The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the

Burgundian Circle The Burgundian Circle (, , ) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire created in 1512 and significantly enlarged in 1548. In addition to the Free County of Burgundy (the former administrative region of Franche-Comté), the Burgundian Circle ...

of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

of the former

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

under the

Treaty of Rastatt The Treaty of Rastatt was a peace treaty between Kingdom of France, France and Archduchy of Austria, Austria that was concluded on 7 March 1714 in the Margraviate of Baden, Baden city of Rastatt to end the War of the Spanish Succession between bo ...

in 1714. It lasted until Revolutionary France annexed the territory after the Battle of Sprimont in 1794 and the Peace of Basel in 1795. Austria relinquished its claim on the province in 1797 through the

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...

. The Netherlands, previously the Burgundian Netherlands, inherited by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, having revolted against the absolutism and centralism of

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

, their common sovereign, launched a war which led in fact, in 1568, to the formation in the north of the Republic of the United Provinces, a new state whose independence would finally be recognized by the

King of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

in 1648 during the Treaty of Münster, and in the south of a group of around ten provinces which Philip II and then his successors managed to preserve under the name of

. In 1700, King Charles II of Spain designated the French Prince Philip of Anjou, grandson of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, as his successor. He preferred him to a member of the cousin branch of the Austrian Habsburgs. Louis XIV accepted this choice on behalf of his wife, whose dowry had never been paid. A coalition was formed between the Austrian Habsburgs,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and the United Provinces against Louis XIV's France and Philip V's Spain. This marked the beginning of the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

(1701–1714), during which the

were occupied by France on behalf of Louis XIV's grandson. At the end of this war ( Treaties of Utrecht in 1713 and Rastatt in 1714), the Kingdom of Spain remained in the hands of Philip V. However, he had to relinquish the Spanish Netherlands, which were transferred to the House of Austria, constituting a sort of

buffer state A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between t ...

between the United Provinces and France. The Treaty of the Barrier (1715) granted the United Provinces the right to garrison certain strongholds in the Austrian Netherlands. These were again occupied by France during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

(1744–1748). The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle returned them to Maria Theresa in 1748.

History

The

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...

(1568–1648) later led to a division of the Low Countries between the Dutch Republic in the north and the Southern Netherlands, which later became Belgium and Luxembourg. The area had been held by the Habsburgs, but was briefly under Bourbon control in the

. Under the

(1714) which ended that war, the remainder of the Spanish Netherlands was ceded to Austria. Administratively, the country was divided into four traditional duchies, three

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

and various

lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of eco ...

From the Burgundian Netherlands to the Austrian Netherlands (1477-1714)

The provinces of the Netherlands, which at the end of the reign of Charles V (1555), numbered seventeen (the

Seventeen Provinces The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the France, French Departments of Franc ...

), were gathered by the dukes of Burgundy from 1384 to 1477. The main ones were the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...

, the County of Artois, the

County of Flanders The County of Flanders was one of the most powerful political entities in the medieval Low Countries, located on the North Sea coast of modern-day Belgium and north-eastern France. Unlike the neighbouring states of Duchy of Brabant, Brabant and ...

, the

County of Hainaut The County of Hainaut ( ; ; ; ), sometimes spelled Hainault, was a territorial lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire that straddled the present-day border of Belgium and France. Its most important towns included Mons, Belgium, Mons (), n ...

, the

Duchy of Luxembourg The Duchy of Luxembourg (; ; ; ) was a Imperial state, state of the Holy Roman Empire, the ancestral homeland of the noble House of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg became one of the most important political forces in the 14th century, comp ...

, the County of Namur, the

County of Holland The County of Holland was a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire from its inception until 1433. From 1433 onward it was part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading pro ...

, and the County of Zeeland. Most of them are part of the Holy Empire, except Artois and Flanders, fiefs of the Kingdom of France. The death of Charles the Bold led to a conflict with France, the War of the Burgundian Succession, at the end of which Charles's successor, Philip the Handsome, son of Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482) and the Habsburg Maximilian I (

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

) but retained the remaining Burgundian possessions (County of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands). His successor, Charles of Habsburg (1500–1558), who became ruler of the Netherlands in 1516, became king of Castile and

king of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre in ...

the same year, and in 1519, upon the death of Maximilian, he became head of the House of Habsburg and was elected emperor under the now common name of Charles V (Charles V). To the Dutch provinces he already held, he added

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

(1521), the Principality of Utrecht (1528) and the Duchy of Guelders (1543), and obtained from the King of France the end of French suzerainty over Artois and Flanders ( Treaty of Madrid of 1526), which were integrated into the Empire. As early 1512, Maximilian I grouped the possessions of the

House of Burgundy The House of Burgundy () was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, descending from Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, a younger son of King Robert II of France. The House ruled the Duchy of Burgundy from 1032 to 1361 and achieved the recognized title ...

into an imperial circle, the

(the other nine being Austria, Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Upper and Lower Saxony, Westphalia, the Upper Rhine, and the Lower Rhine). By an ordinance of 26 June 1548, the Transaction of Augsburg, Charles V gave the Circle of Burgundy a special status within the Empire, ensuring it almost-independence. When Charles V abdicated sovereignty of the Netherlands in October 1555, he passed it on to his eldest son

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

, who also became King of Spain in January 1556, while the Habsburg possessions in Austria went to

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

(1503–1564), Charles's brother. This established a special bond between the Burgundian Netherlands and the Spanish crown. The unity of the Netherlands was reinforced in 1561 by the reorganization of the dioceses: creation of the primatial seat of Malines, of two other archbishoprics (

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

and

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

) and of fifteen dioceses. The relations between Philip II (King of Spain) and his Dutch subjects quickly turned sour. In 1566, the

began, which escalated into a war in 1568 under the leadership of Prince William The Silent. In 1581, the insurgent provinces and cities of the

Union of Utrecht The Union of Utrecht () was an alliance based on an agreement concluded on 23 January 1579 between a number of Habsburg Netherlands, Dutch provinces and cities, to reach a joint commitment against the king, Philip II of Spain. By joining forces ...

proclaimed Philip II's deposition ( Act of Abjuration). The war continued, allowing Philip's troops to reconquer Ghent, Brussels, and the Siege of Antwerp (1585), but the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Friesland were lost for good. This loss was made official in 1648, when the King of Spain recognized the independence of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands. By the end of the 16th century, the Circle of Burgundy was thus reduced to the southern provinces: the

, with the Marquisate of Antwerp, the Duchy of Limburg and the three territories of Outre-Meuse (the lands of Fauquemont, Daelem, and Rolduc), the

and the County of Chiny, the Duchy of Guelders, the

, the

, the County of Namur, the Lordship of Mechelen, and the Bailiwick of Tournai and Tournaisis. The territory of the Spanish Netherlands was discontinuous: indeed, even though it was under the protectorate of the King of Spain, the vast Episcopal Principality of Liège remained in the hands of its prince, the Bishop of Liège, a vassal of the Emperor. South of Liège, the less important Principality of Stavelot-Malmedy found itself in a similar situation. These are the provinces which fell to the Habsburgs of Austria in 1714, the principalities of Liège and Stavelot-Malmedy continuing to be separate.

Brabant Revolution

In the 1780s, opposition emerged to the liberal reforms of Emperor Joseph II, which were perceived as an attack on the Catholic Church and the traditional institutions of the Austrian Netherlands. Resistance grew, focused in the autonomous and wealthy

and

. In the aftermath of rioting and disruption in 1787 known as the Small Revolution, many opponents took refuge in the neighboring

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

where they formed a rebel army. Soon after the outbreak of the French and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

revolutions, the ''émigré'' army crossed into the Austrian Netherlands and decisively defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Turnhout on 27 October 1789. The rebels, supported by uprisings across the territory, soon took control over much of the territory and proclaimed independence. Despite the tacit support of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, the independent United Belgian States, established in January 1790, received no foreign recognition and soon became divided along ideological lines. The Vonckists led by Jan Frans Vonck advocated progressive and liberal government, whereas the Statists, led by Hendrik Van der Noot, were staunchly conservative and supported by the Church. The Statists, who had a wider base of support, drove the Vonckists into exile through terror. By mid-1790, Habsburg Austria ended its war with the Ottoman Empire and prepared to suppress the rebels. The new

, Leopold II, was also a liberal and proposed an amnesty for the rebels. After defeating a Statist army at the Battle of Falmagne (22 September 1790), the territory was soon overrun and the revolution was defeated by December. The Austrian reestablishment was short-lived and the territory was overrun by the French in 1794 (during the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...

) after the Battle of Fleurus.

Imperial Council of State

The Council of State acted as government, and formed the council by imperial consent:Almanach de la cour de Bruxelles sous les dominatione autrichienne et francaise, la monarchie des Pays-Bas et le gouvernement belge, de 1725 a 1840 (etc.) * Baron , Imperial Diplomat * Cardinal Christoph Bartholomäus Anton Migazzi * Cardinal von Frankenberg *

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

of , Imperial Lord Chamberlain * Philippe von Cobenzl, vice Chancellor of the Imperial Council of State. * Henri d'Ognies, Prince of Grimberghen, Imperial Lord Chamberlain * Count of Neny president of the Privy Council, member of the Imperial Council of State * Count of Woestenraedt, Imperial Lord Chamberlain. * Marquess of Chasteler, Lord Chamberlain * Count of Gommegnies, President of the Council of Hainaut * Viscount of Villers; Imperial Treasurer General * Franz Joseph, Prince of Gavre: Grand Marshall of the Imperial Court of the Archduchess.

French rule

1794 was the third year of the

. The Austrians gave up on contesting the Low Countries after the Battle of Fleurus (26 June), and left them to the French. After three months of military occupation, on 15 October a Central High Administration of Belgium was installed. On 1 October 1795 the departments were activated and the definitive annexation started, liquidating the Belgian Governing Council, which ceased on 22 November. France annexed the Austrian Netherlands from the Holy Roman Empire and integrated them into the

French Republic France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The commissioner of the Directory, , finished his work on January 20, 1797, after which no common Belgian authority remained.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* Heinrich Benedikt.
Als Belgien österreichisch war
'. Herold, Vienna, 1965. {{Authority control

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Early modern history of Luxembourg Former states in the Low Countries 18th century in the Southern Netherlands 18th century in the Habsburg monarchy 18th century in Luxembourg States and territories established in 1714 States and territories disestablished in 1797 1714 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1797 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire