Saint Sixtus Abbey in Historical Perspective

By the marriage of Margaret of Flanders, daughter of the Flemish Count Louis of Maie, and Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and brother of the French King, Flanders got integrated into a larger political entity and entered a culturally flourishing period in the 15th century A.D.

Flanders was a part of the Burgundian Realm, that had become quite vast by several territorial expansions under the successive Dukes of Burgundy.

After Charles the Bold had died in the Battle of Nancy, Flanders was governed by his daughter Mary of Burgundy, who was married to Maximilian of Austria, the son of the German Emperor Frederic III. After her death, her widower became a regent and Flanders came under the sphere of influence of the Habsburg Empire.

Emperor Charles V reigned over an immense area including the Low Countries, the German Empire, Spain and parts of America. In the beginning of the 16th century A.D. any feudal bond with France was broken off. Because of the vastness of the Habsburg Empire, also called the Holy Roman Empire, it became hard to administrate and pockets of resistance arose. In this period of unrest religious wars were fought (reformation). Religiously speaking, that situation ended up in the Trent Council (1 545) and the Augsburg Peace Treaty (1 555), stipulating that the ruler of each state in the Empire could choose which religion to adhere to, either the Catholic or the Lutheran religion (cuius regio, eius religio).

King Louis XIV occupied part of the Southern Provinces. There were battles fought between the French armies and those of England and the United Provinces. They were all fought on Southern Provinces' territory. The outcome was that the Southern Provinces, who had no say in the matter, came under the rule of the Austrian Habsburgers (the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713).