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Burgundian period

The Burgundian Netherlands or Burgundian period is the period between 1384 and 1482, in which an increasing part of the Low Countries was ruled by the dukes of Burgundy. Within their Burgundian Empire, which itself belonged partly to the Holy Roman Empire and partly to the Kingdom of France, they combined these different territories into a political context that went beyond a personal union and that for the first time acquired central institutions.

This period began with the accession of Duke Philip the Bold as Count of Flanders and Artois, and lasted until the death of Duchess Mary of Burgundy in 1482, when the Burgundian Empire was lost and the Low Countries by inheritance under the rule of the Habsburg Monarchy came.

In the 15th century it was customary to refer to the low country regions where the Duke of Burgundy reigned and usually resided as les pays de par-deçà or the lands from beyond. Burgundy proper was referred to as les pays de par-delà or the lands from thither (see also Names of the Low Countries).

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Polyptych The Ghent Altarpiece, Ghent brothers van Eyck 1432
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​The Adoration of the Ghent Altarpiece is a religious polyptych by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, completed around 1432. The work, a highlight of the Flemish Primitives, was painted on oak, commissioned by the Ghent burgher-merchant Joos Vijd as an altarpiece in front of the Vijdkapel in Ghent's Saint Bavo Cathedral. Except for one stolen panel, the Just Judges, the painting can be admired intact in that church building.

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