Pagus of Brabant

In its earliest forms such as those collected by Nonn, the first part of the name was written with variants such as brac-, brag-, brach-, braim, and brei.

As demonstrated by Deru, the pagus of Brabant between the Scheldt, Haine, Lasne and Rupel rivers, corresponds closely with the northern extension of the Belgic Nervii, both in terms of archaeological evidence such as Nervian coin finds, and also because it lay within the Roman era civitas of the Nervians, and its successor, the medieval bishopric of Cambrai - both of which had their main centres in the south, in the areas of Hainaut and Cambrai.

The oldest records of Brabant come from the Liber Traditionem of Saint Peter's Abbey in Ghent, beginning around 750.

[3] In 870, in the Treaty of Meerssen Brabant was mentioned as containing four counties (in Bracbanto comitatus IIII), but the definitions of these political entities can now only be speculated upon.

What can be said is limited:[4] After 925 the boundary between the major Frankish kingdoms became permanently fixed along the Scheldt river, making Brabant a frontier province or "March" of what would become the Holy Roman Empire, and eventually Germany.

As the 11th century progressed, three large parts of Brabant became permanently politically connected to their powerful neighbours.

The medieval pagi of Hainaut (pink dots) and Brabant (purple dots) are compared to the modern provinces of Belgium. Blue is modern Flemish Brabant; Green is modern Walloon Brabant; but much of early medieval Brabant is now in East Flanders (mauve) and Hainaut (yellow). The green markers were in the Silva Carbonaria .