The Low Countries 1453 CE

What is happening in The Low Countries in 1453CE

In the 13^th and 14^th centuries there was endemic conflict between the principalities of the Low Countries, which became part of a wider struggle for dominance between the kings of England and France. Finally, at the battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, Flanders secured its independence, and confirmed its position of leadership within the Low Countries.

In 1369, marriage brought the the county of Flanders under the duke of Burgundy, a scion of the French royal family. Further wars and marriage alliances brought the other principalities of the Low Countries under Burgundian control. By this time, Flanders was the centre of a large-scale cloth industry, and one of the wealthiest regions in Europe; this made it an ideal base upon which to build a new independent state, as the dukes of Burgundy were seeking to do.

This wealth had caused towns to expand, and some, particularly Ghent, Brugge and Ypres, had become independent centres of political power under powerful urban aristocracies.

Next map, the Low Countries in 1648

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