Republic of Bouillon

The Republic of Bouillon was a short-lived client republic around the town of Bouillon in present-day Belgium, created during the French Revolutionary Wars. The small duchy of Bouillon had long stood between France and the Austrian Netherlands. Its duke, Godefroy III, sympathised with the French Revolution and in 1790 abolished manorial and feudal rights. His successor, Jacques Léopold, was arrested in France during the Terror, leaving the duchy without an active sovereign. On 24 April 1794 the general assembly of Bouillon, noting that contact with the duke was impossible, transferred executive authority to a Council of State; some historians regard this as the proclamation of a republic, while others argue that the ducal monarchy was never formally abolished. Whatever its constitutional status, the territory was occupied by French troops and annexed to the French First Republic on 26 October 1795. After 1815 Bouillon passed to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.