Flanders

Land of the Flemings. It lay along the North Sea between the Somme and the Scheldt. In 862 Baldwin of the Iron Arm was made Count by the French king; by 1007 his descendants held of the Emperor also. F. was united to Burgundy 1384, and became subject to Austria 1477, though France did not relinquish her claim till 1526. By various treaties Louis XIV. recovered a considerable portion of French Flanders; the rest was a igned to Austria by the treaty of Rastatt 1714. The French conquered it 1794 and held it till the Congre of Vienna. 1814, a igned it to the kingdom of the Netherlands. Since 1831 it has formed two provinces (East and West F.) of Belgium. See BALDWIN, ARTEVELDE, PHILIP THE BOLD, MARY OF BURGUNDY, and PHILIP II.