Habsburg Netherlands
Habsburg Netherlands[1] was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary, wife of Maximilian I of Austria, died.[2] Their grandson, Emperor Charles V, was born in the Habsburg Netherlands and made Brussels one of his capitals.[3][4]
This article is about the entire period of Habsburg rule in the Low Countries. For the rule of the Spanish branch, see Spanish Netherlands. For that of the Austrian branch, see Austrian Netherlands.
Habsburg Netherlands
Personal union of Imperial fiefs within Empire
- Roman Catholicsm (state religion)
- Protestantism (popular)
1482
1512
1549
1556
30 January 1648
7 March 1714
18 September 1794
17 October 1797
Becoming known as the Seventeen Provinces in 1549, they were held by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556, known as the Spanish Netherlands from that time on.[5] In 1581, in the midst of the Dutch Revolt, the Seven United Provinces seceded from the rest of this territory to form the Dutch Republic. The remaining Spanish Southern Netherlands became the Austrian Netherlands in 1714, after Austrian acquisition under the Treaty of Rastatt. De facto Habsburg rule ended with the annexation by the revolutionary French First Republic in 1795. Austria, however, did not relinquish its claim over the country until 1797 in the Treaty of Campo Formio.
The provinces were ruled on their behalf by a governor (stadtholder or landvoogd):