Editing Southern Netherlands (section)

== Spanish Netherlands==
{{Main|Spanish Netherlands}}

[[File:Low Countries 1700.png|thumb|Spanish Low Countries c. 1700 (grey/green)]]
[[File:Diego Velázquez - Retrato del Cardinal-Infante Fernando de Austria.jpg|thumb|Velázquez portrait of the [[Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria|Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand]], son of Philip III of Spain, Governor General of the Low Countries at age 25, in 1634, until his death in 1641.]]

The '''[[Spanish Netherlands]]''' (Dutch: ''Spaanse Nederlanden'', Spanish: ''Países Bajos españoles'') was a portion of the [[Low Countries]] controlled by [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] from 1556 to 1714, inherited from the [[Dukes of Burgundy]]. Although the territory of the Duchy of Burgundy itself remained in the hands of France, the Habsburgs remained in control of the title of Duke of Burgundy and the other parts of the Burgundian inheritance, notably the Low Countries and the Free [[County of Burgundy]] in the Holy Roman Empire. They often used the term Burgundy to refer to it (e.g. in the name of the Imperial Circle it was grouped into), until 1794, when the Austrian Netherlands were lost to the French Republic.

When part of the Netherlands separated from Spanish rule and became the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] in 1581 the remainder of the area became known as the Spanish Netherlands and remained under Spanish control. This region comprised modern Belgium, Luxembourg as well as part of northern France.

The Spanish Netherlands originally consisted of:
*[[County of Flanders]], including [[Walloon Flanders]]
*[[County of Artois]]
*City of [[Tournai]]
*[[Cambrai]] (roughly the département [[Nord (département)|Nord]] and the northern half of [[Pas-de-Calais]] in modern France)
*[[Duchy of Luxembourg]]
*[[Duchy of Limburg]]
*[[County of Hainaut]]
*[[County of Namur]]
*[[Lordship of Mechelen]]{{NoteTag|name=fn_2}} (officially a county since 1490)
*[[Duchy of Brabant]], including the [[Margraviate of Antwerp]]
*the [[Upper Guelders|Upper Quarter]] (''Bovenkwartier'') of the duchy of [[Guelders]] (around [[Venlo]] and [[Roermond]], in the present province of Dutch [[Limburg (Netherlands)|Limburg]], and the town of [[Geldern]] in the present German district [[Kleve (district)|Kleve]])

The capital, [[Brussels]], was in Brabant. In the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at Brussels, which was under the government of King [[Philip III of Spain|Philip III's]] half-sister [[Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain|Archduchess Isabella]] and her husband, [[Archduke Albert of Austria (1559-1621)|Archduke Albert of Austria]]. Among the artists who emerged from the court of the "Archdukes", as they were known, was [[Peter Paul Rubens]]. Under the Archdukes, the Spanish Netherlands actually had formal independence from Spain, but always remained unofficially within the Spanish sphere of influence, and with Albert's death in 1621 they returned to formal Spanish control, although the childless Isabella remained on as Governor until her death in 1633.

The failing wars intended to regain the 'heretical' northern Netherlands meant significant loss of (still mainly Catholic) territories in the north, which was consolidated in 1648 in the [[Peace of Westphalia]], and given the peculiar, inferior status of ''[[Generality Lands]]'' (jointly ruled by the United Republic, not admitted as member provinces): [[Zeelandic Flanders]] (south of the river [[Scheldt]]), the present Dutch province of [[North Brabant]] and [[Maastricht]] (in the present Dutch province of Limburg).

As Spanish power waned in the latter decades of the 17th century, the territory of the Spanish Netherlands was repeatedly invaded by the French and an increasing portion of the territory came under French control in successive wars. By the [[Treaty of the Pyrenees]] of 1659 the French annexed [[Artois]] while [[Dunkirk, France|Dunkirk]] was ceded to the English. By the Treaties of [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668)|Aix-la-Chapelle]] (ending the [[War of Devolution]] in 1668) and [[Treaty of Nijmegen|Nijmegen]] (ending the [[Franco-Dutch War]] in 1678), further territory up to the current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including  [[Cambrai]], [[Walloon Flanders]] (the area around [[Lille]], [[Douai]] and [[Orchies]]), as well as [[French Hainaut|half of the county of Hainaut]] (including [[Valenciennes]]). Later, in the [[War of the Reunions]] and the [[Nine Years' War]], France temporarily annexed other parts of the region that were returned in the 1697 [[Peace of Ryswick]].