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50°45′N3°59′E / 50.75°N 03.99°E /50.75; 03.99Thepagus of Brabant (Latin:Pagus Bracbantensis;Dutch:Brabantgouw) was a geographical region in theearly Middle Ages, located in what is nowBelgium. It was the first region known to have been called Brabant, and it included the modern capital of Belgium,Brussels. It was divided between the neighbouring counties ofFlanders,Hainaut andLouvain (Leuven) in the eleventh century. It was the eastern part, which went to theCounts of Louvain, which kept the name in use, becoming the primary name of their much larger lordship. This led to other regions later being named Brabant - in particular, the French and Dutch-speaking areas east of theDyle, includingLeuven andWavre, which are still known as "Brabant"; and secondly theprovince ofNorth Brabant in theNetherlands.
The area of the oldpagus of Brabant is and was multi-lingual, divided betweenDutch (Flemish) speakers in the north, andFrench (includingPicard) speakers in the south. Today the region includes not only bi-lingual Brussels, but also parts of the modern Dutch-speakingBelgian provinces ofFlemish Brabant andEast Flanders, and the French-speaking provinces ofHainaut andWalloon Brabant.
It lay between the riversScheldt,Rupel,Dyle,Lasne andHaine.[1]
This means the territory included not onlyBrussels but also much of what is now modern Hainaut and Eastern Flanders, includingAalst. Louvain, which later came to be seen as part of Brabant, was, likeGhent in Flanders, just outside the originalpagus.
The modernDutch province ofNorth Brabant was not originally part of Brabant but acquired the name because it was integrated politically.
In the modern Belgianprovince of Antwerp,Klein-Brabant is geographically in the originalpagus of Brabant.
In its earliest forms such as those collected by Nonn, the first part of the name was written with variants such as brac-, brag-, brach-, braim, and brei. According to Deru, this element could derive fromGermanic *brakti implying fallow land, or *braki implying marshy land (related to modern Dutch "broek"). These would both be derived from reconstructed Proto-Germanic*brekaną "to break".[2]
The second element of the name -bant is found in several other Frankishpagus names in this region, such as nearby Oosterbant, and Swifterbant and Teisterbant, to the north, and is believed to be connected to the medieval concept of a "ban", relating to areas of duty and authority.
As demonstrated by Deru, thepagus of Brabant between the Scheldt, Haine, Lasne and Rupel rivers, corresponds closely with the northern extension of theBelgicNervii, both in terms of archaeological evidence such as Nervian coin finds, and also because it lay within theRoman eracivitas of the Nervians, and its successor, the medievalbishopric of Cambrai - both of which had their main centres in the south, in the areas ofHainaut andCambrai.
The oldest records of Brabant come from theLiber Traditionem ofSaint Peter's Abbey inGhent, beginning around 750. Though it was on the opposite side of the Scheldt from Brabant, St Peter's had a strong involvement in lands between the Scheldt and Dender.[3]
In 870, in theTreaty of Meerssen Brabant was mentioned as containing four counties (in Bracbanto comitatus IIII), but the definitions of these political entities can now only be speculated upon. Much of its history in theEarly Middle Ages (before 1000) is difficult to reconstruct. AlthoughLeon Vanderkindere (in 1901) and Paul Bonenfant (in 1935) both attempted it, these attempts have been criticized by later historians. What can be said is limited:[4]
After 925 the boundary between the major Frankish kingdoms became permanently fixed along the Scheldt river, making Brabant a frontier province or"March" of what would become theHoly Roman Empire, and eventuallyGermany. On the western side of that boundary lay the expansionistCounts of Flanders, who were within the western Frankish kingdom that would becomeFrance. They developed the fortified city ofGhent upon this river frontier.
In response to this situation, the emperors in Germany established their own March on their side of the Scheldt. One of the first frontier lordships named was atEname in Brabant, and there were alsoValenciennes to the south andAntwerp to the north.
As the 11th century progressed, three large parts of Brabant became permanently politically connected to their powerful neighbours.
The remaining part of Brabant between Brussels and the Flemish part of Brabant also came into the hands of the counts of Leuven and Brussels at some point, and from at least 1085 they referred to themselves also asLandgraves of Brabant, indicating a higher status than a normalCount. Van Droogenbroeck has argued that the counts of Leuven acquired this title to Brabant only after their relativeHermann II, Count Palatine of Lotharingia died in 1085.[6]