Seventeen Provinces

The Seventeen Provinces (Dutch: Zeventien Provinciën, French: Dix-Sept Provinces, Spanish: Diecisiete Provincias) was a term used to describe the Spanish Netherlands before the Dutch Revolt, when they were at their largest extent. They covered most of the Low Countries, i.e., what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the French departments of Nord (French Flanders and French Hainaut) and Pas-de-Calais (Artois).

The Seventeen Provinces arose from the Burgundian Netherlands, a number of fiefs held by the House of Valois-Burgundy and inherited by the House of Habsburg in 1482, and held by Habsburg Spain from 1556. Starting in 1512, the Provinces formed the major part of the Burgundian Circle. In 1581, many of these provinces seceded to form what would eventually become the Dutch Republic.

As the term "province" did not denote a specific administrative unit, but rather was a term of convenience, different authors chose and still choose to make sense of the intricate patchwork of fiefdoms across Early Modern Europe in different ways, meaning that not only is there no agreed upon definition of which provinces were among the seventeen, some even disagree on the number seventeen itself.

The Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, which established the Netherlands as a cohesive administrative entity, lists the following provinces:

This totals fifteen provinces, but by counting Zutphen and Groningen separately, the number increases to seventeen; this is thought to be the origin of the number, though others attribute it Christian significance. In any case, it is a rather arbitrary one and even contemporary sources disagree on the composition and number of provinces. The Margraviate of Antwerp in particular was often counted as a fully-fledged province, while other lists omit it, counting it as part of Brabant. Some lists count the Tournaisis as a province, while others lump it together with Lillie, Douai and Orchies as "Walloon Flanders", despite there being no record of such a name having been used in the 16th century. Some modern lists may retroactively include the Territory of Drenthe [nl], which was considered a province within the Dutch Republic, as one of the Seventeen Provinces.

The Seventeen Provinces originated from the Burgundian Netherlands. The dukes of Burgundy systematically became the lords of different provinces. Mary I of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy was the last of the House of Burgundy.

Mary married Archduke Maximilian in 1477, and the provinces were acquired by the House of Habsburg on her death in 1482, with the exception of the Duchy of Burgundy itself, which, with an appeal to Salic law, had been reabsorbed into France upon the death of Mary's father, Charles the Bold. Maximilian and Mary's grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, eventually united all 17 provinces under his rule, the last one being the Duchy of Guelders, in 1543.

Most of these provinces were fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire. Two provinces, the County of Flanders and the County of Artois, were originally French fiefs, but sovereignty was ceded to the Empire in the Treaty of Cambrai in 1529.