istoryworld
Events relating to belgium
The Netherlands, or 'low countries' around the Rhine delta, enter history as the Roman province of Germania Inferior
Halted by a Roman army in their push southwards, the Franks settle in the Roman province of Belgica, around Tournai
Flemish towns begin to acquire municipal independence, as communes, following the earlier Italian trend
The marriage of the duke of Burgundy to the heiress of Flanders lays the foundation for the great territorial expansion of Burgundy
Philip II of Burgundy commissions from Netherlands sculptor Claus Sluter a work, the Well of Moses, which launches the northern Renaissance
Robert Campin, also known as the Master of Flémalle, brings to Flemish painting a natural and everyday quality which is entirely new
A new altarpiece is installed in the cathedral in Ghent, introducing the powerful realism of Jan van Eyck
Giovanni Arnolfini, a merchant from Lucca trading in Bruges, commissions from van Eyck a portrait of himself and his wife
Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, of Burgundy, commissions an altarpiece from Jan van Eyck
Rogier van der Weyden, the third in the extraordinary trio of Flemish artists of the 1430s, is appointed painter to the city of Brussels
Oil paints, long familiar in the Netherlands, begin to be adopted in Italy in place of tempera
The assembly brought together in Bruges in 1463 is later seen as the first full gathering of the Netherlands States-General
Jerome van Aken works almost exclusively in his native s' Hertogenbosch, from which he derives the name Hieronymus Bosch
Tommaso Portinari, the Medici agent in Bruges, commissions an altarpiece from Hugo van der Goes for his family church in Florence
Hieronymus Bosch paints the most detailed of his exotically surreal canvases, The Garden of Earthly Delights
Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism
Erasmus publishes an influential edition of the New Testament in its original Greek
William Tyndale is captured in Antwerp, condemned as a heretic and strangled at the stake
Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius publishes a seven-volume work which for the first time lays bare human anatomy
Pieter Brueghel the Elder depicts biblical events taking place among the peasants of the Netherlands countryside
The duke of Alba introduces a reign of terror in the Spanish Netherlands, by means of a tribunal known as the Council of Blood
Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator publishes a map of the world, using the projection now known by his name
The Pacification of Ghent unites all the provinces of the Netherlands in opposition to Spain
The Union of Arras and the Union of Utrecht split the Netherlands into Catholic and Protestant camps
A year after Mercator's death, his son publishes a bound collection of his maps with the title Atlas, or Cosmographic Meditations
