Seventeen Provinces

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Flag of the Seventeen Provinces

The Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France (Artois, Nord) and a small part of the West of Germany.

The Seventeen Provinces was the name originally given to this personal union, when it was hold by the Dukes of Burgundy of the House of Valois. Once the personul union fell to the Archdukes of Austria of the House of Habsburg the name Burgundian Circle was introduced.

1 Composition
2 History
3 Economy
4 Netherlands
5 Coats of Arms
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Composition

Map of the Seventeen Provinces (1477)

The map corresponds to the following provinces:

the county of Artois
the county of Flanders (including the burgraviates of Lille, Douai, Orchies and the bishopric of Tournai)
the county of Mechelen
the county of Namur
the county of Hainaut
the county of Zeeland
the county of Holland
the duchy of Brabant (including the margraviate of Antwerp, the counties of Leuven and of Brussels and the advocacy of the abbey of Nivelles and of Gembloux)
the duchy of Limburg (including the counties of Dalhem and of Valkenburg and the lordship of Herzogenrath)
the Duchy of Luxemburg
the prince-bishopric, later lordship of Utrecht
the lordship of West-Frisia
the duchy of Guelders and the county of Zutphen
the lordships of Groningen
the Ommelanden
lordship of Drenthe, Lingen, Wedde and Westerwolde
the lordship of Overijssel

It was not always the same Seventeen Provinces represented at the Estates-General of the Netherlands. Sometimes one delegation was included in another.

In later years the county of Zutphen became a part of the duchy of Guelders, and the duchy of Limburg was dependent on the duchy of Brabant. On the other hand the French-speaking cities of Flanders were sometimes recognised as a separate Province.

In addition, there were a number of fiefdoms in this region that were not part of the Seventeen Provinces. The largest one was the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the green area on the map, including the county of Horne.

It was not a member-province of the Burgundian Circle. It was part of the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. In the north, there were also a few smaller entities like the island of Ameland that would retain their own lords until the French revolution.

[edit] History

History of the Low Countries
Bishopric of Liège 985–1790	Burgundian Netherlands		Duchy of Luxembourg integrated 1441
	1384/1473–1482
	Habsburg Netherlands 1482–1556
	Spanish Netherlands	United Netherlands 1581–1795	1581–1713
	Austrian Netherlands		1713–1790
United States of Belgium			1790
Bishopric of Liège 1790–1795	Austrian Netherlands		1790–1794
French Republic		Batavian Republic 1795–1806	1795–1804
French Empire		Kingdom of Holland 1806–1810	1804–1815

United Kingdom of the Netherlands 1815–1830			Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Kingdom of Belgium since 1830		Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1830	(in personal union with the Netherlands until 1890)
Edit

The Seventeen Provinces originated from the Burgundian Netherlands. The dukes of Burgundy systematically became the lord of different provinces. Mary I of Valois, duchess of Burgundy was the last of the House of Burgundy.

When she married, Maximilian I of Habsburg, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the provinces were inherited by the House of Habsburg in 1482 . His grandson and successor Charles V of Habsburg, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and duke of Burgundy eventially united all XVII provinces under his rule, the last one being the duchy of Guelders, in 1543.

Most of these provinces were fiefs under the Holy Roman Empire, of which Charles himself became Emperor. Two provinces, the county of Flanders and county of Artois, were originally French fiefs, but sovereignty was ceded to the Empire in the Treaty of Cambrai in 1529.

The Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 determined that the Provinces should remain united in the future and inherited by the same monarch. Therefore, Charles V introduced the title of Heer der Nederlanden (Lord of the Netherlands). Only he and his son could ever used this title.

After Charles V's abdication in 1556, his realms became divided between his son, Philip II of Habsburg, king of Spain, and his brother, Ferdinand I. The Seventeen Provinces went to his son, the king of Spain.

Conflicts between Philip II and his Dutch subjects led to the Eighty Years' War, which started in 1568. The seven northern provinces gained their independence as a republic called the Seven United Provinces. They were:

the Lordship of Groningen and of the Ommelanden
the Lordship of Friesland
the Lordship of Overijssel
the duchy of Guelders (except its upper quarter) and the county of Zutphen
the prince-bishopric, later lordship of Utrecht
the county of Holland
the county of Zeeland

The southern provinces, Flanders, Brabant, Namur, Hainaut, Luxembourg a.o., were restored to Spanish rule thanks to the military and political talent of the Duke of Parma, especially at the siege of Antwerp (1584-1585). Hence, these Provinces became known as the Spanish Netherlands or Southern Netherlands.

The northern Seven United Provinces kept parts of Limburg, Brabant and Flanders during the Eighty Years' War (see Generality Lands), which was ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.

Artois, and parts of Flanders and Hainaut were ceded to France in the course of the 17th and 18th century.

[edit] Economy

A map of European Spanish Empire after the Battle of Mühlberg (1547) as depicted in the Cambridge Modern History Atlas (1912) - Habsburg lands are shaded green

By the mid-16th century, the margraviate of Antwerp (duchy of Brabant) had become the economic, political and cultural center of the Netherlands after its capital had shifted from the nearby lordship of Mechelen to the city of Brussels.

Bruges (county of Flanders) had already lost its prominent position as economic powerhouse of northern Europe. And Holland was gradually gaining importance in the 15th and 16th centuries.

However after the independence of the seven northern provinces and the resulting closure of the Scheldt river to navigation, a large number of people from the southern provinces emigrated north to the new republic.

The center of prosperity moved from cities in the south such as Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent, and Brussels to cities in the north, mostly Holland, including Amsterdam, the Hague, and Rotterdam.

[edit] Netherlands

To distinguish between the older and larger Low Countries of the Netherlands from the current country of the Netherlands, Dutch speakers usually drop the plural for the latter. They speak of Nederland in singular for the current country and of de Nederlanden in plural for the integral domains of Charles V.

In other languages, this has not been adopted, though the larger area is sometimes known as the Low Countries in English.

The fact that the same term Netherlands has such different historical meanings can sometimes lead to difficulties in expressing oneself correctly. For example, composers from the 16th century are often said to belong to the Nederlandse School or Dutch School). Although they themselves would not have objected to that term, today it may wrongly create the impression that they were from the north. In fact, they were almost exclusively from the south (Belgian School).