County of Loon

The County of Loon (Dutch: Graafschap Loon, French: Comté de Looz) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, lying west of the Meuse river in present-day Flemish-speaking Belgium, and east of the old Duchy of Brabant. The most important cities (bonnes villes) of the county were Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and Stokkem. Its territory corresponded closely to that of the current Belgian province of Limburg. Like other areas which eventually came under the power of the Prince Bishop of Liège, Loon did not become politically linked with the rest of Belgium until the French revolution, but these events also brought the county to an end. Under various new names it first became part of France, and then of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands ("Holland"), before finally joining the new kingdom of Belgium definitively in 1839, some 9 years after the rest of Belgium had been become independent of Holland.

The original centre of this county before it expanded was Borgloon, originally just called Loon, in the southern part of the county. This part of the county is geographically in the hilly Belgian region known as Hesbaye in French or Haspengouw in Dutch. It later expanded northwards into the low-lying Campine or Kempen region which was known as Toxandria in the early Middle Ages.