County of Flanders

State · 990–1384 CE · at its largest around 1169 CE

Wealthy county in the Low Countries, a vassal of the French crown, whose cloth towns such as Bruges and Ghent made it one of Europe's most urban regions; it passed to Burgundy in 1384.

On its lands while it lasted

Bruges (c. 990 CE): Capital of County of Flanders (990–1384).
Peter Abelard (1079 CE – 1142 CE): French philosopher and theologian who taught in Paris, a pioneer of scholastic method, remembered also for his love affair with Héloïse.
Basilica of Saint-Denis (1144 CE): Abbot Suger's rebuilt choir, consecrated in 1144, is considered the first Gothic building; the basilica was the burial place of French kings.
University of Paris (c. 1150 CE): Emerging around 1150 from the schools of Notre-Dame, the University of Paris became a leading centre of theology and philosophy in medieval Europe. Its college of the Sorbonne, founded in 1257, gave the university its popular name.
Notre-Dame de Paris (1163 CE): Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité, begun in 1163, famous for its flying buttresses, rose windows and sculpture.
Arras (c. 1241 CE): Capital of County of Artois (1241–1332).
Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302 CE): Flemish town militias defeated French knights at Kortrijk, showing that infantry could beat heavy cavalry.
Battle of Crécy (1346 CE): English longbowmen under Edward III defeated a much larger French army in northern France.
Christine de Pizan (c. 1364 CE – 1430 CE): Italian-born writer at the French court whose Book of the City of Ladies defended women; one of Europe's first professional women writers.