the Netherlands , as grand - duke of Luxembourg , took possession of the duchy on 22 July 1815 . As a part of the Belgian Revolution , Bouillon rose up in revolt from 30 October 1830 , leading to the surrender of the castle garrison . Bouillon , with the French - speaking grand - ducal territories , became part of Belgium ( as the province of Luxembourg ) , with Belgium becoming " de facto " independent from the Kingdom of the Netherlands . The Treaty of the XXIV Articles , signed 15 November 1831 but only ratified in 1839 by all parties , recognised the " de jure " independence of Belgium , subsequently reinforced by Treaties of London in 1839 and in 1867 .