The land of the Flemings, borders upon the North Sea, formerly extended from the Scheldt to the Somme, and included, besides the present Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders, part of Zealand, and also of Artois, in France; the ancient county dates from 862, in which year Charles the Bold of France, as suzerain, raised it to the status of a sovereign county, and bestowed it upon his son Baldwin I.; it has successively belonged to Spain and Austria, and in Louis XIV.'s reign a portion of it was ceded to France, now known as French Flanders, while Zealand passed into the hands of the Dutch; the remainder was in 1714 made the Austrian Netherlands, and in 1831 was incorporated with the new kingdom of Belgium (q. v .).