Unlike his predecessors Baldwin was more interested in what lay east of Flanders. He left the southern part of his territory in the hands of his vassals the counts of Guînes, Hesdin, and St. Pol. Baldwin was the first count of Flanders to extend Flemish control eastward. He was given Zeeland as a fief by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II. He also received Valenciennes from the emperor. Then Baldwin obtained parts of the Cambresis as well as Saint-Omer and the northern Ternois (1120). 