History of Belgium
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Belgium |
Although the modern country of Belgium was founded in 1830, the history of the peoples and the territory of the southern Low Countries reaches back to the Roman period. Around 50 bc Roman general Julius Caesar named the territory of the Belgae he had conquered Gallia Belgica (Belgian Gaul). The Roman region of Gallia Belgica included modern Belgium, northern France, Netherlands, and part of Switzerland. Rome’s successor in western Europe was the kingdom of the Franks, which originated in Belgian Gaul and expanded into Germany, eventually extending from the Pyrenees eastward across the Alps and southward as far as Rome itself. |
The Franks were led by Charlemagne, who united all of western Europe through conquest during his reign from 768 to 814. When the Frankish realm was partitioned in 843, Belgium was incorporated in the duchy of Lorraine, which was part of Francia Orientalis (the East Frankish Kingdom, or Germany). In the extreme west of this realm arose the county of Flanders, which was a fief of the kings of France. The Middle Ages, and especially the 12th and 13th centuries, were a period of intensive commercial development throughout the southern Low Countries. The merchant class rose to great prosperity, and cities flourished. In Flanders the cloth trade was the basis of the wealth and growing independence of such cities as Brugge, Ghent, and Ypres. |
Liège grew rich on the profits of its iron forges and arms manufacture. Wealthy merchants and powerful guilds vied with each other in endowing public works such as the belfries, guildhalls, and churches that are still the pride of many Belgian cities. |
The most important of the medieval states in what is now Belgium was Flanders. In the early Middle Ages the counts of Flanders succeeded in establishing themselves as independent rulers, although the king of France was the theoretical overlord of the region. At the end of the 13th century Flanders was annexed by King Philip IV of France. French rule was welcomed by some of the Flemish nobility but was bitterly resented by the merchants and craftsmen in the cities. In 1302 the craftsmen of Brugge massacred the French garrison of the city. In the same year an army of Flemish townsmen inflicted a crushing defeat on the French in the Battle of Courtrai. It is sometimes called the Battle of the Spurs because the Flemings collected the spurs of the dead French knights as trophies. However, the French later gained control over Flanders. During the Hundred Years' War between France and England, the Flemings rebelled under the leadership of Ghent and allied themselves with England, but in 1382 were decisively defeated. |
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Picture of Charlemagne. |
In 1384 Flanders was united with Burgundy, and by the mid-15th century the dukes of Burgundy ruled the greater part of the Belgian and Dutch Netherlands. Flanders continued to enjoy great prosperity, and the great age of Flemish art began. While owing allegiance to the French crown, Burgundy’s aim was to found a powerful state between France and Germany. This effort was disrupted by the death in 1477 of the last Burgundian ruler, Charles the Bold. Encarta |
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