Estates General of 1464

Estates General
États Généraux (French) / Staten Generaal (Dutch)
Estates of the realm
First Estate of prelates
Second Estate of nobility
Third Estate of boroughs
History
Established 9 January 1464
Disbanded 12 February 1464
Leadership
Monarch
Meeting place
Bruges

The Estates General of 1464 was a parliamentary assembly of representatives of the constituent territories of the Burgundian Netherlands (now parts of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands). It was the first such assembly.

Convocation

Each of the territories represented already had parliamentary institutions (provincial estates) of its own. The convocation of a meeting of representatives of all of these territories was the initiative of the States of Flanders (between 20 and 24 December), followed by Philip the Good (on 25 December), and his son Charles the Bold (on 26 December). Although in first instance reacting to the initiative of the States of Flanders, Duke Philip and his son were quick to adopt the convocation of the Estates General in support of their policy of centralizing their rule over their various territories.[1]

Composition

DelegationPrelatesNoblesThird Estate[2]
(Representatives of boroughs)
Duchy of Brabant
County of Flanders
Lille, Douai and Orchies
County of Artois
County of Hainaut
County of Holland
County of Namur
Lordship of Mechelen
County of Boulogne
County of Zeeland

References

  1. Wim Blockmans, "De samenstelling van de staten van de Bourgondische landsheerlijkheden omstreeks 1464", Standen en Landen 47 (1968), pp. 57-112; 65-66.
  2. Not all representatives of the third estate were themselves members of the third estate: a mayor or alderman could represent the common inhabitants of a borough while bearing a noble title.
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