Seventeen Provinces
Union of states in the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries
The Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century. The lands were about the same as the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France (Artois, French Flanders), and a small part of Western Germany.
Zeventien Provinciën Diecisiete Provincias Siebzehn Provinzen Dix-sept Provinces The Seventeen Provinces | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1482–1581 | |||||||||||
Flag | |||||||||||
![]() Map of the Provinces | |||||||||||
Status | States of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
Capital | Brussels | ||||||||||
Common languages | Dutch, Low Saxon, Frisian, Walloon, Luxembourgish, French | ||||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholic (official) After 1530s Protestantism and Anabaptism (inside northern areas, minority, unofficial) | ||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Established | 1482 | ||||||||||
• Joined Burgundian Circle | 1512 | ||||||||||
July 26 1581 | |||||||||||
ISO 3166 code | NL | ||||||||||
|
The Seventeen Provinces were first held by the Dukes of Burgundy of the House of Valois. Later they were held by the Habsburgs. From 1512 the Provinces formed the major part of the Burgundian Circle.
Composition
changeThe map matches to the following provinces:
- the County of Artois
- the County of Flanders, including the burgraviates of Lille, Douai, Orchies, the Lordship of Tournai and the Tournaisis
- the Lordship of Mechelen
- the County of Namur
- the County of Hainaut
- the County of Zeeland
- the County of Holland
- the Duchy of Brabant, including the Margraviate of Antwerp, the counties of Leuven and of Brussels, and the advocacy of the Abbey of Nivelles and of Gembloux
- the Duchy of Limburg, including the counties of Dalhem and Valkenburg and the Lordship of Herzogenrath
- the Duchy of Luxembourg
- the Prince-Bishopric, later Lordship of Utrecht
- the Lordship of Frisia
- the Duchy of Guelders
- the Lordship of Groningen (including the Ommelanden)
- the Lordship of Drenthe, Lingen, Wedde, and Westerwolde
- the Lordship of Overijssel
- the County of Zutphen
It was not always the same Seventeen Provinces.