Actually Andrew the terminology is very relevant because each describes a specific period in the turbulent history of the countries (Counties Duchies etc...) that were located in the Paris plain ( area north of the Seine , Paris, Champagne Ardennes Lorraine all the way to the Rhine covering both banks Saarland, Rhineland-Pfalz, Northrine an Westfalia and up north to Friesland and Lower Saxony )
The "Netherlands" is an old dutch form for low (nether) countries(lands) , which is why both are plural terms. The [
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands wikipedia page ] gives a very good idea about what the terms "Low Countries", "Netherlands" etc refer to
AS Isabelle said in another reply the historically most correct answer is :
*Mons, County of Hainaut, Habsburg Netherlands (1522)
*Valenciennes, County of Hainaut, Spanish Netherlands (1567)
"Low Countries" would refer to the period before 1348 after which time we talk about the "Burgundian Netherlands" after that when the Habsburgs came into power at the end of the 15th century through Maximilian it became the "Habsburg Netherlands" ( or the "seventeen provinces")
specifically for the whole Habsburg period in the south west of the netherlands you can use "Spanish netherlands" for the, covering the reign of Maximillian, Charles V holy emperor, and his son Filips II of Spain. that would not be considered a wrong statement,
However in the north (north of breda) you would refer to differntl periods with the Habsburg Netherlands (or the "Seventeen provinces") and after 1556 it would the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands which declared independance from the spanish king around 1580 during the 80 years war
The spanish netherlands suffered the inquisition and became the Austrian Netherlands in 1715 during the latter part of the 17th century some of the counties of Flanders and Hainaut came into French hands ( house Bourbon)
The relevant wikipedia pages describe correctly and in quite some detail this history
