Bruxelles - Palais Royal (Palais du Coudenberg) - 1788
Here there is a chronology of how Brussels has been a key center in European history:
768: Charlemagne becomes King of the Franks, integrating the territories of present-day Belgium, Flanders and the Netherlands into a political system linking the Mediterranean, the Rhine basin and the North Sea.
800: Charlemagne is crowned Emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. His empire combines Roman legitimacy, Frank military structures and Christian institutions, establishing the political framework of medieval Western Europe.
814: Charlemagne dies. As central authority weakens, power shifts to local aristocracies. The gradual privatization of justice, taxation, warfare and protection marks the rise of Feudalism.
843: The Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian Empire. The Low Countries become part of the contested middle kingdom of Lotharingia, positioned between France and Germany.
870: The Treaty of Meerssen reshapes Lotharingia. The region remains a strategic commercial and military corridor between Europe’s two major political spheres.
9th–10th centuries: Coastal and riverine settlements expand thanks to trade along the North Sea, the Rhine and Baltic routes.
10th century: Regional principalities emerge, including the County of Flanders on the west (Bruges, Gand, Ypres, …) and the Duchy of Brabant on the east (Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, …) formally within the Holy Roman Empire but enjoying significant autonomy.
1000–1100: Agricultural expansion, demographic growth and improved transport create economic surplus. Flanders benefits from navigable rivers, proximity to England and access to Baltic trade networks.
11th century: Flemish cities become Europe’s leading manufacturing centers. English wool is transformed into high-value textiles in Bruges, Gand and Ypres.
1050–1150: Flanders develops one of Europe’s most advanced economies, characterized by urbanization, monetary circulation, international trade and a powerful merchant class.
1100–1200: Brussels grows as the political center of Brabant, while Bruges dominates commerce.
1183: Brabant is formally elevated to a duchy, strengthening Brussels’ political importance.
12th–13th centuries: Urban guilds and merchants gain political influence. Unlike Italian city-states, Flemish cities remain embedded within larger territorial principalities rather than becoming sovereign republics. Guilds reduced competition within a community in order to strengthen social order and increase competition between the other communities.
1200–1300: Flemish cities accumulate immense wealth through textiles, fairs, maritime trade and commercial finance, becoming richer than many European feudal capitals.
1302: The Battle of the Golden Spurs sees Flemish urban militias defeat French knights, symbolizing the growing power of cities, merchants and organized infantry over feudal aristocracy. It was similar to the Battle of Legnano (1176).
1363: The King of France gives to his younger son the Duchy of Burgundy.
1369: Philip the Bold marries Margaret of Flanders. Suddenly the dukes control not only French lands but also some of the richest urban regions in Europe.
14th century: Bruges becomes the commercial hub of Northern Europe, connecting English wool, German metals, French wine, Baltic goods and Mediterranean luxury products.
1348–1350: The Black Death strikes the region, but Flemish cities recover rapidly thanks to their commercial resilience.
1384: The Low Countries enter the orbit of the Valois Burgundian dynasty whose capital was in Dijon. Political integration begins across Flanders, Brabant, Holland and neighboring territories.
Late 14th century: The Dukes of Burgundy recognize that economic power lies in controlling the wealthy urban centers of the Low Countries rather than merely holding land.
1407: John the Fearless orchestrated the assassination of Louis of Orléans, triggering a French civil war.
1419: Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, accelerates the unification of the Burgundian Netherlands and reigns in Dijon, Bruges and Brussels (Palais du Coudenberg).
1420–1470: Brussels emerges as the administrative capital of the Burgundian state, while Bruges remains the principal commercial center.
1434: Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini Portrait, symbol of Flemish wealth.
15th century: The Flemish Renaissance flourishes through finance, luxury manufactures, tapestry production and the work of artists such as Jan van Eyck.
1453: The end of the Hundred Years’ War strengthens the French monarchy, accelerates taxation, bureaucracy and standing armies, and marks the transition from feudal kingship to the early modern state.
1450–1500: Bruges declines as access to the sea through the Zwin channel deteriorates. Antwerp begins its rise.
1455: Brussels Town Hall, highest building il The Grand Place facing the Bread House (hosting the Duke of Brabant and then the King of Spain) rebuilt by Charles V. The Place is crowned by the guildhalls and the neoclassical palace of the Dukes of Brabant. The guildhalls are narrow and high because medieval cities were enclosed by walls, many properties were taxed according to street frontage rather than total floor area and commercial activity required direct access to the street.
1467: Charles the Bold attempts to build an independent great power between France and the Holy Roman Empire, controlling Europe’s main trade corridors.
1477: Charles the Bold dies at the Battle of Nancy. Louis XI of France moves to seize the Duchy of Burgundy. Through Mary of Burgundy getting married to Maximilian of Austria, the Burgundian Netherlands pass to the Habsburg dynasty. Burgundian history can be read as the failed attempt to create a third great European power between the French kingdom and the German imperial world.
1493: Maximilian I consolidates Habsburg control over the Low Countries.
1500: Charles V is born in Gand.
1515: Charles V assumes control of the Netherlands.
1515: The Battle of Marignano gives France temporary supremacy in northern Italy and demonstrates the growing importance of artillery in warfare.
1519: Charles V becomes Holy Roman Emperor. Through a unique combination of Burgundian, Spanish, Austrian and imperial inheritances, he rules the largest European monarchy of the age. Brussels becomes one of its principal political capitals.
1522: The Battle of Bicocca highlights the effectiveness of firearms and disciplined infantry, signaling the decline of traditional medieval warfare.
1525: The Battle of Pavia ends French hopes of dominating Italy. Charles V reaches the peak of Habsburg power in Europe.
1520–1550: Antwerp becomes Europe’s leading financial and commercial center, handling banking, insurance, international exchange and a significant share of the silver arriving from the Americas.
1527: The Sack of Rome reveals the contradiction at the heart of Charles V’s empire: the Catholic emperor’s troops devastate the seat of the Papacy.
1549: The Pragmatic Sanction formally unifies the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands under a single dynastic framework.
1555: The Peace of Augsburg establishes the principle cuius regio, eius religio, acknowledging the impossibility of restoring religious unity within the Empire. At the Coudenberg Palace in Brussels, Charles V abdicates. The dream of a unified Christian empire gives way to a Europe divided by states and religions.
1556: Philip II of Spain inherits the Netherlands and governs from Madrid, increasingly clashing with local traditions of autonomy.
1560–1566: Fiscal pressure, religious repression and centralization fuel growing unrest in the Netherlands.
1566: Protestant iconoclasm erupts across the Low Countries, marking the beginning of open conflict.
1567: The Duke of Alba arrives with Spanish troops, imposing harsh repression and new taxation.
1568: The Eighty Years’ War begins. The conflict is simultaneously religious, political and economic: urban capitalism versus imperial centralization.
1576: The Pacification of Gand briefly unites many provinces against Spanish military rule.
1579: The Union of Utrecht unites the northern Protestant provinces. The Union of Arras aligns the southern Catholic provinces with Spain, laying the foundations for the future separation between Belgium and the Netherlands.
1585: Alexander Farnese recaptures Antwerp for Spain. The city’s decline triggers a massive migration of merchants, financiers, printers and skilled workers to Amsterdam.
Late 16th century: Amsterdam inherits Antwerp’s commercial networks, financial expertise and entrepreneurial culture, becoming the engine of the Dutch Golden Age.
1588: The defeat of the Spanish Armada marks the limits of Spanish power and accelerates England’s emergence as a major maritime state.
1609: The Twelve Years’ Truce temporarily suspends hostilities between Spain and the Dutch Republic.
1648: The Peace of Westphalia recognizes the independence of the Dutch Republic. The northern provinces become a Protestant, maritime and commercial power, while Brussels and the southern Netherlands remain under Catholic Habsburg rule, forming the historical core of modern Belgium.
1731: A fire destroys the Coudenberg Palace. The site is later replaced by the neoclassical Place Royale, symbolizing Brussels’ transformation from a medieval dynastic capital into an Enlightenment-era administrative center.