FLANDERS 



3189 



FLANDERS 



Romans as the Menapii and the 

 Morini, whom they conquered 

 about 51 B.C. During the 7th cen- 

 tury Christianity was introduced, 

 chiefly by S. Bertinus, S. Omer, and 

 S. Bavon. The treaty of Verdun, 

 843, by which the empire of Charle- 

 magne was partitioned among his 

 sons, gave the greater part of 

 Flanders to Charles the Bald of the 

 W. Franks. Finding this part of 

 his dominion constantly harassed 

 by the Northmen or Normans, 

 he entrusted its defence to Baldwin 

 Bras - de - Fer (Iron - Arm), who 

 founded the historic line of the 

 counts of Flanders. The last of the 

 direct line, Baldwin VII, died in 

 1119, and' Flanders passed to his 

 cousin Charles, called the Good. 

 Flanders and Hainault 



In 1157 Count Thierry resigned 

 in favour of his son Philip, who 

 ruled with marked success, being 

 largely responsible for the early 

 economic prosperity of the great 

 Flemish market towns of Bruges, 

 Ypres, Ghent, etc., and who died 

 crusading at Acre, 1191. He left his 

 Flemish dominions to his sister 

 Margaret of Hainault, who thus 

 united the crowns of Flanders and 

 Hainault, though ceding Artois to 

 Philip Augustus of France. Her 

 son, Baldwin IX (1171-1205), em- 

 peror of Byzantium, succeeded her 

 in 1194. His daughter, Joanna, 

 was married to Ferdinand of Por- 

 tugal, who resisted the suzerainty 

 of France, but was disastrously 

 defeated at Bouvines, 1214. 



After Joanna's death, 1244, the 

 kingdoms of Flanders and Hain- 

 ault were torn by a war of succes- 

 sion, and were eventually separated 

 by the arbitration of S. Louis, who 

 awarded Flanders to William of 

 Dampierre, and Hainault to his 

 stepson, John of Avesnes, 1246. 

 Guy of Dampierre, who succeeded 

 in 1280, waged war, in alliance with 

 Edward I of England, against Philip 

 the Fair of France. Supported by 

 popular feeling, directed by the 

 Flemish patriots, Deconninck and 

 Breydel, he routed the strong force 

 of French knights near Courtrai, 

 1302, and for a time Flanders was 

 definitely free from France. But 

 under Louis of Nevers, 1322-46, it 

 was again virtually a French fief. 



The following period of internal 

 dissensions was marked chiefly by 

 the resistance of the Flemish com- 

 munes to the arbitrary and extor- 

 tionate rule of Louis II of Male, 

 who succeeded hi 1346. The names 

 of John and Philip van Artevelde 

 (q.v. ) hold a great place in Flemish 

 history as spokesmen and leaders 

 of the popular party, or White 

 Hoods. ,By the autumn of 1382 

 Philip had become very powerful 

 in W. Flanders, established in 



Bruges, and assured of the people's 

 support. But at Roosebeke, Nov. 

 27, 1382, he was utterly defeated 

 by Louis with the aid of Charles 

 VI of France. Thenceforth Louis 

 ruled with a firm hand until his 

 death, 1385, when Flanders fell to 

 his daughter Margaret, wife of 

 Philip the Bold of Burgundy. 



From this date Flanders was for 

 historical purposes part of Bur- 

 gundy, until, in 1477, Mary of 

 Burgundy married the emperor 

 Maximilian and brought it into the 

 empire. It was in this period that 

 the extraordinary economic pros- 

 perity of the great Flemish towns 

 reached its highest point. The 

 abdication of Charles V brought 

 Flanders into the Spanish domin- 

 ions under Philip II in 1555, intro- 

 ducing the long wars for the inde- 

 pendence of the Netherlands, and 

 the old-time prosperity suffered 

 sadly. In 1648 the treaty of West- 

 phalia made Flanders part of the 

 United Netherlands, and in 1659 

 and 1713 Louis XIV absorbed 

 large parts of Flemish territory as 

 well as Artois. In 1714 the treaty 

 of Rastatt put Flanders again 

 into Austrian possession, and in 

 1794 it fell into French hands once 

 more. But when the new kingdom 

 of Belgium was formed in 1830, 



Flanders entered into her present 

 position therein. 



Modern Flanders 



Neither these many changes of 

 sovereignty, nor the unfortunate 

 position of Flanders as a battle- 

 field of the nations, has destroyed 

 the individual character of the 

 Flemings or their country. Within 

 Belgium itself racial consciousness 

 is sharply marked. The possession 

 of a tongue and literature of their 

 own has given the Flemish national 

 movement considerable strength. 

 It has won recognition of Flemish 

 rights, linguistic and educational, 

 and is to-day an important factor 

 in Belgian politics. A strong body 

 of feeling has long favoured 

 Flemish autonomy,. and during the 

 Great War the Germans tried un- 

 successfully to exploit this against 

 Belgian unity by establishing the 

 so-called Council of Flanders at 

 Ghent, 1917. But despite the dis- 

 credit done to the cause by a few 

 extremists, the movement is grow- 

 ing in strength, and may well 

 modify still further the Belgian 

 constitution. See Belgium ; con- 

 sult also Histoire de Belgique, H. 

 Pirenne, 1900, etc. ; Belgium, R. 

 C. K. Ensor, 1915 ; The Language 

 Question in Belgium, A. van de 

 Perre, 1919. J. E. Miles 



FLANDERS: THE BATTLE OF 1918 



H. W. Wilson. Military Critic of The Daily Mail 



This engagement was one of those that finally broke the German 



resistance. For the other battles of these closing months of the Great 



War see Cambrai ; Le Cateau ; Sambre ; Selle. See also Foch ; 



Haig; Great War 



This battle was fought in Sept.- 

 Nov., 1918. The heavy fighting 

 in Flanders in 1914, sometimes 

 known as the 1st battle of Flanders, 

 is more usually described under the 

 titles Ypres and the Yser. 



In accordance with Foch's 

 general plan, which was, after re- 

 covering the initiative from the 

 Germans in the 3rd battle of the 

 Marne (July 18-Aug. 3, 1918), to 

 press them continually by attacks 

 which should gradually develop 

 along the whole Allied front in 

 the W., preparations were made in 

 Sept., 1918, for a great Allied offen- 

 sive extending from Dixmude to 

 the S. of the Ypres salient. For 

 that purpose a group of armies was 

 formed and placed under the king 

 of the Belgians. It consisted of 

 the Belgian army, with three divi- 

 sions on the. Allied left, the 6th 

 French army (Boissoudy), with 

 three divisions in line and one in 

 reserve, which were to engage in 

 the centre, and the 2nd British 

 army (Plumer), with the 2nd and 

 19th British corps, on the right. 

 Gen. Degoutte, one of the French 

 officers who had particularly dis- 

 tinguished himself in the 2nd and 



3rd battles of the Marne, acted as 

 King Albert's chief of staff. The 

 German force on the front selected 

 for attack was only 5 divisions 

 strong, and formed part of the 4th 

 army under Sixt von Armin. The 

 date fixed was Sept. 28, coincident 

 with the tremendous assaults which 

 were being delivered by the British 

 armies on the Hindenburg line, and 

 by the French and American armies. 

 * At 5.30 a.m.. of the 28th, without 

 any preliminary bombardment, the 

 Allied infantry suddenly advanced, 

 covered by a creeping barrage, and 

 employing all the latest tactical 

 methods, including the " leap- 

 frogging" of fresh divisions through 

 the assaulting troops as these tired. 

 The hideous terrain S.E. of Ypres 

 was crossed at a single bound. 

 Wytschaete, lost in April, 1918, 

 Zandvoorde, Gheluvelt, and Be- 

 celaere were stormed by the Brit- 

 ish. The French and Belgians 

 took Zonnebeke, Poelcappelle, and 

 Houthulst Forest. The country 

 was almost impassable ; rain fell 

 heavily and hampered the assail- 

 ants, but the Germans at the 

 outset offered only a feeble re- 

 sistance. 



