The history of the states of Cambrésis, Artois, Hainaut, Flanders, Tournaisis and Brabant

General considerations

The origin of the States of our provinces is almost as old as that of the States-General of France, which should not be confused with its first national assemblies (1).
It was at the beginning of the XIV^e century (2) that Philip the Fair brought together representatives of the clergy, nobility and bourgeoisie for the first time. The questions he gave them to resolve were purely political; he wanted to have a course of action to follow in his dispute with the Pope on a point that was still being debated f the separation of the two powers. From that time onwards, under the name of deputies from the good towns, the bourgeoisie had representatives in all the Estates-General.
Unlike the Estates-General, where the bourgeoisie was represented and formed the third order, the national assemblies of the first centuries of our history had only two deliberating bodies, one made up of representatives of the clergy, the other of the nobility.
Today, it is difficult to say which towns sent deputies to the first meeting of the Estates-General and to the assemblies held during the 14th century.^e century, in 1308, 1328 and 1355, it cannot be denied that, as early as 1356, the towns of Lille, Douai, Arras and Tournai (1 ) were in possession of this right.
On 2 March 1350, King John ordered his advisors, the bishop of Evreux and Rémon de Bucy, to travel to Pont-Audemer in Normandy to summon the nobility and the communities of the good towns to deliberate on the subsidy he was requesting. The king's delegates explained the subject of the meeting to the deputies. They asked for time to deliberate, and when they appeared on the appointed day, after setting out their grievances against the royal officers, they agreed to an imposition of six deniers per pound, which was to last for one year from the following 1 May, and which it was recognised would need to be farmed out by auction and subhastation, to the highest bidder, per town and per member.
The nobles then presented themselves. At their request, they were given until the following day to deliberate, and on the following day they agreed to the levying of a similar tax on their justiciable men, in their lands and in their town (2).
(1) "In the minutes of 1356 are named some of the towns that had sent deputies, namely those of Amiens, Tournai, Douai, Lille, Arras, etc." (Henrion de Pansey, History of the National Assemblies, chap. VI, page 97).
(2) See the work entitled "Des Etats-Généraux et autres Assemblées nationales", 1789 edition, volume 8, pages 10, 11 and 12.
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