Charles I, Count of Flanders

Blessed Charles the Good (1084 – 2 March 1127) was Count of Flanders from 1119 to 1127. He is most remembered for his murder and its aftermath, which were chronicled by Galbert of Bruges.

History

Charles was born in Denmark, only son of the three children of King Canute IV (Saint Canute) and Adela of Flanders. His father was assassinated in Odense Cathedral in 1086, and Adela fled back to Flanders, taking the very young Charles with her but leaving her twin daughters Ingeborg and Cecilia in Denmark. Charles grew up at the comital court of his grandfather Robert I and uncle Robert II. In 1092 Adela went to southern Italy to marry Roger Borsa, duke of Apulia, leaving Charles in Flanders.

In 1111 Robert II died, and Charles' cousin Baldwin VII became count. Charles was a close advisor to the new count (who was several years younger), who around 1118 arranged Charles' marriage to the heiress of the count of Amiens, Margaret of Clermont. The childless count Baldwin was wounded fighting for the king of France in September 1118, and he designated Charles as his successor before he died on 17 July 1119.

Count of Flanders

The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders in the 9th century. The title was held for a time by the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Spain. It was later abolished during the French Revolution in 1790, when the region was annexed to France. The title has also been granted twice to younger sons of the King of the Belgians. The most recent holder died in 1983.

Although the early rulers from Arnulf I onward, were sometimes referred to as margraves or marquesses, this alternate title largely fell out of use by the 12th century. Since then, the rulers of Flanders have only been referred to as Counts.

The Counts of Flanders enlarged their estate through a series of diplomatic maneuvers. The counties of Hainaut, Namur, Béthune, Nevers, Auxerre, Rethel, Burgundy, and Artois were acquired via marriage with the respective heiresses. However, the County of Flanders suffered the same fate. As a result of the marriage of Countess Margaret III with Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, the county and the subsidiary counties, entered a personal union with the Duchy of Burgundy in 1405. The county ceased to exist in 1795.

Charles I

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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V (French: Charles Quint; German: Karl V.) (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558), also known as Charles I of Spain (Spanish: Carlos I), was Duke of Burgundy and ruler of the Netherlands from 1506, ruler of the Spanish Empire from 1516 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1519, until he voluntarily stepped down from these and other positions by a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556. Through inheritance, he brought together under his rule extensive territories in central, western, and southern Europe, and the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia. As a result, his domains spanned nearly four million square kilometers, and were the first to be described as "the empire on which the sun never sets".

Charles was the heir of three of Europe's leading dynasties: the Houses of Habsburg, Valois-Burgundy and Trastámara. From his own dynasty, the Habsburgs, he inherited Austria and other lands in central Europe. He was also elected to succeed his Habsburg grandfather, Maximilian I as Holy Roman Emperor, a title held by the Habsburgs since 1440. He inherited the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche-Comté as heir of the House of Valois-Burgundy. From the Spanish House of Trastámara, he inherited the crowns of Castile, which was in the process of developing a nascent empire in the Americas and Asia, and Aragon. The latter included a Mediterranean empire that extended to Southern Italy. Charles was the first king to rule Castile and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, and, as a result, is sometimes referred to as the first King of Spain. The personal union, under Charles, of the Holy Roman Empire with the Spanish empire resulted in the closest Europe would come to a universal monarchy in the post-classical era.

Charles I of Hungary

Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (Hungarian: Károly Róbert; Croatian: Karlo Robert; 1288 – 16 July 1342) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou. His paternal grandmother, Mary, was a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary. Charles inherited the claim of his father, Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno, to the Kingdom of Hungary in 1295. However, most Hungarian prelates and lords refused to acknowledge his claim and remained loyal to Andrew III of Hungary. Charles's paternal grandfather, Charles II of Naples, made Charles's uncle, Robert, heir to the Kingdom of Naples even though Robert was a younger brother of Charles's father.

Charles came to the Kingdom of Hungary upon the invitation of an influential Croatian lord, Paul Šubić, in August 1300. Andrew III died on 14 January 1301, and within four months Charles was crowned king, but with a provisional crown instead of the Holy Crown of Hungary. Most Hungarian noblemen refused to yield to him and elected Wenceslaus of Bohemia king. Charles withdrew to the southern regions of the kingdom. Pope Boniface VIII acknowledged Charles as the lawful king in 1303, but Charles was unable to strengthen his position against his opponent. Wenceslaus abdicated in favor of Otto of Bavaria in 1305. Because it had no central government, the Kingdom of Hungary had disintegrated into a dozen provinces, each headed by a powerful nobleman, or oligarch. One of those oligarchs, Ladislaus Kán, captured and imprisoned Otto of Bavaria in 1307. Charles was elected king in Pest on 27 November 1308, but his rule remained nominal in most parts of his kingdom even after he was crowned with the Holy Crown on 27 August 1310.

Flanders

Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen [ˈvlaːndərə(n)], French: Flandre) today normally refers to the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. The demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, and the government of Flanders only oversees some cultural aspects of Brussels life.

Historically, the name referred to the County of Flanders, which around 1000 CE stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. The only parts of historical Flanders that lay within modern-day Flanders are the provinces West Flanders and East Flanders. Nevertheless, during the 19th and 20th centuries it became increasingly commonplace to use the term "Flanders" to refer to the entire Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, stretching all the way to the River Maas. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made into two political entities: the "Flemish Community" (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschap) and the "Flemish Region" (Dutch: Vlaams Gewest). These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a broader cultural mandate, covers Brussels, whereas the Flemish Region does not.

Flanders Historic District

The Flanders Historic District is a historic district that encompasses a small cluster of late-18th to early-19th century residential structures north of the center of Kent, Connecticut, which was the original heart of the community when it was first settled. There are twelve major buildings, of which five are large Federal style houses, three are older colonial-era buildings, and two later vernacular Greek Revival structures. The oldest house, that of John Beebe, Sr., was built in 1741.

The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

See also

References