Last modified: 2008-09-06 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Brugelette]](../images/b/be-whtbg.gif)
![[Proposal of flag of Brugelette]](../images/b/be-whtb1.gif)
Municipal flag of Brugelette - Images by Arnaud Leroy, 21 May 2005
Left, flag in use
Right, flag proposal, not in use
See also:
The municipality of Brugelette (3,336 inhabitants on 1 January 2007;
2,840 ha) is located in the valley of Dendre, 10 km south-east of Ath, in Western Hainaut. The municipality of Brugelette is made of the former municipalities of Attre, Brugelette, Cambron-Casteau, Gages and Mévergnies.
In the past, Brugelette was mostly a rural municipality, even if the
number of farms does not stop decreasing. The village of Brugelette
hosts one of the main factories in the region, the sugar house
(Sucrerie de Brugelette) owned by S.A. Raffinerie Tirlemontoise,
the main sugar company in Belgium. The first sugar house was founded in
Brugelette in 1836. Brugelette also lives from tourism, with two main
spots, the castle of Attre (XVIIIth century, 6,000 visitors per year)
and Parc Paradisio, set up in the former Cistercian abbey of Cambron
(XIth century, 300,000 visitors per year, that is the first tourist
spot in Hainaut).
The name of Brugelette appeared around 1070. A popular tradition claims
that the first lady of the domain of Brugelette came from Bruges and
named her new place of residence Brugelette, Little Bruges. The
historian Christian Cannuyer confirms that the suffix -elette is a
diminutive, but adds that there is no clue on the meaning of the root
brug- in Brugelette.
Flints found in the hamlets of Bolignies and Frésignies confirmed that
the valley of Eastern Dendre was settled near Brugelette in the
Prehistoric times. In the Middle Ages, Brugelette was divided into the
four domains of Hérimez (successively owned by the Gavre, Looz,
Walcourt-Rochefort, Jauche-Mastaing and eventually Ongnies families);
Brugelette (owned by the Brugelette family and incorporated in the
XIVth century to the domain of Hérimez); Brolignies (owned by the
Mastaing family); and Brakel, aka Bragues. Religious communities were
also present in Brugelette, for instance the Wisbecq Hospital, founded
before 1243 and taken over in 1406 by the Grey Sisters. The choir of
the church (1557) hosts the funerary monuments of the Jauche-Mastaing
family.
Attre formed with Arbre a domain successively owned by the Arbre,
Lalaing (XVth century), Croÿ (1502) and Buignies (1510) families. The
domain was later transfered to the family of Franeau d'Hyon, Counts of
Gommegnies and Chamberlains at the Hapsburg court, in the XVIIIth
century, that sold its possessions to Duval de Beaulieu during the
French rule. The abbeys of Liessies and Epinlieu had farms in Attre. On
28 September 1624, the French captured Tilly, the generalissimo of the
Imperial army, in Attre.
In 1752, François-Philippe-Jospeh Franeau de Gommegnies rebuilt the
castle of Attre in style Louis XV. Archiduke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and
his wife Maria Christina, Governors General of the Low Countries, often
stayed in the castle from 1782 to 1788. In 1831, Count Duval set up in
the castle the first stud farm in Belgium, following plans drafted by
the great architect Dewez. The castle is surrounded by a landscaped
garden decorated with follies and artificial rocks.
Cambron is mentioned in the VIIIth century as a single village made of
Cambron-Casteau, Cambron-Mairie (suppressed in 1805) and
Cambron-Saint-Vincent. In 1148, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
founded in Cambron a Cistercian abbey, which became one of the
wealthiest abbeys in Hainaut and was suppressed in 1789 by Joseph II.
Remains of the abbey include the abbey church tower (1774), the grand
staircase (1776), the cellar (XIIIth century, one of the oldest remains
of Gothic architecture in Belgium) and the medieval wall surrounding
the abbey (the only wall of that kind totally preserved in Belgium). In
the Middle Ages, the village of Cambron was split among the Chapter of
St. Vincent's church in Soignies, the domain of Hérimez, the abbey of Anchin and the County of Mastaing.
Parc Paradisio, built in the former abbey domain, shows more than 2,500
birds representing 300 local and exotic species, living in natural
biotopes recreated by specialists; it has the greatest aviary in Europe
and a 7,000 sq. m greenhouse.
Gages, known since the XIIth century, belonged to the domain of Le Rœulx. St. Sibyl de Gages, who died in 1250 in the abbey of Aywières, belonged to the local ruling family. In 1334, Gerard de Gages split his domain in two parts and sold them: the first part was purchased by Ernoul de Gavre and later transfered to several owners, including Nicolas Rolin (1376-1462), Chancellor of Duke of Burgundy Philip the Handsome, and eventually the Counts de Berlaymont; the second part was purchased by the Hénin family, from Boussu, and then to the Dumont, Marquis de Gages since 1758. The abbeys of Cambron, Aywières and Anchin also owned land in Gages.
Mévergnies, mentioned in 1131 but of probable Frankish origin, partially depended on the abbey of Liessies. In 1252, the butcher Gérard le Rond was murdered near his farm "La Loé" by Flemish vassals of Marguerite of Constantinople. The murder started the guerre des Ronds (Rounds' War). The village was split among three main domains: Mévergnies, ruled by the lord of Brugelette for the abbey of Liessies; the domain owned by the abbey of Anchin; and Venise, with a small fortress suppressed in 1572. In the XVIIth century, stone extraction started in Mévergnies and lasted until the 1930s; limestone and the Mévergnies sandstone, highly appreciated by King Léopold II, were extracted by dozens of workers.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 21 May 2005
The municipal flag of Brugelette, as confirmed by the municipal administration, is white with the municipal coat of arms in the middle.
Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, shows the flag proposed by the Heraldry and Vexillology Council of the French Community, a banner of the municipal arms described as Trois laizes longitudinales rouge, jaune et rouge (3-2-3), la laize supérieure chargée d'une mince laize brisée jaune.
The municipal website has information on the municipal arms,
taken from the book Brugelette et la Dynastie by C. Cannuyer, G.
Despinoy, P. Ronvaux and M. Thémont.
The arms of Brugelette are De gueules à la fasce d'or accompagnée en chef d'une divise vivrée de même ("Gules a fess or in chief a bar dancetty of the same"). These are the arms of the Jauche-Mastaing family, lords of Brugelette from 1425 to 1769. During that period, the municipal councils of Brugelette, Hérimez and Bolignies used a seal with these arms.
The Jauche-Mastaing were a junior branch of the powerful Jauche
lineage, known since year 1000, owners of a big domain on the borders
of the Duchy of Brabant with the County of Namur and the Principality of Liège. A seal dated 1227 shows the arms of Jauche as "Gules a fess
or". A banner of these arms is used as the municipal flags of Orp-Jauche (with a narrower yellow stripe), and Kruishoutem (with equal stripes).
At the end of the XIIth century, Adam de Jauche married the last
heiress of the domain of Mastaing (today in the north of France) and
added the bar dancetty to the chief of the Jauche arms as a mark of
cadency. Due to lack of descendants, the domain was transferred
successively to Adam's two brothers, Regnier and Gérard. The Jauche-
Mastain who ruled Brugelette in the XVth century descend from Gérard
de Jauche-Mastaing.
In 1511, Antoine de Jauche-Mastaing, lord of Hérimez, Brugelette and
Bolignies, became the Head of the Jauche lineage, since Jean de
Jauche, lord of Bioul and Head of the senior Jauche lineage, had died
without descendants. Accordingly, Antoine dropped the mark of cadency
from his arms and took the "plain" arms of Jauche. For an unknown
reason, the municipal councils of Brugelette and Hérimez still used
the old arms, with the bar dancetty, until the XVIIIth century.
During the Dutch rule, the municipality of Jauche was granted by Royal
Decree the arms of the lords of Jauche. The municipal council of
Brugelette did not apply for the use of the arms of the lords of Jauche-
Mastaing, which were granted by Royal Decree on 22 May 1909 to the
municipality of Cambron-Casteau, where the Jauche-Mastaing also owned
a domain. Brugelette remained without arms until the municipal reform
and the "transfer" of the arms of Cambron-Casteau to Brugelette.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 26 April 2008