Supreme Council of Flanders

Map of the Spanish-Portuguese Empire in 1598.
  Territories administered by the Council of Castile
  Territories administered by the Council of Aragon
  Territories administered by the Council of Portugal
  Territories administered by the Council of Italy
  Territories administered by the Council of the Indies
  Territories appointed to the Council of Flanders

The Supreme Council of Flanders and Burgundy (Consejo Supremo de Flandes y Borgoña (i.e. Flanders and Burgundy), or simply Consejo de Flandes) was a governing institution in the Spanish Empire responsible for advising the king of Spain on the exercise of his prerogatives in the Spanish Netherlands. This territory comprised most of the modern states of Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as parts of northern France, the southern Netherlands, and western Germany, particularly regarding ecclesiastical nominations, the appointment of high officials, royal pardons, and awards of honours such as knighthoods and noble titles.[1]

  1. ^ Quintín Aldea Vaquero, Los miembros de todos los consejos de España en la decada de 1630 a 1640, Anuario de historia del derecho español, 50 (1980), p. 198.