86: The Flemish Revolt: The War of Two Governments, 1482-1492

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Nicolas Despars, Chronicle of the Land and County of Flanders, early 16th century
“Improper governance and very unreasonable manner of conduct having endured for a good while, and coming daily from bad to worse, began to grieve the Bruges community so miserably sorely, that they, with weeping eyes, publicly cried out everywhere in the streets: “O beautiful trade city, you will become a plunder city, unless God provides and offers us his grace.””


March 27, 1482. Bruges.

Mary of Burgundy dies from injuries sustained in a riding accident. She's twenty-five years old. She leaves behind a four-year-old son, Philip, and her husband, Maximilian of Austria, as regent.

Six years later. The Cranenburg house, Bruges.

Maximilian of Austria stands at a window, watching his own officials being dragged to the scaffold in the marketplace below. Pieter Lanchals—his sheriff, his enforcer—is beheaded. Jan van Nieuwenhove, from the family that controlled Bruges under his regime, follows. Maximilian is a prisoner. The city that once cheered his marriage now holds him captive.

Lanchals' severed head is mounted on the city gate as a warning.

How did it come to this? How does a Habsburg archduke end up imprisoned by his own subjects and forced to watch executions from a window?

The answer lies in the decade between Mary's death and the final Habsburg reconquest—ten years of rebellion, civil war, and constitutional crisis that would forever reshape the Low Countries.

Mary's sudden death created an immediate succession crisis.

Philip the Fair—four years old—inherits the richest territories in northern Europe. Maximilian claims the regency as the boy's father. The Flemish Estates refuse to automatically recognize it.

The fundamental question: Who governs on behalf of an underage ruler?

Maximilian's position is legally sound but practically impossible. As a father, he has paternal rights. However, the 1477 Great Privilege requires consultation with the Estates. Maximilian has spent five years systematically violating that privilege—appointing foreigners to office, bypassing urban councils, and centralizing authority, exactly as Charles the Bold had done.

The cities remember. They've been waiting for this moment.

Within weeks, French King Louis XI demanded the return of territories as reverted fiefs. Flanders negotiated directly with France, excluding Maximilian from the talks.

By December, Maximilian was forced to accept the Treaty of Arras—terms negotiated without his consent. Artois and Franche-Comté were ceded to France. His three-year-old daughter, Margaret, was betrothed to the French dauphin, with substantial territories as her dowry. French sovereignty over Flanders was explicitly recognized.

As one historian puts it, peace is achieved "chiefly at the expense of the dynasty."

Maximilian has to swallow it. He needs the Estates' financial support, and he has no choice.

But now there are two competing visions of government, and neither side will compromise.

The Philippins—named for young Philip—want federal governance, urban representation, and continuation of the 1477 privileges. Leaders included Willem Moreel in Bruges and Willem Rijm in Ghent. Allied nobles included Adolf of Cleves and Lodewijk (LOW-duh-vike) van (Grooth-hoose). Their vision: the count governs WITH the cities, not OVER them.

The Monetans—Maximilian's supporters—want dynastic authority, centralized control, and Habsburg expansion of family power—what they call Hausmacht. Men like Pieter Lanchals, Guy de Baenst, and foreign advisors. Their vision: the regent exercises full comital powers during the minority. The cities advise but don't decide.

As historian Jelle Haemers argues, this isn't a simple conflict between an autocratic prince and oppressed subjects. It's "two factions supporting different ideologies of statecraft."

And Flanders has the power to enforce its vision.

To understand how, you need to understand the Three Members of Flanders—the Drie Leden. This was the county's representative body, but unlike typical medieval assemblies, which were divided into clergy, nobility, and commoners, it was composed of Flanders's three major cities: Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres (EE-per).

Ghent had 64,000 inhabitants. Bruges, 46,000. These were massive cities by fifteenth-century standards—among the largest north of Paris. Each city represented not only itself but also its surrounding territory—its quarter. Together, the Three Members could approve or reject taxation, declare war, maintain armies, and even issue coinage.

They weren't asking for permission. They were exercising authority.

The Three Members maintained guild militias capable of fielding over 100,000 men. They had sophisticated intelligence networks—historians have documented at least eighty female spies employed by Ghent alone during this conflict.

They possessed centuries of what historians refer to as a "rebellious repertoire," including the 1302 Battle of the Golden Spurs, in which Flemish artisans defeated a French royal army. There were multiple successful revolts against their counts, contributing to a constitutional memory of resistance that persists.

When Maximilian tries to impose his will, he's not facing scattered peasant unrest. He's facing organized urban power backed by economic resources, military capacity, and institutional experience.

It's a fight he cannot win by force alone.

By summer 1483, Maximilian "relinquishes" the regency, at least on paper. A regency council, including Adolf of Cleves, Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, and Philip of Burgundy-Beveren, is established to govern in Philip's name. The composition highlights the alliance against Habsburg centralization, involving nobles with Burgundian ties.

Why do these nobles join? 

Adolf of Cleves had been marginalized after Mary's marriage to Maximilian. This restores his position as first among equals. Lodewijk van Gruuthuse regains the influence he'd lost. Men like Wolfert van Borssele, dismissed as stadtholder of Holland years earlier, find new authority in Flanders.

The regency council grants them military commands, lucrative positions, and political roles that Maximilian's administration denied them. They also have French backing—King Charles VIII's regents provide diplomatic support and military assistance.

The council immediately implements measures to maintain control. Willem Moreel's faction in Bruges builds a patronage network. His brother-in-law becomes the tax receiver. His nephew becomes the burgomaster of the Bruges castellany. Relatives and business partners fill every key position.

The Council of Flanders and the Chamber of Accounts at Lille are staffed with reliable personnel. Flemish bailiffs and comital receivers are summoned to Ghent to swear loyalty to young Philip before council representatives—thereby creating personal bonds to Philip rather than Maximilian.

The Three Members decree that all comital documents must be written "in Flemish." This is not about ethnic nationalism but about transparency. The council aims for subjects to trust that the government is not functioning in a "foreign language."

But here's a crucial symbolic act: the seal.

The regency council's seal depicts young Philip as a full count in armor, seated on horseback with a raised sword, similar to his ancestors. Maximilian's seal shows the crowned archduke enthroned, holding his young son's hand. Philip's coat of arms features Habsburg eagles, even at the shield's center.

Two seals. Two governments. Both claiming to act in Philip's name.

The regency council wasn't merely exercising temporary authority; it was creating an alternative constitutional order. Facing a war-induced financial crisis, it issued territorial bonds backed by all county tax revenues. This sophisticated state finance combined voluntary private credit with collective responsibility. A third of Bruges buyers hold political office.

But it all depends on the council maintaining control. That's where the cracks appear.

The council managed its territories—Ghent, Bruges, and their dependencies—effectively. However, supporters needed personal bodyguards, and public festivals were prohibited to prevent challenges to authority. The council's policies primarily favor its supporters, alienating potential allies.

And Maximilian was building power elsewhere.

He secured recognition as regent in Hainaut. He suppressed opposition in Brabant and Utrecht. He cultivated the nobility throughout the Netherlands. He consolidated financial and military resources that the council cannot match.

In November 1484, Maximilian convened the Estates-General at Antwerp. Flanders boycotted. But the other provinces—Brabant, Holland, Zeeland, Hainaut—all pledged support to the archduke. They were furious that Bruges and Ghent had tried to block Antwerp's trade routes.

Inter-urban economic competition drove provincial alignments as much as political principles did.

Then Maximilian implemented economic warfare. He ordered foreign merchants from Bruges to loyal Antwerp. He assembled an army in Brabant. By May 1485, he was besieging Sluis (Sl-oy-is) by sea. Flanders was encircled. The economic blockade was strangling Bruges' commerce.

For a city whose wealth depends entirely on international trade, this posed an existential threat.

Early June brought surrender negotiations. Willem Moreel fled to Tournai, and others followed. Maximilian sent a commission to Bruges composed entirely of men the previous regime had banished. They formed the core of the princely faction.

On June 7, Ghent guilds gathered at the Friday Market. Construction workers, shippers, and butchers proclaimed a work strike by ringing bells. The revolt was led by Mathijs Peyaert, a former dean of the brewers' guild who had participated in previous uprisings against Burgundian rule.

The guilds demanded the war's end. Cries of "Peace!" and "Friend Austria!" echoed through the market square. They imprisoned the regency council leaders: Willem Rijm, Daneel Onredene, and the Coppenhole brothers. Only Adolf of Cleves remained free, as the only nobleman near young Philip, they needed him.

The next day, Adolf signed a document establishing new city officials. The regime change was more of a political compromise than a radical break.

Within a week, the new government tried and executed Willem Rijm and Daneel Onredene for hindering peace with Maximilian.

But that night, citizens freed the Coppenhole brothers from prison. They fled to Tournai. The following day, armed guilds occupied the Friday Market and demanded political concessions. The government yielded. The regency council briefly rose from its ashes.

But it was too late. By the end of June, Maximilian dictated the Peace of Bruges to the county, designating himself "father and guardian of Monseigneur Duke Philip, his son."

The first regency council had fallen.

Maximilian inaugurated himself as regent in July. The executions begin immediately. Five Bruges supporters of the regency council are beheaded. Pieter Lanchals becomes the sheriff of Bruges.

Lanchals governs through what historian Lauro Martines calls "authority of violence." Systematic terror. Public trials. Executions. Heads displayed on city gates.

And for two years, it worked.
But Maximilian's policies recreated exactly the conditions that sparked the original revolt.

He requires funds for war. Between mid-1485 and early 1488, he secured ten separate subsidies from Flanders. He manipulates currency. Inflation skyrockets. Food prices double, coinciding with Europe-wide crop failures that have driven grain prices three to five times above normal.

He bypasses representative assemblies by securing direct loans from merchants—quick capital without consultation.

He places the Habsburg arms on the Bruges Belfort—a symbolic claim of ownership.

And he faces ongoing resistance.
Ghent authorities repeatedly foil conspiracies and suppress uprisings through 1486. 

Lanchals requires twenty personal bodyguards. Ordinances prohibit carrying weapons and nocturnal disturbances, with penalties of death. "Seditious notes" are posted on officials' doors. The heads of executed opponents remain displayed—both demonstrating power and revealing vulnerability.

Only terror maintains control.

Then Maximilian's military position collapsed. That summer, French forces captured key cities and captured Maximilian's stadtholder, Engelbert van Nassau, the man who had suppressed Ghent's uprising two years earlier.

By August, Ghent's elections return supporters of the regency council. In September, exiled leaders return. Mathijs Peyaert—the former rebel, now Maximilian's man—fled to Bruges.

In November, Ghent forms a new government and vows peace with France. By December, they had taken control of nearby cities, allied with France, and ceased paying Maximilian's subsidies.

In January 1488, Ghent presents an eight-point indictment to Bruges and Ypres.

Maximilian violated the Peace of Arras. His corrupt counselors pursued self-interest. Incompetent officials couldn't maintain order. He debased the currency. He abandoned itinerant governance. He appointed foreign officials ignorant of privileges. The Franc of Bruges, as Fourth Member, is illegitimate. He's never accounted for subsidies.

The indictment anticipates the 1581 Act of Abjuration: a ruler who fails to fulfill his duties forfeits his subjects’ loyalty.

This is not anti-dynastic. Philip the Fair remains the legitimate count. However, Maximilian has proven himself an incompetent foreign regent who must be removed.

Maximilian is in Bruges, trying to negotiate. The city won't admit his troops. When he tries to leave in late January, the guild watch refuses to open the gates. The next morning, he tries again. Carpenters and masons—the construction guilds—refuse to let him pass. That afternoon, his imperial bodyguard was attacked. The guilds occupy the Grote Markt. They dismantle the scaffold and retrieve the heads of executed opponents from the Belfort towers.

Maximilian is a prisoner.

For three and a half months, the King of the Romans was held captive in the Cranenburg house. He watched from his window as the city executed officials who had served him. Their heads are mounted at the city gate.

The second regency council is restored. A new magistracy is installed, though representation notably favors the bourgeoisie over the guilds. A nine-member permanent supervisory commission provides continuous oversight. The guilds want policy control, not office-holding—a watchdog model.

By mid-February, they present six grievances. By April, an expanded petition with 87 points is submitted.

The demands are fundamentally conservative. Restoration of 1477 privileges. Guild protections. Economic regulations. Toll abolition. Monetary stabilization. End to war. Accounting for subsidies. Punishment of former officials.

Meanwhile, Maximilian's father, Frederick III, raises an army of 20,000 men in Germany. By April, Imperial forces reach Flanders via Brabant.

In May, the four territories—Brabant, Flanders, Hainaut, and Holland-Zeeland—form a league and draft terms for Maximilian's release. Maximilian swears acceptance on the Holy Blood relic in Bruges. He recognizes the territorial customs and privileges. He accepts the restoration of the regency council.

He's released.
And immediately repudiates the oath as having been made under duress.

The war has resumed.

But why hadn't Holland joined the revolt?

The answer reveals fundamental differences among these territories.

Flanders has Ghent with 64,000 inhabitants and Bruges with 46,000, while Holland's largest city, Leiden, has only 14,000 by 1514. Holland's urbanization reaches 45%, but its population is spread across many smaller towns, with no concentrated political-military centers, guild militias capable of raising armies, or equivalents to the Three Members.

Flanders' wealth stems from cloth manufacturing and finance, industries controlled by guilds with urban autonomy stakes. Holland and Zeeland's prosperity comes from fishing, shipping, and trade, notably the herring industry and Amsterdam's role in the Baltic grain trade, all of which rely on princely protection of routes.

Holland merchants see Antwerp's rise at Bruges' expense during this conflict. Antwerp supports Maximilian and benefits, as the Habsburg union favors Holland's trade by securing sea and river routes.

Factional politics matter too. Jan III van Egmond was Holland's stadtholder from 1483 to 1515, serving for 32 years. As Maximilian's chamberlain, he became Count of Egmond through marriage to his niece. His interests aligned with the Habsburg rule. The opposing faction had been in decline for decades. Where Flemish cities can mount unified resistance, Holland's factional divisions prevent coordination.

But resistance does occur.

For example, the Squire Francis War erupted between 1488 and 1490. Frans van Brederode, a twenty-three-year-old nobleman, assembled a fleet and captured Rotterdam. The rebellion coordinated with Flemish rebels. Frans captures other cities and attacks Leiden. But decisive defeats follow in June and July 1490. Frans died of battle wounds while in custody in Dordrecht.

So Holland isn't simply quiescent. But the resistance lacks the organized urban power, institutional framework, and military capacity that make the Flemish rebellion viable.

And the Great Privilege itself remains a constitutional precedent, available for future invocation, a dormant claim awaiting the right moment.

After Maximilian's release, the second regency council governs from Ghent. Filips van Kleef—Maximilian's former Lieutenant-General—defects to join them. He invades Brabant and captures Brussels and Leuven. The regency council mints coins in Philip's name—an assertion of sovereignty.

But French support proves unreliable.

In July 1489, the Peace of Frankfurt established an armistice between France and Maximilian. The French court changed its approach, focusing on annexing Brittany rather than restoring Burgundy. Charles VIII marries Anne of Brittany and sends Margaret of Austria back to her father. In exchange, he gives Artois and Franche-Comté back to Maximilian.

French troops withdraw from Flanders and Brabant. The regency council loses its external military support.

That summer, Albrecht von Sachsen began a systematic reconquest for Maximilian. His strategy: capture smaller towns first. Use hunger rather than force. Harass the countryside to force surrender.

He recaptures Rotterdam, key ports, and the Brabantine cities. By October, the Peace of Montilz-lez-Tours (Mawn-tee) formally ended the second regency council. The Three Members accept Maximilian as regent.

But the conflict fragments into localized resistance.

The following spring, there is a short-lived attempt at reconciliation when Willem Moreel joins the Bruges magistracy. However, by June, Ghent rebels after Filips van Kleef kills a leading figure. In August, Bruges also rebels. Meanwhile, Kleef strengthens the defenses at Sluis and blocks the Zwin.

Economic blockade again. The same strategy that had worked five years earlier.

By December, the Peace of Damme forces Bruges to surrender. Willem Moreel is permanently banished—though later pardoned, he's barred from political power.

The following summer, Ghent's revolt is finally suppressed. The Coppenhole brothers—imprisoned and then freed amid the chaotic events of 1485—are executed. Late July brings the Peace of Cadzand (KAH-zant), which imposes harsh terms: a penalty of 12,000 pounds, curtailments of privileges, and a one-third devaluation of currency.

This peace inaugurates 47 years without a Ghent rebellion—the longest period of peace in the city's most rebellious history.

In October, Filips van Kleef surrenders at Sluis. He receives complete remission, an annual pension, and a substantial buyout. While urban leaders face execution or banishment, the nobleman receives a generous settlement.

The costs are staggering.

War-torn Flanders suffered destroyed harvests, livestock, and farms, with towns blockaded and trade routes severed. Between 1488 and 1493, vast agricultural areas were abandoned, and Bruges never regained its previous wealth. The Flemish Revolt hastened Antwerp's rise as northern Europe's key economic center of the 16th century.

In August 1493, Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor after his father's death. He ensures that his son Philip, who has come of age, formally approves only the rights granted by Duke Philip the Good at his inauguration. This does not include the Great Privilege or the concessions made in 1477.

Philip the Fair ruled from 1494 to 1506. Contemporary sources portray him as genuinely identified with the Low Countries rather than as a foreign prince. His will specified that his heart be buried in Bruges with his mother, Mary. But his attention turns elsewhere. In 1495, double marriages were arranged with Spanish heirs. A series of deaths made Philip's wife, Juana, the heiress to Aragon and Castile, as we discussed in Episode 84. 

In 1500, Charles was born. Heir to the Burgundian Low Countries, the Spanish kingdoms, the Habsburg Austrian lands, and the prospect of the imperial title. The Low Countries are no longer the most important territories among those ruled by the princes.

Philip died suddenly in 1506 while in Spain. He's twenty-eight years old.

Though the Great Privilege was effectively abolished in 1494, it evolved into what historians call "a political myth of how things should be." During the 1560s and 1570s, when Philip II of Spain attempted to centralize power, rebels invoked Mary's Great Privilege.  Subjects have a constitutional memory to draw on. The patterns established in 1482-1492 resurface during the Dutch Revolt.

October 12, 1492. The day Filips van Kleef surrenders at Sluis. On the same day, Columbus lands in the Americas. One world ends. Another begins. The Burgundian dream of a middle kingdom is dead. Yet the constitutional principles established in its death throes will shape European politics for centuries to come.

In our next episode, we will examine the regency of Margaret of Austria and the early years of Charles V's reign.

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