SOUTH-EAST-FLANDERS ----- ZUID-OOST-VLAANDEREN
FLEMISH ARDENNES ----- VLAAMSE ARDENNEN
FLANDERS - BELGIUM ----- VLAANDEREN - BELGIE
Next Page Historical Overview Homepage Created 2001/03/17 |
1225 - 1625 The County of Flanders plaid for a long time a prominent role in the politically divided Low Countries. It had been equiped with kasselrijen, administrative entities that maintained well developed administrative machineries. Though vividly contested, the judicial system was centralized and uniformized, strengthening the power of the count's administrators (bailiffs). After the 13th century, the Duchy of Brabant grew into the most important region, though the City of Gent (County of Flanders) remained with 64,000 inhabitants the second largest city in Europe north of the Alps, after Paris. During the reign of the Burgundian dukes (1384-1477), the Low Countries where totally unified, generating an evolution towards a centralized state administration. Representatives of the regions seated in the Staten Generaal (States General) and a Supreme Court, called Hoge Raad, was installed. The submission of the City of Brugge in 1438, and the militarian defeat of the City of Gent nearby the Town of Gavere in 1453, broke the resistance of the larger cities. Emperor Charles V (1515-1555) went one step further and installed three collateral councils: the Raad van State (Council of State) for political advise, the Raad van Financien (Council of Finance) for budgetary control, the Geheime Raad (Secret Council) for administration of justice and government. In the kasselrij Land van Aalst, the City of Geraardsbergen grew into the most important political and militarian base of the Kasselrij after its annexation by the Count of Flanders in 1047. After Count Philip of Alsace acquired the properties of the Lords of Aalst in 1165, the City of Aalst became more and more important. Since the 13th century, a bailiff headed a coordinating court of justice, called Leenhof Ten Stene. Sources dating back to 1367 report for the first time about the Landscollege, a coordinating administrative entity of the Land van Aalst. In this entity, the Cities of Aalst and Geraardsbergen and the five most important fiefs (also called roeden or baanderijen) as representatives of the countryside. These fiefs were Land van Rhode (19 villages), Land van Boelare (12 villages), Land van Zottegem (12 villages), Land van Gavere (11 villages), and Land van Schorisse (8 villages). 21 villages were "sgraven propre" (the Count's own) and the remaining other villages belonged to domestic or foreign lords. Source: Koenraad DE WOLF, Architectuurgids Zuid-Oost-Vlaanderen. Gotische Bouwkunst (1225 - 1625), Zottegem, 1997, p. 7. (English translation: Architectural Guide of South-East-Flanders. Gotic Architecture.) |
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