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[Low Countries] [in het Nederlands] [Previous] [Next]
(1: Flag)
(2: Arms)
(1) Barry of three, gules, argent and or; in the bar argent a gnarled cross gules.
(2) Or, a lion rampant sable, tongued and armed gules.
Until the 16th century, the lion wasn't tongued and armed gules.
The motto "Vlaenderen die Leu" (Flanders the lion) was according to Eug. Sanders present on the arms of Pieter de Coninck at the Battle of the Golden Spurs on July 11, 1302 near the Groeningekouter. Some three hundred noblemen shouted it too when they saw, having fought in the French rows, that chances were turning in favour of the Flemish. In Spiegel Historiael of Louis van Velthem also refers to the lion in a song describing the battle of Blangys-Guinegatte (which took place in August 1472). Later, Hendrik Conscience used the motto in his Lion of Flanders.
[Goe] refers [War80] van E. Warlop as a good scientific study about the origin of the Flemish lion.
The first known attempt to establish the origins of the Flemish lion comes from John the Long, better known as Iperius, abbot and historian at the abbey of Saint-Bertrijns. According to hs story, from the first count on, the counts of Flanders used arms called "Oude Vlaenderen" (Old Flanders). But during the Crusade of 1177, the count of Flanders, Philip of Alsace, bravely won a black lion on a golden field from a mohammedan monarch in a fight against the Sarracens. At his return, Philip renounced the "Oude Vlaenderen" and adopted "or, a lion rampant sable" as hese arms. Since then, all counts of Flanders have used these arms.
Dr. E. Warlop noticed that this lion appears for the first time on a seal of Philip of Alsace in 1162, that is fifteen years before the "acquisition" of the lion in the Holy Land. The story of Iperius dates from the second halve of the forteenth century - two centuries after the facts - and therefore cannot be correct. Moreover, there is no scientific proof for the "Oude Vlaenderen" ever being used by one of the counts of Flanders. All known descriptions and depictions of it date from after the story of Iperius. Warlop concludes that they found their origin in the story, which admittedly was made up for some particular reasons. The origin of the lion should therefore not be sought in the Holy Land, but in the environs of Philip of Alsace.
Four years before the seal of Philip, in 1158, a counterseal of William of Ypres shows a lion passant, walking to the right. Guillaume may have inherited these arms from previous counts, or maybe he brought it home from England, where he stayed for twenty years as the leader of mercennary troops in the Kings services.
Maybe Philip choose it as the son of Sybilla d'Anjou, sister of Godfrey Plantagenet, who used arms showing two lion rampants (walking to the left). He could also have chosen it because of his stay in England, where he was put under the protection of the King of England, Henry II Plantagenet while his parents were on a Crusade. Henry used arms with lions passants.
In the 12th century, the lion passant, actually a descendant of the dragon, became the symbol of pagancy and rebelry against the Church. The lion rampant on his turn became the symbol of the christian knight. That makes it plausible that Philip of Alsace, who went to the Holy Land twice, used this symbol.
A second reason could be that both Diederik and Philip of Alsace wanted to take over the inheritance of William of Ypres, against his illegal but legitimized son. As to prevent the danger of userpacy, the arms of William weren't taken over litterally: the lion passant became a lion rampant.
Finally, the arms could also be taken after Godfrey Plantagenet, as the symbol of the christian knight. A lion rampant fitted better to a triangular shield, however.
Therefore, one may conclude that the story of the acquisition of the lion during a fight against the Sarracenes may be made up, to cover up the not so fine truth.
Originally, Flanders was inhibited by the Celts, driven West- and Southwards by the Germans. The Menapians and the Morines, of which Julius Cæsar wrote that they never asked for peace, were amongst the Germanic people that lived in the first century AD, together with the Atrebates. From the sixth until the nineth century, Flanders, including also the now Dutch Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and French Flanders, was in its entirety a part of the Francic Empire. It was christianized by preachers, including the saints Amandus, Eligius, Livinus and Willibrordus.
At the split up of the Carolingic Empire in 843 with the Treaty of Verdun, the area on the left border of the Scheldt became part of Western France. Being the count-servant of his father-in-law Charles II the Bald, Baldwin I with the Iron Arm governed the coastal areas around Bruges. From that small area, named Flanders, Baldwin II and his grandson Arnulf I expanded Flanders to the South between 879 and 965, whereas Baldwin IV and Baldwin V expanded to the east between 988 and 1067, conquering land that was part of the German Empire. The latter was called Imperial Flanders, where Crown-Flanders depended of the French Kingdom. Through his marriage, Baldwin VI united Flanders and Hainault, but after his death in 1070 both counts got separated. After the mureder on the blessed count Charles the Good in 1127, Flanders had some difficult times. King
Philip of Alsace gave his nice and Artois as dowry to king Philip II of France. In 1191, a new unification of Flanders and Hainault followed under Baldwin VIII (1191-1194), but his power gave him also ennemies. Baldwin IX took, as many of his predecessors, part in a Crusade, and was crowned Emperor of Constantinople in 1202. The prosperity made Flanders interesting enough for the French King, who had become stronger, to make annexation plans. After the victory of Philip August near Bouvines in 1214, Flanders came more and more under the influence of France. Therefore, Flanders sought protection in England, from which it needed wool as the raw material for the cloth industry anyway. The government of count Gwy de Dampierre (1280-1305), oriented to England, brought him in a open argument with his feudal lord Philip le Bel. In 1297, Gwy was defeated, and in 1300 he was taken prisonner with his family. The recklessness of stadtholder Jacques de Châtillon, the extortions by his civil servants and the provoking visit of Philip August to Burges in May 1301, at which occasion the French party (Leliaards) held huge feasts, result in anger at the popular party (Klauwaards), led by Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel. A lot of popular movements stood up, also in Bruges, where on May 19, 1302, the French party was murdered out (Brugse Metten). De Châtillon could scarcely escape the bloodshed. The army, sent by Philip August to learn the Flemish a lesson, was defeated in the Battle of the Golden Spurs on July 1302; the Flemish even invaded Artois. In 1304, peace was cease-fire was agreed, and count Gwy could leave prison to prepare definitive peace. He didn't succeed, returned to prison, and Philip August invaded Flanders again. At Mons-eb-Puelle, an undecided battle took place, and at the end of September 1304 a provisional treaty was signed. In 1305 peace was made and Flanders became independent again, but had to dismantle its most important cities.
Under the government of Louis de Nevers (1322-1384), there were a lot of resurrections, and Jacob of Artevelde was the de facto ruler in Flanders. At the outbreak of the War of Hundred Years in 1337 between France and England, Jacob choose the English side after a short period of neutrality, but discordance led to his murdering. His son Philip of Artevelde fought against Louis of Male (1346-1384), who defeated him with the aid of king Charles VI of France and Louis' son-in-law Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy in 1382 at Westrozebeke. Count Louis of Male tried to keep the equilibrium as much as possible, and his son-in-low Philip the Bold strived for expansion by diplomacy and a policy of marriage. Indignated by the murder on John without Fear in 1419 choose his son Philip le Bon party against France. Through his policy became Flanders a part in the complex alliances in the Burgundic Netherlands. The last feudal links between the county of Flanders and French King vanished when François I of France signed the peace treaty of Madrid in 1526 and again by the treaty of Kamerijk, where he abandonned his feadal rights on Crown-Flanders.
Af the Burgundic government came the House of Habsburg (1482-1555), and the Spanish followed (1555-1713). Flanders took part in the War of Eighty Years (1568-1648) only in the beginning, but was soon enough under the control of Spain. By the Peace Treaty of Münster in 1648, Spain had to give up Imperial Flanders to the republic of the United Netherlands. Later it also lost Dunkerque, Rijssel/Lille and other cities to Louis XIV of France. Since 1713, Flanders was a part of the Austrian Netherlands, and from 1797 until 1815 it made up two French departments. In 1815, these two departments became the provinces East- and West-Flanders in the Kingdom of the United Netherlands. After the Belgian Revolution in 1830, they became a part of the newly formed Kingdom Belgium.
Last modification: 1997-07-27
f.a.vanlaenen@ieee.org