The council grew from less formalised exercises of jurisdiction by the count of Flanders and his advisers, with no clear date of origin.
[2]: 14 During the 15th century when the city of Ghent was at odds with the Duke of Burgundy, the council often sat elsewhere – at various times in Kortrijk, Dendermonde, Ypres or Bruges.
[2]: 26 By the Treaty of Cambrai (1529), Francis I of France renounced all claim to sovereignty or jurisdiction in Flanders.
The council was reconstituted at Douai in 1580, under the presidency of Guillaume de Pamele, and remained there until 1585.
[4] The council ceased to exist in 1795, when the Austrian Netherlands were annexed by the First French Republic.