The Rise and Fall of the Duchy of Brabant
Brabant derived its name
from the Carolingian pagus by the
same name, between the rivers Schelde (Scheldt) and
Dijle. It got under the rule of the Counts of Leuven
(Louvain), who enlarged their domain considerably
between the 10th and 12th centuries, with the county of
Ukkel-Brussel (Uccle-Brussels), the abbeys of Nijvel
and Gembloers, and the domains of Antwerpen and Orthen, later
's-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc). From about 1100 AD
onwards, they called themselves Dukes of Brabant.
After the acquisition of Maastricht (1204), the County Daelhem
(1244) and the Duchy of Limburg (Battle of Woeringen, 1288,
won by Jan I, the Victorious of Brabant) they controlled
the
important trade-route Brugge-Köln
(Bruges-Cologne). Apart from that also their port
Antwerpen played an important role in world trade.
The relationship between the Duke and its subjects was
arranged by ducal charter (de Blijde Inkomst),
established as early as 1312 and abolished in 1794 as a
result of the French rule.
In 1406 Duchess Johanna of Brabant, was succeeded by
Antoon of
Burgundy. The first university in the Netherlands, in Leuven,
was founded in 1425 by the latter's son, Jan IV of Brabant.
After his death (1427) and that of Antoon's other son,
Fillips of St.-Pol (1430), leaving the house of Brabant
without heirs, the Duchy was ruled by Fillips the Good of
Burgundy. The same year Fillips founded the Gulden Vlies
knighthood (Golden Fleece).
After the marriage between Fillips' granddaughter Maria of
Burgundy and Maximilian of Austria (1477) Brabant came under
Habsburg rule. During the Burgundy and later Habsburg rule of
the Netherlands, Brabant
took the lead over Flanders, that
had been the leading land for centuries.
During the 16th century the Duchy shared the wealth of its
main port Antwerpen, but that was overshadowed by the
outbreak of the Eighty Years' War between the Netherlands and
the Spanish Habsburgs. The wealth of the Duchy was
accompanied by a rise in arts and sciences, putting Brabant
in the centre of the World as it was then known. At the
Westphalia Treaty which concluded the war in 1648, the Duchy
lost most of its estates north of Antwerpen to the Republic of
the Netherlands. These estates are now called the Dutch
province of Noord-Brabant (North Brabant). The
remainder of the Duchy stayed under Habsburg rule.
The remaining Brabant
played once more an important role
during the revolts against the Austrian Emperor Joseph II,
the 'Brabantse Omwenteling' (Brabant Revolt,
1787-89)
and against King Willem I of Orange Nassau, the Belgian
Revolution (1830).
During the rule of Napoleon I Bonaparte, from 1795 - 1814, the
remaining southern estates of Brabant were split in the
Département de la Dyle (later the
Belgian province of Brabant)
and the Département des Deux-Nethes (now the Belgian province of
Antwerpen).
After the decline of the French Empire, the three parts were
once more in one state, from 1814 to 1830, until the final
separation of Belgium from the Netherlands in 1839.
Due to the recent administrative division of Belgium into
Federal state consisting of Flanders, the Walloon provinces
and capital Brussels, the province of Brabant was split up
once more into Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and the
region Brussels Capital.
Thus the historical Brabant now consists of no
fewer than five
parts, one of which in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, four
in Belgium. Historical Brabant covers over 11,000
km2, an
economically flourishing area in the middle of the European
Union, in which nowadays 6.5 million people live.
