Imperial duchy of the Holy Roman Empire raised in 1183/1184 by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa for Henry I, elevating what had been the Landgraviate of Brabant (a march of the Duchy of Lower Lorraine); became one of the wealthiest Low Countries principalities on the strength of Brussels, Leuven, and Antwerp's cloth and trade economies.
Passed to Burgundy by inheritance in 1430, then to the Habsburgs in 1477; divided by the Dutch Revolt (northern portion to the Dutch Republic by 1648), and the remaining Habsburg south was absorbed by Revolutionary France (conquered 1794, formally ceded by the Treaty of Campo Formio 1797).
The atlas holds 6 border frames for Duchy of Brabant — the shape you scrub through changes in 1183 · 1240 · 1581 · 1708 · 1749 · 1766.
Dedicated single-volume history of Brabant by a leading Low Countries medievalist, covering the duchy's 1183 founding through its later medieval apex.
English-language survey placing Brabant's founding in the wider context of the medieval Low Countries principalities.