Nicholas I, Grand Duke of Flandrensis

H.R.H. Nicholas de Mersch d'Oyenberghe, Grand Duke of Flandrensis
Photo by Léo Delafontaine (2021)
Grand Duke of Flandrensis
Assumed office September 2008
Predecessor	Throne established
Prince of Arkel
Assumed office 2012-2016
Predecessor	Maarten of Arkel
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Flandrensis
Assumed office 15 October 2012
Predecessor	Maarten of Arkel
Prime Minister of the Principality of Arkel
Assumed office 2009 - 2012
Prince	Maarten of Arkel
Secretary-General of the Flandrensisian Commonwealth
Assumed office 2010-2016
Predecessor	Function established
Secretary-General of the AMU
Assumed office January–June 2010 & July–October2012
Successor	James von Puchow & Daniel Morris
Commissioner of Foreign Affairs of the AMU
Assumed office October 2011 - July 2012
Predecessor	Federico Curridor
Vice Secretary of the AMU
Assumed office March 2013 - Augustus 2013
Administrative-General of the AMU
Assumed office Augustus 2013
Predecessor	Travis McHenry
Personal information
Born	23 February 1988 (1988-02-23)
Citizenship	Flandrensisian
Nationality	Belgian
Religion	Roman Catholic

Nicholas of Flandrensis (aka Nicholas de Mersch d'Oyenberghe) is the founder and the head of state of the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis. He is one of the co-founders of the Antarctic Micronational Union and was elected as its first Secretary-General on January 15, 2010. Well-known for his disapproval toward micronational conflicts and the foundation of the Union Against Micronational War he was awarded with three micronational peace-awards. Transforming Flandrensis from a temporary hobby into a serious project he has been interviewed and mentioned in several international media (regional and national newspapers, television network channels, radio, books, scientific / cultural magazine, etc.) about Flandrensis or micronationalism in general. Within the non-profit “vzw Groothertogdom Flandrensis” Nicholas is the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Creating a new nation

Nicholas interest for micronationalism started when he discovered information about the Beauluna, Sealand and Molossia. Those days Nicholas was a student History and Religion, with a great interest in the medieval county of Flanders. On September 4, 2008 he official founded the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis, primarily inspired on the ‘Pagus Flandrensis’ (oldest Latin name of Flanders) and the Flemish history. Starting as a virtual micronation, he carefully searched unclaimed territory. On November 22, 2008 he transformed Flandrensis into an Antarctic micronation. The Antarctic Treaty prevented any new claims on Antarctica by countries. To get around this, he claimed the land as an individual and then founded a country, the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis, upon it.

Micronational influence

Contributions to micronationalism

Nicholas started Flandrensis in September 2008 but joined the micronational community at the end of that year. Between 2009 and 2011 he was mainly active in the MicroWiki community and represented Flandrensis in several micronational organisations (Grand Unified Micronational, Organisation of Active Micronations, League of Secessionist States, Antarctic Micronational Union, etc.). He became notorious in the community because of the diplomatic dispute with the micronation of Westarctica, which of course ended without any blood or violence. Nicholas is also one of the first who introduced the concept of ecological micronationalism. In 2009 he was one of the co-founders of the Antarctic Micronational Union and was elected as its first Secretary-General. He was later re-elected twice, until he left office in 2013. In 2016 he surprised the micronational community by leaving the AMU, also known as the FLEXIT. Very soon after, he launched the initiative for the “Micronational Declaration on Ecological Stewardship”. Together with 25 micronationalists he worked 6 months on the charter, the final result was presented and signed on June 23, 2017 at MicroCon in Atlanta (USA), a few weeks after President Trump withdraw the USA from the Paris Climate Accords. Nicholas also tried to develop micronationalism in Belgium and the Netherlands and helped several people with the foundation of their own micronation. Between 2010 and 2016 they cooperated together within the Flandrensisian Commonwealth with Nicholas as the Secretary-General. However, confronted with inactive citizens most of those micronations collapsed after a few years so Nicholas decided to disband the Commonwealth in 2016. Since 2016 he’s also involved in the Francophone micronational community and member of the MicroFrancophonie. At present day he spend most of his time dealing with Flandrensian affairs, contact with other micronations and raising awareness for climate change.

Micronational conflicts

Nicholas is great opponent of micronational wars and could be described as a micronational pacifist. Although, early 2009 he was involved in the Siple War with the Grand Duchy of Westarctica. Later he confessed he regret his decision to support Finismund in the conflict, a result of a lack of micronational experience. The dispute ended on September 24, 2010 with the signature of the ‘West-Antarctic Treaty’ between the AMU and Westarctica, a result of negotiations between Nicholas and Travis McHenry. Learning from his mistakes Nicholas changed the Flandrensian policy toward micronational conflicts, resulting in a permanent neutrality of the country. Considering that all wars are a failure of diplomacy, he founded the Union Against Micronational War on July 10, 2009. For his attitude toward micronational conflicts he was awarded with five micronational peace-awards. In 2014 the French newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche” called him the “Woodrow Wilson of micronationalism”.

Titles

Flandrensian Titles and Orders

• Grand Duke of Flandrensis
• Grand Master in the Order of Flandrensis
• Grand Master in the Order of the Melting Mountain
• Grand Master in the Order of Saint Polycarpus

Awards and decorations

Non-Flandrensian Titles

• Prince of Siple
• Grand Duke of Imvrassia

Defunct

• Duke of Carney
• Count of Nieuw-Vlaanderen
• Earl of Francisville
• Count of Ypresen
• Count of Westcliff
• Viscount of Greater Dorzhabad
• Viscount of the Grand Principality of Campinia
• Baron of Leerdam

Orders

• Knight Commander of the Austenasian Order
• Knight Grand Commander in the Order of Beauluna
• Knight of the Order of the Sovereign Eagle
• Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Hawk
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Snowflake
• Grand Officer of the Order of the Royal House of Ruthenia
• Knight of the Order of the Edelweiss
• Cross of Independence
• Honorary Colonel of the Imperial and Royal Regiment of Uhlans
• Grand Officier de l'Ordre Princier de la Grande Croix de Saint Paul
• Chevalier du Grand Ordre du Flamand Rose
• Commandeur du grand ordre Princier de l'Académie St Louis
• Chevalier du Ordre du Sextant
• Megas Domestikos of the Imvrassian Royal Guard
• Cross of Independence
• Grand-Croix de Ordre du Mérite Ecologique
• Grand Commandeur de Ordre du Fleur-de-lis d'Or
• Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Lotus
• Knight in the Order of Pedro II
• Knight in the Order of Blue Blood

Defunct

• Officer in the Order of A1
• Officer of the Order of the Blue Star
• Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Ladder
• Knight in the Order of the Dragon
• Grand Officer in the Order of Merit of the Republic of Atlantis
• Member of the Order of Parsons
• Member of the Order of Lenin and the June Revolution
• Knight Companion of the Community of Landashir
• Member of the Order of Yabloko
• Grand Cordon in the Order of the Lion
• Tiarna of St George
• Lord in the Royal Order of Saint Christopher
• Knight in the Order of St. Edward the Confessor
• Count-Palatine of the Imperial Order of Reyla
• Knight in the Order of the Southern Cross
• Order of the People's State
• Knight in the Order of the Wyvern
• Knight of the Earth in the Sakasarian Federation

• Order of Royal

Awards

• On 1 October 2009 the first Slinky Award of Appreciation for Peace was given to Nicholas for the formation of the Union Against Micronational War.
• Legion of Peace
• The Invictus Cross (defunct)
• Hero of the Republic of Subenia
• Schneider Awards for promoting Peace
• Vision for Yabloko Award for promoting peace and unity among the micronational world
• Chief Judge's Citation for Peace and Diplomacy

Nicholas was selected as DIME's "Micronationalist of the Month" for the month of August in 2019.

Other functions

Antarctic Micronational Union:

• Secretary-General (15 January 2010 - 14 June 2010)
• Secretary-General of the AMIS (1 January 2011 - 24 October 2011)
• Commissioner of Foreign Affairs (17 October 2011 - 31 December 2011)
• Commissioner of Foreign Affairs (1 January 2012 - 7 July 2012)
• Secretary-General (8 July 2012 - 24 October 2012)
• Vice-Secretary (1 March 2013 - 22 August 2013)
• Administrative-General (22 August 2013- 18 September 2014)

Flandrensisian Commonwealth:

• Secretary-General (24 October 2010 - 11 April 2016)

Kingdom of Albion

• Prime Minister (12 July 2010 - 7 January 2012)

Arkel:

• Prime Minister (14 January 2010 - 14 October 2012)
• Prince (15 October 2012 - 11 April 2016)

Others:

• League of Secessionist States: Third Chief Justice (August 2011 - September 2011)