other · France and the Low Countries

Lordship of Mechelen

1333 CE – 1795 CE (approx.) · capital Mechelen

A small separate lordship between Brabant and Antwerp that became the judicial and court capital of the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands.

Origins

Mechelen was long divided between the prince-bishops of Liège and the Berthout family, under constant pressure from Brabant. In 1333 the bishop sold his rights to Louis of Nevers, count of Flanders, and after disputes with Brabant the town became a distinct lordship, one of the seventeen provinces of the Low Countries.

Rule and society

Mechelen was a prosperous cloth town with a tall cathedral tower of St Rumbold. Under the Burgundian State it became seat of the Parliament of Mechelen in 1473, later the Great Council, the supreme court of the Netherlands. Margaret of York and then Margaret of Austria, regent for Charles V, kept their courts there, making it a Renaissance centre.

Decline and legacy

In 1559 Mechelen became the seat of the new archbishop, primate of the Netherlands. It stayed with the Spanish Netherlands and the Austrian Netherlands until French annexation in 1795, and is today a city of Belgium.

Connections (5)

More states of France and the Low Countries →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lordship of Mechelen. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-mechelen
MLA
“Lordship of Mechelen.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-mechelen. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Lordship of Mechelen.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-mechelen.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lordship of Mechelen’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-mechelen (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻