Fleurus

Fleurus (in Walloon Fleuru ) is a French-speaking city of Belgium located in Walloon region in the Province of Hainaut at the North-East of Charleroi.

It counted 22.324 inhabitants in 2002, its surface is of 5912 ha and average altitude is of 156 Mr. The density is approximately 377 habitants/km ². The commune is located in the district of Charleroi, the zip code is 6220. Fleurus is often called the “city of Bernardins”.

In addition to the town of Fleurus, the commune is made up of 7 villages:

Toponymy

The first mention of the toponym goes back to 868-869 in the polyptyque one of Lobbe, in the form Fledelciolum or Flederciolum which became Fleurjoux (small Fleurus). With Xe in the chronicle of Waulsort, one finds Flerus and in the Decree of Notger into 980, Flerosium. One meets also the Flerusium form in 1033, Latinization of the Romance form of Flerus. As for the Charter of Communal Freedoms of 1155, it mentions Flerus, and that of 1247, Fleru. The Fleurus toponym would come from Fleder or Fledera increased from the Celtic suffix aus , which gave Flederaus, by contraction Fleeraus, Fleraus, then later Flerues, Fleruis, Flerus, and finally Fleurus. As good Latin, the name of the entity was Flerosium or Flerosiensis, but one finds also in particular Flerucensis, Flerucensium. It is only at the XVIIe century that appears the Fleurus toponym, before it was generally Fleruis, Flerues and Fleru who were used or one of its many alternatives. The Celtic word Fledera, formed of the Fled radical and the suffix hydronymic will era , weakening of macaw , was used to indicate a river. Fledera probably indicated the brook which crossed Fleurus and which was more important than nowadays. With the Middle Ages, it was called Li riu, then Li ry, then the ry and the rieu.

History

Traces of agriculture dating from the Neolithic were found in particular in the places known as of Fleurjoux and New Hut. Under the Roman domination , thanks to the construction of roadways Roman (the Fitted Brunehaut, connecting Bavay to Cologne), we find the first traces of activities in Fleurus.

In October 1155, Henri the Blind man, count of Namur, frees the commune which becomes the free city of Fleurus. Henri the Blind man had the castle of Heppignies. It is of this moment that date the first stage of the church Saint Victor. its Charter was confirmed in 1247 per Baudouin of Constantinople, and its seal, in XIVe century, “ ecu with the stitching lion with a cotice, accompanied in the field by two leant sticks ” testifies to its memberships of the County of Namur. Indeed, the lion (of sand) with a cotice (of mouths, on gold bottom) was the blazon of the counts de Namur, the sticks recalling the seigneuriaux jurisdiction and rights that had there the chapter of Saint-Lambert of Liege, after the abbey of Lobbes.

Because of its strategic site, the city was the theater many battles (one knows some more than 140, and 31 devastated the city). Most known took place:

  • In 1622, during the War Thirty Year old, the Spanish general Gonzalès de Cordoue joins battle with German.
  • In 1690, the French troops of Louis XIV, carried out by the marshal of Luxembourg, gain against the troops hollando - Austrian.
  • In 1794, a new battle takes place between French and Austrians, and the French, under the command of the Jourdan general carry it once again.

The last battle (of the French time) known as of Fleurus takes place in 1815 with Ligny, it is indeed of Fleurus that Napoleon i carries his last victory before the defeat of Waterloo.

The most known battles of Fleurus are most recent, it is generally quoted by it only three. Still during the two world wars, Fleurus was the theater of confrontations, but not of battle strictly speaking safe to the Campinaire Old man where a battle of tanks in September 1944 took place.

To include/understand the birth and the development of Fleurus .

The old town of Fleurus (before fusion at January 1st, 1977) extends on 1506 hectares of which an important part is wooded in the zone called commonly wood of Soleimont or Old Campinaire and Vieux Willow. This wood is with hillside. All at the end of this wood was the old abbey of Soleimont in extreme cases of Fleurus, Châtelineau and Gilly. The territory of Fleurus was all in length This stretching particular of the territory was still accentuated by the construction of the roadway from Charleroi to Gembloux in 1788.

The plain of Fleurus is traversed by small valleys. In the hollow of these small valleys, are born from small the rys. Let us retain primarily the ry of Martinroux and the ry of Fleurjoux. These small brooks allowed one very old time the birth of small hamlets with Martinroux and Fleurjoux, hamlets definitively swept by the wars of Louis XIV.

The plain of Fleurus is covered with a good layer of very fertile silt hesbayen. It is this quality of the ground which explains the fixing of a population with Fleurus. The neighborhoods of the old city were covered with meadows and grounds of culture like broad beans, the peas, the sarrazin, the German wheat, rye, the oats, the escourgeon. More tardily, of new cultures seemed potato, the sugar beet, the tobacco, the flax, hemp, colza. The meadows made it possible to raise sheep, goats (little), pigs, cows and horses.

With the Middle Ages, Fleurus depends on the count de Namur and it is Henri the Blind man into 1155 who granted the privileges of the city Fleurus. It thus carried the title of city until the French Mode which lowered it with the row of commune, just like it attached us in a way quite as arbitrary to the province of Hainaut whereas Fleurus was county of Namur. The old entity will not be able to carry this title any more in an official way. It is only on the proposal of the former senator Jacques Hoyaux that the amalgamated entity could find its title of city.

The place of Fleurus was born from the crossing of two axes :

  • One is Western Is : it is the way of Mons with Namur which passes by current the street of Mellet, street Saint Roch, street of the station, street of the middle-class men, the place Albert I, the place Gailly, the street Joseph Lefebvre, the road of Wanfercée-Baulet.
  • the other is Southern North : it is way of Châtelet, which is under the old Mode Principality of Liege and has a population more important than Charleroi which is a fortress city born in 1666, in Brussels or Malignant - Antwerp.
The large one places as we have known it should hardly have evolved/moved in its initial form for 400 years contrary Ferrer place. The place is a meeting place, rest between the tradesmen travellers and Fleurusiens. One can use the water of the communal well for the attachments. Some place the night in the hotels.

It is starting from this crossing of these two axes and the presence of a water point that the place will develop. The primary markets will settle there to remain there so far. Thanks to its good grounds of culture, the market with corn of Fleurus quickly became one of most important of the area. Moreover there, one found a livestock important in goats and sheep. Those provide milk, cheese and wool. The trade of wool and the culture of the flax will make that until the XIX century, the trade of aunage with Fleurus is important and with the commercial rich person hands, attending the national and international fairs. The wood of Soleimont, definitely more extended, extended more towards Wangenies and Martinroux, fournist with the inhabitants of frame and the firewood resources.

The large one places of Fleurus is in light declivity in southern exposure of a watershed partly occupied by the current roadway of Charleroi. It is thus with the shelter of the winds of north. The church, dedicated to Saint Victor, owner of the bakers and millers, proof of the importance of the trade of the grains, is built on the same slope a few tens of lower meters. At Modern times and until the end of the XIXe century, a cemetery surrounded the church. This cemetery was to be delimited by a stone low wall.

It is to be noticed that the tower is the oldest element and was probably a tower of defense to the Middle Ages; How to explain walls so broad differently that a staircase concealed between the walls goes up on the floors towards the current bell-tower. One can think on the basis of others turns which the entry was at that time made by a staircase out of wooden place with dimensions street Brascoup. This staircase was burnt in the event of danger preventing the access to the tower thus. Moreover the entry side of the brook of Martinroux was placed and one can think had regard to the wetter climate at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of Modern times that the brook overflows and forms an extremely wet zone, even marshy. The city should soon complete work to release the tower of a series of old dwellings. It would be the occasion to make some excavations which should enable us to better apprehend the medieval history of the city. (The tower was the subject of excavations in 1997)

On the basis of study of Jean-Marie Pector, I think that the urban primitive core was in the zone formed by the current streets and following lanes: College, place Albert I, of the middle-class men, the station, Brassecoup. This square was to be surrounded at the turbid and dubious periods of a wood palisade and spines, reinforced by some small low walls out of stones and the brook of Martinroux. It is probably in the event of strong of rains that a ruisselet was formed on the top of the street of the Convent to run out towards the brook of Martinroux. Let us be clear however, Fleurus forever had fortifications with the direction first of the term. This explains the insults partly that it underwent during the centuries.

the street Emile Vandervelde In the past it bore its name better: it was the street of Châtelet. It made it possible to gain the town of Châtelet via Lambusart. In the beginning, the street left nearest the street to the station was built. One can still notice the narrowness of the street in his starter to the street of the chocolate factory. At the end of the XIXe century, beginning of the XXe century, it is a street which shelters vast residences and good middle-class families: the families Hamoir, Paradise, Madness, Delalou. The Delalou house was transformed into house of the people, then demolished during between two war. A new house of the People had been set up with the back of this building to disappear in its turn about 1976. There still remains a beautiful frontage of the restaurant “It closed Bernardin”, memory of the families Wautier then Quinet. The brewery of the Folie family was with current the numbers. Dependences were demolished to increase the lane going down on the ry. Thus appeared the street of the centenary, currently renamed street of the chocolate factory.

With beyond the Chantraine farm, founded was by an order templier. The buildings of the farm have quasi all disappeared with the profit from the carpark from the convalescent home. In second the XIX century half, the street extends, it joined the old Chantraine farm - become court of the Gendarmes because of the quartering of the Gendarmes - with the Géronet farm, close to the vault Saint Joseph. Between these two buildings, a way went down towards the brook; a bridge allowed the passage towards the campaigns. With the installation of public lighting, the street will be divided into three part: the white base and the black base and bottom of the bridge. (Allusion to the Holy bridge Joseph passing under the roadway in the suburb) After the vault Joseph Saint disappeared today, the street starts a turning towards the left and goes up towards the street Brennet and Lambusart. All this zone remained a long time without dwelling except the Wauthelet farm appeared about 1850. If the street Brennet is yet only one simple dirt track, the name Brennet goes up at least in the middle of the XVIIIe century to indicate this place. I am unaware of the origin.

the street of Brussels In the past the street Delvaux. This name does not designate a person or a family but refers to the geography of the places. It is the way which leads to the valley, it is the way of the valley. Indeed between the farm the supposed red count or it and the place it is a long slope which leads the traveller towards the place.

There too the narrowness of the street shows seniority of the street. The noted retreat with left hand while going down, could indicate a later rebuilding following a fire. To note that the existence until there is little a remarkable building: the old farm of Alexandre Dury who before 1906 sheltered a time the gendarmerie which had left the court of the Gendarmes about 1865. After 1981, the building passed to the city which carried out a few years later an exchange of property with the post office of Fleurus. Thus this building was demolished to make place at a vast modern post office. Its stone architecture and its frontage were not without evoking the old house of the convent of the same style and so disappeared. In the bottom of the street, the farm of the castle and the castle De Zualart, become the Notre Dame school nowadays.

the street Joseph Lefebvre In the past the street of Namur. It was renamed Joseph Lefebvre in homage to the liberal burgomaster who directed during 30 years the city and embellishes it. He lived with numbers 1 and 3 of the street a beautiful recent middle-class residence with a balcony. Of liberal opinion, Joseph Lefebvre (06-01-1820, 25-10-1899) exercised the mandates of aldermen of 1848 to 1858 and burgomaster of Fleurus of 1858 to 1891 (14). In its edition of February 13rd, 1881, Fleurusienne announced that the interested party had been named knight about Léopold. It quoted its principal achievements. Here is an extract: “(…) the format of our publication unfortunately prevents us from going into the details and we can only give one curtailed nomenclature of the work of public utility undertaken and completed under its administration: extension of the service of the water supply by means of pumps, lighting of the streets by gas, creation of the average school (underlined in the text), construction of the old people's home, new road active in Spinois (street of Fleurjoux, taken again by the Government of the road of Fleurus with Mellet, creation of the public school of the girls, etc, etc the next year, and thanks to its ceaseless steps, Fleurus will become canton of militia (…) ”. This street was extremely commercial. One found there the study of the notary Misonne, the clock and watch makers Gonne, printing works Oudenne, the middle-class rich person Anselme Naveau then distilling Progress, the Bivort bank,…

the street of the Station In the past the street of Ry or Rieu with the Robert court and the Simon court It goes down towards the brook which it spanned with a small bridge disappeared since voûtement from the brook about 1905. Before the bridge, vis-a-vis the street Brassecoup, probably an old pond supplied with the brook extended from Martinroux. This pond was transformed into feeding trough for the animals. The summer, it was drained and cleaned. Muds were removed and related to the fields. The oldest part of the street is in the top. Beyond the old brook, except the zone of the cradle, all the houses were built after the establishment of the railroad and the station of Fleurus, to the old place says “the stations” after 1855. The street became extremely attended by the travellers and of many small shops of details settled there before péricliter in the years 1970 with the disaffection of the rail to the profit of the car. With the site of the current Fortis bank, formerly the old Robert court was. Close to the Renzo hairdresser, still the entry of the Court Simon, old brewery exploited by the Simon family is, of which the guide of Napoleon on June 16th, 1815 at the time of the battle of Fleurus Ligny.

These four ways were partly paved, probably the zone ranging between the doors of the city and the place. These doors which were closed the evening, made it possible to take a tax on the goods with the profit of the city.

the Roadway of Charleroi

Built about 1788, it is finished in 1794 for the passage of the republican troops. It cuts the lane of the mill of Fleurus, the street of the Convent and the street Sainte Anne, the place Charles Gailly and the street Joseph Lefebvre, reduced the street Pascal and the oblique street with secondary lanes. It will take time to heal the bleeding operated in fabrics urban. Besides it does not find any building of style between the street Sainte Anne and the street Lefebvre. On the other hand, of beautiful middle-class houses were built towards Gembloux with the families Naveau, Quarré, Gailly, Despandt, Delgouffre, Hanolet,… During long years, the Naveau mill was the sentinel of the northern entry of Fleurus. With dimensions one of Charleroi, between 1860 and 1870 were set up the old people's home become now Convalescent home the “Templiers”, the elementary school of the girls become mainly a vocational school, the communal average school for boys and the elementary school of the boys, become the Jourdan athenaeum. A new street was creates: the street of Fleurjoux.Au-beyond developed a working habitat in the entry of Fleurus says the suburb. Beyond the bridge of the railroad connecting Fleurus to Tamines, the construction of the highway of Wallonia in 1967 cut Fleurus of the district of Martinroux. The old farm became a cultural center Its grounds as well as the old meadows Saint Jean are included in new zonings industrial replacing old coal mining of the Campinaire Old man.

water and lighting

One of the problems which the city in its development encountered was that of the water provision. A certain number of houses of the center of Fleurus was likely to have a personal well. For the others, one was to recover rain water of a roof of straws or out of slates, soiled by the excrements of the pigeons. That caused serious problems of hygiene and health. At the entry of the street Poet Madness, an old pond had become a feeding trough for the animals. This one disappeared with work from draining about 1905. For the private individuals, in 1863, the city built new public wells:

  1. at the entry of the street of the cradle
  2. at the entry of the street Vandervelde
  3. in the Holy suburb Bernard
  4. in the street of Lefebvre
  5. close to the primary elementary school
The construction of a water tower in 1905 and of a distribution network made it possible to solve the problem of drinking water finally.

On the other hand, as from 1865, the center of Fleurus had a lighting with lanterns with gas, luxates supreme for the time or the campaigns are plunged in the complete black as of laying down it sun. The following streets were enlightened:

  • Street of the roadway, since the Naveau mill to the Holy bridge Joseph.
  • Street of Namur, since the roadway to the Holy vault Anne.
  • Street Roch Saint, since the roadway to the station of the railroad.
  • Street of the cradle, lane brassecour, street of the tanneries, street of the college, street of the market, street Victor Saint, new street, street of the presbytery, street of Châtelet until Joseph Saint, street of Amand Saint, from the large market to the castle of Zualart.
  • the market with the asses, the large market, the small market and the place Feuillien Saint.
The fairy electricity replaced gas about 1905, initially for public lighting then gradually in the hearths to replace the old candles or old quinquets.

Pierre J.A.G. PROVOST A.E.S.S. - History.

Economy Gift of the author Pierre PROVOST to see site internethttp: /homeusers.brutele.be/fleurusouvenirs/diamants.htm

DIAMONDS OF FLEURUS

One actually indicates under the term of “ diamonds of Fleurus ” of the “ stones ” of quartz whose size varies. Most frequently, they have the size of a hazel nut. Only those which have the limpidity and the purity of glass can be cut. They are rarest. In the layers, one finds diamond to milky, hardly translucent and often soiled impure quartz stone rolled foreign matters.

One found some mainly in the countryside of Berlaimont, in the layer of baryta sulfate, but also in Fleurjoux, the old lime kilns and Saint Amand. No matter who could collect some. Thus, the former communal teacher, Georges Triplot (1894 - 1973) went at the good season, accompanied by the goddaughter of his wife, to the old lime kilns, close to the brook of Plomcot. There close to the entry of one of these excavations, was a ground solid mass which it was enough to scrape to find there some “diamonds” of very variable value.

These “ diamonds ” has their successes as of the XVIII E century. To Brussels, the peasants brought bags filled from there. Reliquaries were decorated of these crystals. To avoid the frauds, the Austrian government the interdict. Nevertheless about 1825, the smallest stones were always used to make earrings, watches or glazed boxes containing of the jewels exposed to the sight. In 1882, with the extraction of baryta sulfate, these diamonds circulated in families of Fleurus and several people made make collars near from Antwerp diamond cutters.

Pierre J.A.G. PROVOST. A.E.S.S. - History - Ulg.

Notes:

Jean FICHEFET, diamonds of Fleurus and concise Nicolas Lecocq, of Falisolle , in the Walloon guettor , 1970, N 1, pp. 96 to 100.

Eric GROESSENS, diamonds of Fleurus in Lithorama, monthly bulletin of the circle of minerology and paleontology of Belgium , special 25e birthday, n° September 7th, th and th 1998.

Personal memories of family.

Twinning

The city is twinned with:

See too

  • Battles of Fleurus

Folklore

History of Gille de Fleurus Gille fleurusien appeared in 1920 pennies the impulse of a head of undertaking fleurusien, manufacturing tip trucks of coal mining and originating in Carnières, which by nostalgia of the habits of the area of the Center encouraged Fleurusiens to cover this beautiful costume at the time of the Cavalcade.

This first company was baptisée" Intimes" , its room was located in a coffee near the station where it reigned there at the time a very great animation.

After the hard period of deprivations incurred by war 40-45, some friends such as Roger Castille, François Were useful, Rene Lefebvre, Alex Frennet, Gustave Verrneulen and Georges Bouton decided to recreate a company under the name of " Amis" Truths; and transferred their room on the Albert place 1st at Marie Maison, mother of François Servais. This company obtained name " since; Royale".

A second company is born in 1986, it makes its appearance on the paving stone fleurusien at the time of the cavalcade of 1987, its name: " Without Pareils" , like the name of famous cookies manufactured in our city.

In 1998 was born the third company. It bears a name which goes well in Fleurusiens: " Goods - alive ". Its first cavalcade goes back to 1999.

It was followed little by a fourth, last in date, which begun again the first name of our company: Close friends. This dynamism and this desire for perpetrating the folklore anchored in our roots do not gather less than 400 Gilles which make of their to better respect the traditions and ethics for the size of our Town of FLEURUS and its CAVALCADE.

Site of the Gilles Friendly Truths

References

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