Burgundian Circle

Burgundian Circle Burgundischer Kreis
Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire
1512–1797
The Burgundian Circle after 1548 within the Holy Roman Empire
Historical era	Early modern period
• Established	1512
• Secession of the Seven United Provinces	1648
• Disestablished	1797
Today part of	Belgium France Germany Luxembourg Netherlands

The Burgundian Circle (German: Burgundischer Kreis, Dutch: Bourgondische Kreits, French: Cercle de Bourgogne) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire created in 1512 and significantly enlarged in 1548. In addition to the Free County of Burgundy (the former administrative region of Franche-Comté), the Burgundian Circle roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., the areas now known as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and adjacent parts in the French administrative region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. For most of its history, its lands were coterminous with the holdings of the Spanish Habsburgs in the Empire (Franche-Comté and the Habsburg Netherlands).

The circle's territorial scope was reduced considerably in the 17th century with the secession of the Seven United Provinces in 1581 (recognized 1648 under the Treaty of Westphalia) and the annexation of the Free County of Burgundy by France in 1678. Consequently, in the 18th century the circle was known as Austrian Netherlands as the Austrian Habsburgs had obtained the territory from Spain earlier in that century. The occupation and subsequent annexation of Imperial territory to the west of the Rhine river by Revolutionary France in the 1790s effectively brought an end to the circle's existence.