![[Flag of Mouscron]](../images/b/be-whtmo.gif)
Last modified: 2006-01-14 by ivan sache
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Municipal flag of Mouscron - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 28 April 2005
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Archeological remains from the Roman times have been found in Mouscron (Mont-à-Leux). However, the name of Mouscron (maybe from mosscher-on, a marshy place where moss grows profusely) appeared only in 1060. In 1066, Count of Flanders granted lands in Mouscron to the St. Peter's College in Lille. The church of Mouscron first belonged to the St. Bartolomew's abbey in Bruges, which ceded it in 1419 to the St. Martin's abbey in Tournai. The Chapter of the Cathedral of Tournai received a part of the tithe collected in Mouscron.
Mouscron belonged to the châtellenie of Kortrijk; it was French from 1668 (treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle) to 1678 (treaty of Nijmegen) and
definitively incorporated into the Low Countries in 1713 (treaty of
Utrecht). Mouscron was divided into three domains, the domain of
Mouscron, depending on the feudal court of Harelbeke; the fief of Val, depending on Warcoin; and the domain belonging to St. Peter's College
in Lille.
The domain of Mouscron stretched over 3/4 of the parish; it belonged to
the lords of Oudenaarde, a junior branch of the Leuven family. In 1332, Béatrice de Leuven sold Mouscron to Bernard de la Barre, a bourgeois from Tournai. By marriage, Mouscron was allocated in 1592 to the
Liedekerke family. In 1627, Philippe IV of Spain made of Mouscron a
County for Ferdinand-Georges de Liedekerke. The family of Liedekerke
disappeared and Mouscron was transfered in 1645 to the Basta family,
and later, again by marriage, to the Marquis d'Ennetières in 1682. The
Ennetières family disappeared in 1875.
Around 1430, the lord of Mouscron confiscated the Ramées farm and transformed it into a castle, later the Count's castle; Mouscron incorporated the fief of Val in 1481. King Charles of Castilie, later Emperor Charles V, was welcomed in the castle in 1516. The castle was abandoned by Maximilien d'Ennetières in 1720 and partially ruined. At the end of the XVth century, Mouscron was trashed by the garrison of Tournai. During the religious wars, the Hurlus briefly seized the castle in 1579 and were expelled by the Malcontents (see below). In the second half of the XVIIth century, Mouscron was trashed again during Louis XIV's wars. On 29 April 1794, the troops of the French Republic defeated Hanovre near Mouscron; this was the first step towards the conquest of the Low Countries, completed by the victories of Tourcoing (18 May) and Fleurus (26 June). On 29 March 1848, a group of French and Belgian revolutionaries attempted to invade Belgium; they were stopped by General Fleury in an event known as l'échauffourée des Risquons-Tout.
Up to the middle of the XVIIIth century, Mouscron lived mostly from
agriculture. In 1769, Lille forbid the weavers from Roubaix and
Tourcoing to produce swansdown, a fabric made of flax and wool. The
weavers emigrated to the Austrian Low Countries, especially to
Mouscron, where production of swansdown was allowed since 1758.
Textile industry developed from 1800 to 1815, with the opening of
cotton factories. From 1850 onwards, the factories in the North of
France lacked workers, which attracted several Flemish workers in
Mouscron. Between 1890 and 1900, the French manufacturers opened
factories in Mouscron, especially for the production of carpets, which
fixed the weavers in Belgium and contributed to the economical boom of
Mouscron. Between 1919 and 1939, residential boroughs were built in
Mouscron, which is today a part of the "conurbation" of the North of
France.
The population of Mouscron is mostly French-speaking (94% in 1846; 74%
in 1947); therefore, on 1 September 1963, Mouscron was detached from
the Flemish province of West Flanders and incorporated to the Walloon
province of Hainaut, with a small increase in its territory, taken from
the municipality of Rekkem. Before the 1976 administrative reform,
Mouscron was the largest municipality in Hainaut.
The Hurlus are celebrated on the first week-end of October. Hurlu is the name given locally to the Gueux, who attempted to propagate the Lutherian religion in Flanders. They met in Mont-à-Leux, aka Mont-des-Hurlus; the name of Hurlus comes from the French verb hurler, to scream. The Hurlus were fiercely repressed by Duke of Alba and set up small armed troops, that trashed the Catholic possessions and scared the population. In 1578, they seized the Count's castle in Mouscron. The Walloon regiment of Malcontents (Mécontents, unhappy), upset by the persecution against the Catholics exerted by the Prince of Orange, besieged the castle and seized it on 24 July. Roger de Gardin, Baillif of Mouscron, expelled the Hurlus from Kortijk. In 1582, the Hurlus were defeated in Tournai; on 22 July, they left Mouscron to attack Lille, where their adventure ended. The football team of Mouscron (Royal Excelsior) is nicknamed the Hurlus.
Dottignies (Dotto's estate) was mentioned in 872. The village was
shared among several jurisdictions. According to a census made in 1765,
the area of the village was 1,031 bonniers: 738 depended on the
châtellenie of Kortrijk, 85 on the châtellenie of Lille, 172 on the
bailiwick of Tournai-Tournaisis, while 17 constituted a franchise.
In 1668, the village, along with the châtellenies of Kortrijk and
Tournai, was totally ceded to France by the treaty of Aachen /
Aix-la-Chapelle; however, it was divided by a border in 1678, since
the treaty of Nijmegen retroceded Tournaisis to the Low Countries. In
1713, following the treaty of Utrecht, Dottignies was completely
incorporated to the Low Countries, except the enclaves depending on the
châtellenie of Lille, which became Austrian in 1769.
Dottignies was mostly an agricultural village where flax was grown. The
1840 flax crisis hit the village. In the second half of the XIXth
century, textile industry redeveloped in Dottignies.
The population of Dottignies is mostly French-speaking (90% in 1846;
85% in 1947); therefore, Dottignies was incorporated to the Walloon
province of Hainaut in 1963.
Every year, Dottignies celebrates the Fête de la Main (Hand's Festival);
the church of Dottignies is the only one in the word to have a hand
instead of a rooster on its bell-tower. The origin of this oddity is
obscure. A legend reported by M. Saint-Hilaire (La Flandre
mystérieuse, 1975) says that, on 20 August 1319, Robert de Béthune,
Count of Flanders, was forced to cede to the King of France the cities
of Walloon Flanders. The angry Count came back to Dottignies and was
upset by the rooster, the symbol of France. He ordered to replace the
rooster with a cut hand, the punishment for thieves, in order to show
that the King had stolen half of his County.
Herseaux ("fortified house"?) was mentioned in 1108 in the list of the
goods of the church of Tournai. The village was divided between the
châtellenie of Kortrijk (3/4) and the bailiwick of Tournai-Tournaisis
(1/4). It constituted a single parish with two échevinages (Municipal
Councils). The municipality of Herseaux was unified in 1795 and its
borders modified in 1802.
Depending on changes in national borders, Herseaux belonged to
different states: from 1435 (treaty of Arras) to 1526 (treaty of
Madrid), Herseaux-Tournaisis belonged to French, except for a short
period in 1514, when Tournaisis was allocated to the King of England.
After the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the administrative situation of
Herseaux was the same as for Dottignies. Herseaux-Flanders was a
franc-alleu, depending on the castle of Kortrijk since 1412.
Dottignies was mostly an agricultural village with flax and wool
weavers; there were two small cotton factories in 1815, but most of the
weavers worked in the neighbouring French cities of Roubaix and
Tourcoing.
The population of Herseaux is mostly French-speaking (96% in 1846; 79%
in 1947); therefore, Dottignies was incorporated to the Walloon
province of Hainaut in 1963.
Luingnes ("charcoal kiln" ?) completely belonged to the châtellenie
of Kortrijk. Feudal geography probably explains why Luingnes has an
enclave between Mouscron and Herseaux, not connected to the rest of the
municipality. The economical development of Luingnes followed the
developemnt of Mouscron.
The population of Luingnes is mostly French-speaking (96% in 1846; 68%
in 1947); therefore, Dottignies was incorporated to the Walloon
province of Hainaut in 1963.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 28 April 2005
The municipal flag of Mouscron, as shown in Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones is white with a red diagonal bar bristled up with flames. Its official description is:
Blanc à la barre hérissée de flammes.
The flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 17 July 1991 and
confirmed by the Executive of the French Community on 18 December 1991,
along with the municipal coat of arms and seal.
The flag is a banner of the second and fourth quarters of the coat of
arms of Nicolas-Ferdinand Basta, Count de Hust and Mouscron.
The municipal coat of arms of Mouscron is shown on the front page of the municipal website as:
Quartered firstly and fourthly gules a rider azure riding a horse
galopant argent raising a sword of the same secondly and thirdly argent
a bar bristled with flames gules overall an escutcheon an eagle sable
crowned or. The quarters come from the arms of the family of Moradin
(firstly and fourthly), Basta (secondly and thirdly) and Carillo?
(escutcheon).
Servais shows a coat of arms with a slightly different escutcheon, the
eagle bearing an escutcheon argent three escutcheons azure a six-ray
star or (Ennetières family). I guess it was the municipal coat of arms
of Mouscron before the merging of the municipalities.
The coat of arms of Dottignies is shown on the municipal website as:
Ecartelé aux 1 et 4 d'azur au chevron d'argent accompagné en chef de deux étoiles d'or, qui est Bertout, et aux 2 et 3 de gueules à une tour crénelée d'argent surmontée d'une aigle de sable tenant dans sa griffe dextre une couronne d'or, qui est Carillo, l'écu est timbré d'une couronne à trois perles séparées par deux pointes et supportée par deux lévriers d'argent colletés de gueules bordés de boucles d'or.
That is:
Quartered firstly and fourthly azure a chevron argent in chief two
stars or secondly and thirdly gules a tower walled sable surmonted with
an eagle sable holding in dexter a crown or.
These are the arms of Bertout and Carillo quartered. The shield is
surmonted by a crown with three pearls separated by two points and
supported by two greyhounds argent with a collar gules (...)
The arms were designed after the municipal seal (scel échevinal)
granted by Viscount Bertout de Carillo in 1763; they were granted to
the municipality of Dottignies by Royal Decree on 31 May 1932.
The coat of arms of Herseaux is shown on the municipal website as:
Ecartelé au 1 de sinople à la fasce d'hermines, qui est Oignies, au 2 d'argent à la croix de gueules cantonnée de seize trèfles renversés du même, qui est Montmorency, au 3 d'or à l'aigle éployée de sable chargée sur la poitrine d'un écusson d'argent au lion de sable, qui est Dion, au 4 d'argent à la croix d'azur accompagné au 1 d'une moucheture d'hermine de sable, qui est Croix, avec, sur le tout, un écusson ovale de sinople bordé d'or et chargé d'une aigle de même, becquée et membrée de gueules, qui est Preud'homme d'Hailly, l'écu est sommé d'une couronne à trois fleurons séparés par deux groupes de trois perles et supporté par deux aigles d'or.
That is:
Quartered firstly vert a fess ermine secondly argent a cross gules
cantoned with sixteen clovers inverted of the same, thirdly a spread
eagle sable bearing an escutcheon argent a lion sable fourth argent a
cross azure overall an escutcheon oval vert bordered or charged with an
eagle of the same beaked and armed gules.
These are the arms of Oignies, Montmorency, Dion and Croix (canting)
quartered with the Preud'homme d'Hailly escutcheon. The shield is
surmonted with a crown with two florets separated by two groups of
three pearls and supported by two eagles or.
The arms were designed after the municipal seal (scel échevinal)
granted by Marquis Louis-Joseph Preud'homme d'Ailly in 1775; they were
granted to the municipality of Herseaux by Royal Decree on 17 Novembre
1971.
The unofficial coat of arms of Luingne is shown on the municipal website as:
Ecartelé aux 1 et 4 de gueules au cavalier habillé d'azur monté sur un cheval galopant d'argent et brandissant une épée haute du même, qui est Basta, aux 2 et 3 d'argent à la barre hérissée de flammes de gueules, qui est Moradin, avec, sur le tout placé en abîme un écu d'argent à trois écussons d'azur chargés chacun d'une étoile à six rais d'or, qui est d'Ennetières, l'écu est sommé d'une couronne à trois fleurons d'or séparés par trois perles posées en trèfle.
That is:
Quartered firstly and fourthly gules a rider azure riding a horse
galopant argent raising a sword of the same secondly and thirdly argent
a bar bristled with flames gules overall in point an escutcheon argent
three escutcheons azure a six-ray star or.
These are the arms of Basta and Moradin quartered (however, the arms of
Basta and Moradin seem to be swapped here compared with the flag of
Mouscron !).
The very same coat of arms was granted to Aalbeke by Royal Decree on 29
January 1953.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 28 April 2005