The Flemings are a Germanic-speaking people who inhabit primarily northern and western
Belgium; the nation is divided along ethnolin-guistic lines. The French-speaking Walloons live to their south and east in Belgium. The Flemings make up about two-thirds of Belgium’s population (see Belgians: nationaliTY). Flemings are also found in northern France. The term Flemings, or Flemish (from the Middle Dutch Vlaminc akin to Middle Dutch Vlandes for Flanders, possibly meaning lowland or flooded land), has also been used for inhabitants of varying ethnicity from the historic region of Flanders.
ORIGINS
Present-day Belgium was originally inhabited by Gauls, among them the Belgae. In the first century b. c.e. the Romans occupied the region. Over the next centuries the Romanized Celtic peoples competed with the Germanics, such as Saxons and Frisians, who migrated into Roman Gaul from across the Rhine. In the third century the Franks, a loosely organized assortment of war bands and traders east of the Rhine border who had been trading with the Romans probably since the first century C. E., began to impinge on the area west of the Rhine in Belgium. The Romans enlisted some of them for protection. The Franks were successful as Roman allies, receiving grants of territory in the region in recompense. Frankish settlements in southern Belgium were situated around the town of Tournai. (Archaeology has found evidence of Franks living alongside Roman villas, in all probability to act as guards.) After the collapse of Roman power in Gaul, the Franks came together under the rule of Childeric I, whose son Clovis I extended Frankish rule over much of today’s France and Belgium in the sixth century. Both Germanic and Celtic influence continued in Belgium, leading to the formation of the groups defined as Flemings and Walloons.
LANGUAGE
Peoples who settled the north in present-day Netherlands and Belgium were largely Germanic speaking; those who settled to the south in Belgium and present-day France adopted the language of the Romanized Gauls, which evolved into Walloon, related to French. The Germanic language spoken by the Flemings is the same, except for dialectal variations, as Netherlandic (or Dutch), spoken by the people of the Netherlands. The written versions of Flemish and Netherlandic are also the same. Many of Belgium’s citizens are bilingual or trilingual, speaking Flemish in addition to French and/or Walloon.
HISTORY
Flanders
The name Flanders, from the same root word as the names Flemings and Flemish, was originally applied to a historic principality, which comprised the present-day provinces of East and West Flanders in Belgium, the southern portion of Zeeland Province in the Netherlands, and the Nord Department in France. It is also used for the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium—the provinces of Antwerpen, East Flanders, West Flanders, and northern Brabant—also sometimes called the Flemish Region. This region is bordered on the west by the North sea and France, on the north and east by the Netherlands, and on the south by the region of Wallonia.
In about 862 Baldwin I, son-in-law of the Carolingian Frankish emperor Charles the Bald (later Charles II, Holy Roman Emperor), became the first count of Flanders. The counts of Flanders effectively united the various Germanic-speaking and Romance-speaking peoples under their rule. Because of its North sea coast Flanders was at risk from attacks by Vikings in the ninth and 10th centuries, but Frankish-based armies managed to repel incursions, unlike in the region of Normandy to the south, where Vikings became known as Normans. By the 10th century Flanders became a center of the wool and silk industries. By the 11th century Flanders, because of its commercial success, had risen to a prominent position in western European affairs. By
Flemings time line
FLEMINGS
Location:
Northern and western Belgium; northern France
Time period:
Third century C. E. to present
Ancestry:
Mostly Germanic
Language:
Flemish (Germanic)
C. E.
Third-fourth century Franks arrive in Belgium.
862 Baldwin I becomes count of Flanders.
10th century Wool and silk industries developed in Flanders.
13th century Flemish cloth industry foremost in Europe
1584 Part of Flanders incorporated into Spanish Netherlands.
1668 France annexes portion of Flanders.
1795-1814 Flanders incorporated into French Empire.
1830 Belgium revolts gain independence.
1898 Flemish becomes second official language of Belgium.
1993 Constitutional revision makes Belgium federalist state with separate autonomous regions of Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels.
The 13th century the Flemish cloth industry was the foremost in Europe.
Various European powers, including France, the Holy Roman Empire, Burgundy, Spain, Austria, and the Netherlands, played a part in the history of the region over the subsequent centuries, with shifting sovereignty and borders and various military occupations. Part of it was incorporated into the Spanish Netherlands in 1584, after other territory had been given to France. Louis XIV of France annexed other portions in 1668. The original Flanders disappeared as a political entity during the French Revolution and Napoleonic period, 1795-1814, when incorporated into the French Empire. The modern nations of the region took a form close to their present shape in the 19th century, after Belgium’s revolt from the Netherlands in 1830 and its recognition as an independent kingdom in 1831 and 1839 treaties. The title Count of Flanders is still used for princes of the Belgian royal family.
On becoming citizens of Belgium, the Flemings, although greater in number, had less political power than did the Walloons. In the 19th century a Flemish movement seeking political equality as well as preservation of language and culture arose. From the 1830s the Flemish scholar and poet Jan Frans Willems helped revive the Flemish literary language. Guido Gezelle, a Roman Catholic priest and poet, also championed the Flemish cause in Rijmsnoer (Necklace of rhymes; 1897) and other works. By the end of the century government and courts in Flemish areas utilized Flemish in official proceedings. In 1898 Flemish was made Belgium’s second official language. In the 1930s Flemish became the language of instruction at the University of Ghent and in all primary and secondary schools located in Flemish areas. In 1932 the military established a Flemish military academy and separate Flemish units. With inequality between Belgium’s Flemish and Walloons a continuing issue, in 1993 a constitutional revision made Belgium a federalist state with three separate and autonomous regions: Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels. All public signs and government publications in Flanders are in Flemish. The nation’s capital was given official bilingual status.
Economy
The textiles industry, foremost in Europe by the 13th century, has been central to the economy of the Flemings. Some among them became renowned as intricate weavers of exquisite tapestries and found work internationally, for instance, at Beauvais in northern France starting in the 17th century. The location of Flanders also made it central to European trade. Bruges connected to North Sea towns by canals, Antwerp on the Schelde, and Ghent at the confluence of the Schelde and Leie Rivers (as well as several canals) all became important trade centers.
Although historic Flanders as of the 12th century had a centralized judicial system, many of its towns operated with a considerable measure of independence, granted numerous privileges and liberties by sovereign or feudal overlords.
The Flemish tradition in art, in combination with the Dutch tradition, is one of the strongest in all of Europe; many of its masters, especially in the 15th-17th centuries, became renowned throughout Europe. Among some of the most notable are Hubert van Eyck and his brother, Jan van Eyck, of the 15th century, founders of the Flemish school of painting; Rogier van der Weyden of the 15th century; Pieter Bruegel of the 16th century and his sons and grandsons; Peter Paul Rubens of the 16th-17th century; and Sir Anthony van Dyck of the 17th century. The greatest patron of Flemish art was the Catholic Church.
Jan van Eyck was the first painter in Europe to fully exploit the possibilities of the new medium of oil paint; for a time he was even credited with its invention. With it he was able to capture the visible world in greater detail and more vivid color than had ever been seen before. Jan and his brother Hugo used their mastery of this medium to create a distinctive Flemish school of painting (also called the Northern Renaissance), characterized by acute observation of nature, the use of symbolism in no way at odds with the great realism of their paintings, depiction of spatial depth and landscape backgrounds, and delicate precision of brushwork.
The paintings of peasant life by Pieter Breughel and others of his family have a lusty and rugged humor; in “The Peasant Dance” heavy-footed men and women tread out a ponderous but energetic dance to the music of a piper whose cheeks balloon out in his efforts to make his instrument heard above the uproar of a table of drunks just behind him.
Rogier van der Weyden was the most renowned painter of his time and was patronized by various European courts. His work was known for its realistic clarity and strong colors.
Peter Paul Rubens, although born in Germany, spent most of his life in Antwerp. Called by 19th-century French painter Eugene Delacroix the Homer of painting, he specialized in cycles of paintings on narratives of epic proportions, including a life of Achilles. Other cycles are scenes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and stories from the Old Testament. Rubens also made two large series of paintings to glorify rulers: the Marie de’ Medicis cycle in Paris, and the Apotheosis of James I for the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace in London. Rather than focusing on psychological depth, he chose to depict extreme, climactic moments using a brushwork technique supercharged with energy.
Sir Anthony van Dyke, a pupil of Rubens, painted with an Apollonian elegance and restraint in strong contrast with Rubens’s Dionysian exuberance. His style appealed greatly to the British, and he became court painter to King Charles I in 1632 (his name anglicized to Sir Anthony). His portrait of Charles and others of his court helped to create the atmosphere they sought of refinement and of royal power so absolute it needed no outward trapping of crown, ermine, and orb. Charles is shown in plain though rich hunting dress, just dismounted from his horse. Van Dyke has been credited with helping to create for the British aristocracy their own image of themselves.
The majority of Flemings are Roman Catholic, as are the Walloons.
Although modern Flanders no longer has the political, economic, and cultural clout of the historic Flanders, the modern Flemish movement has ensured a continuation of the Flemish identity
Further Reading
Marina Boudart et al., eds. Modern Belgium (Brussels, Belgium: Sposs, 1990).
Bernard A. Cook. Belgium: A History (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2002).
Ronald Eckford Mill Irving. The Flemings and Walloons of Belgium (London: Minority Rights Group International, 1980).
Stephan B. Wickman, ed. Belgium: A Country Study (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1985).
World History
