Romance Flanders or Gallicant Flanders is a historical term for the part of 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 ...

in which

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

were spoken, such as varieties of

Picard Picard may refer to: Places * Picard, Quebec, Canada * Picard, California, United States * Picard (crater), a lunar impact crater in Mare Crisium People and fictional characters * Picard (name), a list of people and fictional characters with th ...

. Today the region straddles the border of

France 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 ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Name

Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...

, Romance Flanders was also known as ''Welch Flanders'' or ''Gallike Flanders''. The original French name is ''Flandre Gallicane'' or ''Flandre Gallicante'', derived from the Latin term ''Gallo Flandria'' or ''Flandria Gallica''. The term '' Walloon Flanders'' has also been used to designate the region although strictly this would be a political rather than a linguistic designation as the local Romance dialect is

and not Walloon. Part of Romance Flanders lies within the Belgian political region of

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

Territory

: * The Lilloise Flanders (in French ''Flandre Lilloise'', in Dutch ''Rijsels-Vlaanderen''). Historically this area made up the semi-autonomous region of the

known as Lilloise Flanders. Other name includes ''Gallicant Flanders.'' * The northern part of the Scarpe plain with the Pévèle and the bailiwick of

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

(''Douaisis''). In

: * The historical Tournaisis (in ); * The regions of

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

and Comines, part of the old castellany of

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

References

{{Flanders topics County of Flanders