French Flanders

Historical territory of Flanders in the present-day French region of Hauts-de-France

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County of Flanders

Comté de Flandre (French)

862–1791

Flag

Coat of arms

French Flanders in France (1789 borders)
Capital| Lille
Government|
• Type| Province
King of West Francia / King of France|

• 862–877

| Charles II

• 1774–1791

| Louis XVI
Governor of Flanders and Hainaut|

• 1694–1711

| Louis-François de Boufflers

• 1787–1791

| Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix
History|

• County created

| 862

• Disestablished

| 1791

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Kingdom of France

|

| Nord |

|

Today part of| France

French Flanders (French: Flandre française [flɑ̃dʁ(ə) fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; Dutch: Frans-Vlaanderen; West Flemish: Frans-Vloandern) is a part of the historical County of Flanders, where Flemish—a Low Franconian dialect cluster of Dutch—was (and to some extent, still is) traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day northern French region of Hauts-de-France, and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Lille, Douai and Dunkirk on the northern border with Belgium. Together, with French Hainaut and Cambrésis, it makes up the French Department of Nord.

Territorial changes due to the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), including French Flanders

## Geography

[edit]

French Flanders consists, mostly, of flat marshlands in the coal-rich regions just south of the North Sea. It comprises two areas:

1. French Westhoek to the northwest, lying between the river Lys and the North Sea, roughly the same area as the Arrondissement of Dunkirk;
2. Walloon Flanders (French: La Flandre wallonne; Dutch: Waals Vlaanderen), to the southeast, south of the Lys and now the Arrondissements of Lille and Douai.

## History

[edit]

Map of the new region, Hauts-de-France, with its five départements, colored according to the historical provinces as they existed until 1790. Apart from the territories mentioned above in the text, tiny amounts of Artois and Picardy also contributed to the Nord département.

Picardy

Île-de-France

Artois

French Flanders

French Hainaut

Cambrai

Champagne

Other

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Once a part of ancient and medieval Francia from the inception of the Frankish kingdom (descended from the Empire of Charlemagne) under the Merovingian monarchs such as Clovis I, who was crowned at Tournai, Flanders gradually fell under the control of the English and then Spanish, becoming part of the Spanish Netherlands and retained by Spain at the end of the Eighty Years' War. When French national military power returned under the Bourbons with King Louis XIV "The Sun King" (1638–1715), a part of historically French Flanders was returned to the Kingdom.

Detailed Map of French Flanders

The region now called "French Flanders" was once part of the feudal state County of Flanders, then part of the Southern Netherlands. It was separated from the county (part of Habsburgs' Burgundian inheritance) in 1659 due to the Peace of the Pyrenees, which ended the French-Spanish conflict in the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), and other parts of the region were added in successive treaties in 1668 and 1678. The region was ceded to the Kingdom of France, and became part of the province of Flanders and Hainaut. The bulk became part of the modern French administrative Nord department, although some western parts of the region, which separated in 1237 and became the County of Artois before the cession to the French, are now part of Pas-de-Calais.

During World War II, 'French Flanders' referred to all of Nord-Pas de Calais, which was first attached to the military administration of German-occupied Belgium, then part of Belgien-Nordfrankreich under a Reichskommissar, and finally part of a theoretical Reichsgau of Flanders.

Rich in coal, facing the North Sea, bordered by usually powerful neighbors, French Flanders has been fought over numerous times in the thousand years between the Middle Ages and World War II.

## Language

[edit]

The traditional language of northern French Flanders (Westhoek), related to the Dutch language, is known as West Flemish, specifically, a subdialect known as French Flemish, spoken by around 20,000 daily speakers and 40,000 occasional users.[1] The traditional language of Walloon Flanders (part of Romance Flanders) is Picard (and its dialects, such as Ch'ti [fr] or Rouchi). Many schools in this region teach Flemish to schoolchildren, partially in an effort to revive the language.[2]

## Culture

[edit]

In 2008, this part of France gained exposure to a wider international audience through the success of the movie Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis.

## See also

[edit]

* Walloon Flanders
* Burgundian Netherlands
* Frisians
* Greater Netherlands
* Seventeen Provinces
* Wallonia

## Sources and references

[edit]

1. ^ http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/neerlandes/an/i1/i1.html
2. ^ Lambrechts, Toon. "French Flemish: group defends a dying language". Flanders Today. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021.

* Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustré, 1952.
* French Flanders
* Ethnologue Report for West Flemish
* Flemish in France

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to French Flanders.

* The Extent of Flemish in France in 1970, contains language maps Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
* e

Flanders topics

Territories|

| Modern Belgium|

* Flemish Region
* Flemish Community

|

Neighbouring and
historical regions

* Margravate
* County
* French Flanders
* Zeelandic Flanders
* Romance Flanders

Local regions|

* Flemish Ardennes
* Campine
* Denderstreek
* Hageland
* Haspengouw
* Pajottenland
* Meetjesland
* Westhoek
* Waasland
* ...

Provinces
(and cities)

* West Flanders (Bruges)
* East Flanders (Ghent)
* Antwerp (Antwerp)
* Flemish Brabant (Leuven)
* Limburg (Hasselt)

See also|

* Brussels
* List of municipalities
* Flemish Diamond

Politics|

* Elections
* Flemish Parliament
* Flemish Government
* Community Commission (Brussels)
* Political parties
* Minister-President

Symbols and
history

* Anthem
* Coat of arms
* Day of the Flemish Community
* Guldensporenslag
* De Leeuw van Vlaanderen
* Flag

Other topics|

* Flemish Movement
* Language
* Literature
* Painting
* People
* Education
* Science and technology
* Transport
* Agriculture

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef

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