'Romance Flanders' or 'Gallicant Flanders' is the part of the
county of Flanders where people speak
romance languages (then called "Walloon") like varieties of
picard. It is actually straddling the border of
France and
Belgium.
Name
In
early modern English, it was also called ''Welch Flanders'' or ''Gallike Flanders''. The original French name is ''Flandre Gallicane'' or ''Flandre Gallicante'', derived from the Latin term : ''Gallo Flandria'' or ''Flandria Gallica''.
The term ''
Walloon Flanders'' should not be used to designate the entire region, as it refers only to a part of Gallicant Flanders. It was used to refer to the part of Romance Flanders that adhered to the
Union of Arras in
1579 and was annexed to France after the
Treaties of Nijmegen (in both cases,
Mouscron, for instance, was not a part of Walloon Flanders). The use of ''Walloon Flanders'' is political, not linguistic as Romance Flanders or Gallicant Flanders.
Territory

Map of Romance Flanders (1645)

Map of Romance Flanders in the "De Vyerighe Colom" Atlas (1696)
★ In
France :
★
★ The
Lilloise Flanders (in
French ''Flandre Lilloise'', in
Dutch ''Rijsels-Vlaanderen'') ;
★
★ The northern part of the Scarpe plain with the
Pévèle and the bailiwick of
Douai (''Douaisis'');
★ In
Belgium :
★
★ The historical
Tournaisis (in
Dutch ''Doornikse'');
★
★ The regions of
Mouscron and
Comines, bilingual communes of (or part of) the old castelleny of
Courtray;
See also
★
Walloon Flanders
★
Maritime Flanders