In the period 1482–1492, the cities of the County of Flanders revolted twice against Maximilian of Austria (from 1486, King of the Romans), who ruled the county as regent for his son, Philip the Handsome. Both revolts were ultimately unsuccessful.
Background
At the end of the 15th century, Flanders was under Burgundian rule. When the Burgundian Duke Charles the Bold died in battle in 1477, his territories passed to his daughter, Mary. The Netherlandish towns and their States General compelled Mary to sign a treaty, the Great Privilege, that reversed some of the centralization of power undertaken by her father and her grandfather, Duke Philip the Good, and turned the Burgundian state in the Netherlands into a confederation of provinces. The Members (representatives) of Flanders obtained an additional Flemish Privilege, which required their consent in any constitutional change.
Meanwhile, the area west of the Scheldt (Royal Flanders), as well as other provinces of the Burgundian state, were claimed as reverted fiefs by France. Fearing French invasion, the provinces of the Low Countries levied troops to replace the former ducal army because they could not control Charles the Bold's "ordinance troops". When Maximilian took over, he wanted to reinstate ordinance troops but he could only pay a small, but well-trained nucleus, that in the times of war, was extended by hiring mercenaries. When he was capable of affording the financial cost, he bought small and heavy artillery and a navy as well. Haemers remarks that, "When his financial resources permitted it, Maximilian had an impressive army, superior to those of cities and smaller regions, but not one that could outclass the French army. The Burgundians could not improve their military situation, not only because the opposing army was militarily resilient, but also because the Archduke had to pay the high costs of fighting on several different fronts". Mary, seeking peace with her powerful neighbor, was involved in negotiations with Louis XI concerning a possible marriage to the Dauphin Charles (then only eight years old), but her embassy met harsh demands for territorial concessions to the French crown.
On the evening of 16 August 1477, Mary instead married Maximilian of Habsburg, son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, at Ghent. He would rule the Burgundian lands jointly with Mary, vowing to uphold the privileges granted to its towns and cities. The following years, a war with France was fought by Flemish armies under Maximilian, culminating in the 1479 Battle of Guinegate, a Burgundian victory. The German and other foreign troops were not well received in Flanders: the citizens of Ghent rioted against their presence in 1478.
When Mary died in a horse-riding accident in 1482, her four-year-old son Philip the Fair in turn inherited her realms in the Netherlands, creating a political crisis in the Burgundian lands. By the terms of the Treaty of Arras (1482), Maximilian was forced to cede Artois and Picardy to France, but retained control over Flanders as Philip's guardian. France nevertheless openly supported Flemish "particularism" against the Burgundians/Habsburgs.
According to Buylaert, the revolts were rooted in the cities' desire to maintain the autonomy that they had wrested from Philip's mother and predecessor, Mary of Burgundy, which Maximilian threatened to curtail.
First revolt (1483 - 1485) Several Flemish cities challenged Maximilian's guardianship of Philip, fearing centralization of power in the combined Habsburg lands. Ghent was the Archduke's main opponent, and went so far as to issue its own coinage in Philip's name, an act that was "perilously near to a unilateral declaration of independence" because the unification of coinage was vital to the Burgundian Netherlands' prosperity. On 5 June 1483, the Flemish cities formed their own regency council for the young prince.
Since Philip was in Bruges, in the hands of the rebels, Maximilian attempted to negotiate, offering to dismiss members of his court that displeased the Flemish. Simultaneous troubles in the Prince-Bishoprics of Liège and Utrecht, meant that the archduke could not intervene until 1484. His relationship with Flanders deteriorated as the Knights of the Golden Fleece at Dendermonde deposed him as head of their Order, Bruges refused to admit the archduke into their city with a company of more than a dozen people, and the commander of the Flemish armies proclaimed himself lieutenant-general in the name of Philip the Fair.