| Burgundian Circle Burgundischer Kreis | |
|---|---|
| 1512–1797 | |
 The Burgundian Circle after 1548 within theHoly Roman Empire | |
| Historical era | Early modern period |
• Established | 1512 |
• Secession of the Seven United Provinces | 1648 |
• Disestablished | 1797 |
| Today part of | |
TheBurgundian Circle (German:Burgundischer Kreis,Dutch:Bourgondische Kreits,French:Cercle de Bourgogne) was animperial circle of theHoly Roman Empire created in 1512 and significantly enlarged in 1548.[1] In addition to theFree County of Burgundy (the region ofFranche-Comté), the Burgundian Circle roughly covered theLow Countries, i.e., the areas now known as theNetherlands,Belgium andLuxembourg and adjacent parts in the French administrative region ofNord-Pas-de-Calais. For most of its history, its lands were coterminous with theHabsburg Netherlands and the Burgundian Free County (Franche-Comté).
The circle's territorial scope was reduced considerably in the 17th century with the secession of theSeven United Provinces in 1581 (recognized 1648 under theTreaty of Westphalia) and the annexation of the Free County of Burgundy byFrance in 1678. Consequently, in the 18th century the circle was known asAustrian Netherlands as the Austrian Habsburgs had obtained the territory from Spain earlier in that century. The occupation and subsequent annexation of Imperial territory to the west of theRhine river byRevolutionary France in the 1790s effectively brought an end to the circle's existence.
After the 1548Diet of Augsburg, the circle was made up of the following territories:
| Name | Type of entity | Comments |
|---|---|---|
 Antwerp | Marquisate | (Antorf) |
 Artois | County | (Artesien)Ceded by France in 1493,annexed by France in 1659. |
 Batenburg | Lordship | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. |
 Brabant | Duchy | |
 Breda | Barony | Held by theCounts of Nassau. |
 Culemborg | County | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Raised to a county in 1555. Vassal of theDutch Republic in 1588. |
 Dalhem | County | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548.Personal union with theDukes of Brabant as theLands of Overmaas. |
 Drenthe | County | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Held by theLordship of Groningen. |
 Egmond | County | |
 Flanders | County | (Flandern) |
.svg) Friesland | Lordship | Seceded to form part of the United Provinces in 1579. |
 Groningen | Free Imperial City | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. |
 Groningen | Lordship | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. A grouping of the formerOmmelanden, which seceded to form part of the United Provinces in 1579, and theCity of Groningen, which joined the United Provinces in 1594. |
 Guelders | Duchy | (Geldern) Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Which, with the exception ofUpper Guelders, seceded to form part of the United Provinces from 1579. |
 Hainaut | County | (Hennegau) |
 Herzogenrath | Lordship | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548.Personal union with theDukes of Brabant as theLands of Overmaas. |
 Holland | County | Seceded in 1579 to become part of the United Provinces. |
.svg) Horne | County | In apersonal union with thePrince-Bishopric of Liège after 1568.Annexed by France in 1795. |
 IJsselstein | Barony | (Ysselstein) Held by theCount of Egmond. |
 Jever | Lordship | Unencircled until transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. ToHolland in 1807. |
 Limburg | Duchy | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Held by the Dukes of Brabant. |
 Lingen | County | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Part of the Netherlands since 1648, under Prussian rule since 1702. |
 Lothier | Duchy | Honourific title associated with the territory within the former Duchy ofLower Lotharingia. Held by theDuchy of Brabant. |
 Luxembourg | Duchy | (Luxemburg) |
.svg) Maastricht | Free Imperial City | Annexed byFrance in 1794. |
 Mechelen | Lordship | (Mecheln) Apersonal lordship of the Duke of Burgundy. |
 Namur | County | (Namür) |
 Overijssel | Lordship | (Oberyssel) Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Including theCounty of Drenthe, which seceded to form part of the United Provinces in 1579. |
 Tournai | Lordship | (Dornick) Included since 1521. Annexed byFirst French Republic in 1794. |
  Utrecht | Prince-Bishopric | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. LaterLordship of Utrecht. which seceded to form part of the United Provinces in 1579. |
 Valkenburg | County | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548.Personal union with theDukes of Brabant as theLands of Overmaas. |
 Zeeland | County | (Seeland) Held by the Counts of Holland; seceded to form part of the United Provinces in 1579. |
 Zutphen | County | (Zütphen) Held by the Counts of Holland; seceded to form part of the United Provinces in 1579. |
| Name | Type of entity | Commentate |
|---|---|---|
 Burgundy | County | (Burgund) Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548.Annexed byFrance in 1678. |
 Besançon | Prince-Bishopric | (Bisanz) Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548.Annexed byFrance in 1678. |
 Besançon | Free Imperial City | (Bisanz) Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Lost Imperial status in 1651, becomingFree City of Besançon.Annexed byFrance in 1678. |
 Charolais | County | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Ownership was confirmed in theTreaty of Paris toMargaret of Austria.Annexed byFrance in 1678. |
.svg) Chaussin | Lordship | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Ownership was confirmed in theTreaty of Paris toMargaret of Austria.Annexed byFrance in 1678. |
.svg) Laperrière | Marquisate | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548. Ownership was confirmed in theTreaty of Paris toMargaret of Austria.Annexed byFrance in 1678. |
 Salins | Lordship | Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1548.Annexed byFrance in 1678. |
The ImperialSeventeen Provinces emerged from theBurgundian Netherlands ruled inpersonal union by the FrenchDukes of Burgundy. Most of the seventeen had been fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire on the territory ofLower Lorraine, except forFlanders andArtois. In 1482, they fell to theHouse of Habsburg.
In 1363, the French KingJohn II of Valois enfeoffed his youngest sonPhilip the Bold with theDuchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne). Philip in 1369 marriedMargaret of Dampierre, the only child of CountLouis II of Flanders (d. 1384), whose immense dowry not only included Flanders and Artois but also the ImperialCounty of Burgundy. He thereby became the progenitor of theHouse of Valois-Burgundy, which systematically came into possession of different Imperial fiefs: his grandsonPhilip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1419, purchasedNamur in 1429, and inherited the duchies ofBrabant andLimburg from his cousinPhilip of Saint-Pol in 1430. In 1432, he forcedJacqueline of Wittelsbach to cede him the counties ofHainaut andHolland along withZeeland, under theTreaty of Delft, and finally occupiedLuxembourg, exiling DuchessElisabeth of Görlitz in 1443.
TheBurgundian State then bore a faint resemblance to the early medievalLotharingia, but fell suddenly with the death of the ambitiousCharles the Bold. In 1473, he had agreed withFrederick III, Holy Roman Emperor to marry his daughterMary the Rich to the Emperor's son ArchdukeMaximilian I of Austria in exchange for the elevation of his Imperial territories to a "Kingdom of Burgundy", co-equal to the French kingdom of his Valois cousins. ThePrince-electors, however, forestalled these plans, and Duke Charles started a desperate campaign against theDuchy of Lorraine and was killed at the 1477Battle of Nancy. To secure her heritage against KingLouis XI of France, his daughter Mary nevertheless married Maximilian the same year. The Archduke defeated the French troops at the 1479Battle of Guinegate and by the 1493Treaty of Senlis annexed the Seventeen Provinces – including the French fiefs of Flanders and Artois – for theHouse of Habsburg. The sovereignty finally passed to the Empire in theTreaty of Cambrai in 1529. The Duchy of Burgundy proper was seized as a reverted fief by the French crown.
Maximilian's grandson and successor,Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor eventually won theGuelders Wars and united all seventeen provinces under his rule, the last one being theDuchy of Guelders in 1543. TheBurgundian treaty of 1548 shifted the seventeen provinces from theLower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle to the Burgundian circle, resulting in a significant territorial gain for the latter and increased tax obligation. ThePragmatic Sanction of 1549 determined that the Provinces should remain united in the future and inherited by the same monarch. After Charles V's abdication in 1556, his realms became divided between his son, KingPhilip II of Spain, and his brother, EmperorFerdinand I. The Seventeen Provinces went to his son Philip. Meanwhile, a common political representation was established through theStates General of the Netherlands.
Conflicts between Philip II and his Dutch subjects led to theEighty Years' War, which started in 1568. The seven northern provinces gained their independence as a republic called theSeven United Provinces. They were:
The southern provinces – Flanders, Brabant, Namur, Hainaut, Luxembourg and so forth – were restored to Spanish rule thanks to the military and political talent of theDuke of Parma, especially at thesiege of Antwerp (1584-1585). Hence, these Provinces became known as theSpanish Netherlands.
The northern Seven United Provinces kept parts of Limburg, Brabant and Flanders during and after theEighty Years' War (see:Generality Lands), which ended with theTreaty of Westphalia in 1648.
Artois, and parts of Flanders and Hainaut were ceded to France in thetreaties of the Pyrenees andNijmegen in the course of the 17th century.
| | |||||
| County | ||||||
| Cities | ||||||
| Dependent territories | ||||||
1until 1648; 2until 1659; 3until 1678.Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | ||||||
| Created in 1500 | -en.png) | |
|---|---|---|
| Created in 1512 | ||
| and | ||
