Eve de Chièvres

Eve de Chièvres was the girl of Guy of Chièvres, wire of Wauthier which carried the title of Par of Hainaut in 1076, which proves the importance of the field. Guy de Chièvres married Ide de Hainaut († 1101), girl of Baudouin II of Hainaut, and died in 1127. Their daughter Eve (1115 - 1180) inherited the field. Thus it at the time was described:

has Chierve avoit a virgin

Domisons ot name, grinds was beautiful

Eve had three husbands.

The first, Gilles de Chin, is quasi legendary: it is him which was victorious famous dragon of Wasmes. He died in the seat of Roucourt in 1137.

Eve then married her cousin Rasse V of Gavre which is him also one of the grandsons of Wauthier de Chièvres. They had three children. The son of the one of them, Shaves VII, was one of the signatories of the Charter-law of 1194. Shave V also died at the time of a head office of Roucourt in 1148.

In third weddings, it is linked in Nicolas III of Rumigny. Their son Nicolas IV is also signatory of the Charter-law.

With died from Nicolas III of Rumigny (between 1170 and 1175), Eve de Chièvres withdrew herself with the abbey of Ghislenghien where she died 65 years old.

The abbey of Ghislenghien, founded in 1128 by his/her aunt Ide (wife of Gossuin II of Mons) had on several occasions the favors of Eve de Chièvres. She made him donations with dead of her husbands: part of Gibecq and part of Erbisoeul were thus yielded for the rest of their hearts.

Eve was not satisfied with these liberalities towards the nuns of Ghislenghien. With Chièvres even, it made set up the leper-house, the Midsummer's Day vault and that of Our-Lady-of-the-Fountain.

Foundations of Eve de Chièvres

The leper-house or meanness

The Léproserie, whose vault is still visible today, was probably rested by Eve de Chièvres after the death of Nicolas III of Rumigny (C. 1170).

With the Middle Ages, only prophylactic measurement against the Lèpre was to isolate the patients. It is with the hamlet called “Neufville”, out of the walls of Chièvres which the leper-house was built. One can see of it the trace in a bubble of the pope Lucius III (1181-1185).

It was about an establishment of rather vast buildings with vault and cemetery, served by monks. The leper-house was still in function in 1588. It was transformed into farm since 1718.

The vault now visible is a remarkable building, with the Romance nave (12th century) and with the Gothic chorus with the slightly shifted axis.

The Midsummer's Day vault

It was also rested by Eve de Chièvres in second half of the 12th century. Its equipment was made in favor about Saint-Jean-of-Jerusalem, which became later the Order of Malta. The goods of the foundation (arable lands and meadows) were managed by Commanderie de Piéton.

It is possible that the vault was accompanied by a house and the Community the Hospital ones, but no vestige remains.

The vault Our-Lady-of-the-Fountain

Not far from the castle, at the edge of a fountain between the church and the market, an elder tree sheltered a statue of the Virgin to the miraculous reputation.

Eve de Chièvres made place the statue in a vault which it made set up at the same time.

An important pilgrimage existed with the Middle Ages of which there remains the procession nowadays, instituted by Eve itself.

The Virgin of Chièvres was cause of miraculous cures of drop, deafness, blindness,… the vault was also a vault of respite where the children still-born children were exposed and thus not baptized. With the first sign of “life” (undoubtedly caused by the corruption of the body), one hastened to baptize the child before burying it.)

Rebuilt in 1315 then in 1326, increased in 1632, the vault Our-Lady-of-the-Fountain was demolished with the French revolution. The current building was set up at the end of the 19th century on the initiative of the abbot Victor Duray.

The Saint Nicolas's Day hospital

This hospital was initially dedicated to Our-Lady-of-the-Fountain. One nourished there the widows, the orphans, the poor and the pilgrims. The patients there were looked after.

To cover the operating costs, the hospital had its own resources. The administration was with the hands of monk under the authority of the Cambric bishop.

The hospital was located the extra burgum antiquum , i.e. out of the ramparts, along the Ath-Mons road, around the current water tower.

It appears within Deventer (16th century).

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