, and the
Free County of Burgundy, in the middle of the 16th century (in light orange)
Background A common administration of fiefs in the Low Countries, centered in the
Duchy of Brabant, already existed under the rule of the Burgundian Duke
Philip the Good with the implementation of a
stadtholder and the first convocation of the
States General of the Netherlands in 1464. His granddaughter Mary had confirmed a number of privileges to the States by the
Great Privilege signed in 1477. After the government takeover by her husband Archduke
Maximilian I of Austria, the States insisted on their privileges, culminating in a
Hook rebellion in
Holland and
Flemish revolts. Maximilian prevailed with the support of Duke
Albert III of Saxony and his son
Philip the Handsome, husband of
Joanna of Castile, could assume the rule over the Habsburg Netherlands in 1493. Philip as well as his son and successor
Charles V retained the title of a "
Duke of Burgundy" referring to their Burgundian inheritance, but not having the
Duchy of Burgundy in their possession, since it was taken by the French already in 1477. Only the
Free County of Burgundy, in the Holy Roman Empire, remained in Habsburg rule, since 1493. The Habsburgs often used the term
Burgundy to refer to their hereditary lands both in historical Burgundy and the Low Countries (e.g. in the name of the Imperial
Burgundian Circle established in 1512), actually until 1795, when the
Austrian Netherlands were lost to the
French Republic. The
Governor-general of the Netherlands was responsible for the administration of the Habsburg lands in the Low Countries. Charles V was born and raised in the Low Countries and often stayed at the
Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels. By the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, Charles V declared the Seventeen Provinces a united and indivisible Habsburg dominion. Between 1555 and 1556, the House of Habsburg split into an Austrian and a Spanish branch as a consequence of Charles's abdications: the Netherlands were left to his son
Philip II of Spain, while his brother King
Ferdinand I succeeded him as
Holy Roman Emperor. The Seventeen Provinces,
de jure still fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, from that time on
de facto were ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs.
Eighty Years' War and
Infanta Isabella of Spain, struck in Antwerp 1612.Obv: Portraits of Albert and Isabella. Rev: Eagle holding balance, date 1612. Philip's stern
Counter-Reformation measures sparked the
Dutch Revolt in the mainly
Calvinist Netherlandish provinces, which led to the outbreak of the
Eighty Years' War in 1568. In January 1579 the seven northern provinces formed the Protestant
Union of Utrecht, which declared independence from the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as the
Republic of the Seven United Netherlands by the 1581
Act of Abjuration. The Spanish branch of the Habsburgs could retain the rule only over the partly Catholic
Southern Netherlands, completed after the
Fall of Antwerp in 1585. Better times came, when in 1598 the Spanish Netherlands passed to Philip's daughter
Isabella Clara Eugenia and her husband Archduke
Albert VII of Austria. The couple's rule brought a period of much-needed peace and stability to the economy, which stimulated the growth of a separate South Netherlandish identity and consolidated the authority of the House of Habsburg reconciling previous anti-Spanish sentiments. In the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at
Brussels. Among the artists who emerged from the court of the "Archdukes", as they were known, was
Peter Paul Rubens. Under Isabella and Albert, the Spanish Netherlands actually had formal independence from Spain, but always remained unofficially within the Spanish sphere of influence. With Albert's death in 1621 they returned to formal Spanish control, although the childless Isabella remained on as governor until her death in 1633. The failing wars intended to regain the 'heretical' northern Netherlands meant significant loss of (still mainly Catholic) territories in the north, which was consolidated in 1648 in the
Peace of Westphalia, and given the peculiar inferior status of
Generality Lands (jointly ruled by the United Republic, not admitted as member provinces):
Zeelandic Flanders (south of the River
Scheldt), the present Dutch province of
North Brabant and
Maastricht (in the present-day Dutch province of
Limburg).
French conquests As the power of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs waned in the latter decades of the 17th century, the territory of the Netherlands under Habsburg rule was repeatedly invaded by the French and an increasing portion of the territory came under French control in successive wars. By the
Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 the French annexed most of
Artois, and
Dunkirk was ceded to the English. By the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (ending the
War of Devolution in 1668) and
Nijmegen (ending the
Franco-Dutch War in 1678), further territory up to the current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including
Cambrai,
Walloon Flanders, as well as
half of the County of Hainaut (including
Valenciennes), and further to the south Spanish Habsburgs also lost the
Free County of Burgundy. Later, in the
War of the Reunions and the
Nine Years' War, France annexed other parts of the region that were restored to Spain by the
Treaty of Rijswijk 1697. During the
War of the Spanish Succession, in 1706 the Habsburg Netherlands became an Anglo-Dutch
condominium for the remainder of the conflict. By the peace treaties of
Utrecht and
Rastatt in 1713/14 ending the war, the Southern Netherlands returned to the Austrian
Habsburg monarchy forming the
Austrian Netherlands. ==Provinces==