County of Namur

thumb|The county of Namur within the Low Countries in 1350

The County of Namur () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire with its military and administrative capital at the town of Namur, at the merging of the Sambre and Meuse rivers in what is now French-speaking Belgium. Under this name it existed from about 990 until about 1790.

Like most of what is now Belgium, during the 15th century the County of Namur became part of the Burgundian Netherlands, which subsequently became a possession of the kings of Spain, and later of Austria. Like its neighbours, the county ceased to exist during the French Revolution, when the entire region was conquered by the revolutionary French Republic.

The modern Belgian province of Namur is larger than the old county. The boundaries of the province are based upon those of the French départment of Sambre-et-Meuse, and stretch further eastwards and southwards.

Prehistory to the Roman period

The city of Namur most likely arose around 'the Champeau', a rocky hill between the Sambre and Meuse rivers. Numerous prehistoric flint weapons have been found in the area. During Roman times, the region around Namur was first mentioned in Julius Caesar's ' in the second half of the 1st century BC. The exact boundaries of the peoples he mentioned are not known, but to the west of Namur were the Nervii, and to the east the Germani cisrhenani. It has been suggested that Namur itself may have been within the territory of the Aduatuci who Caesar described as descendants of the Cimbri and Teutons, whose main main fort was possibly at .) Caesar and the Romans conquered the Belgae cities and their territory were incorporated into the Roman Empire.

Origins

thumb|300px|Modern Namur province is in pink. Red triangles are places recorded as being in the early medieval Lommegau. The smaller Darnau (blue triangles) and Sambre gau (orange) were both sometimes treated as parts of the Lommegau.

From at least the 8th century, the larger region between the Sambre and Meuse rivers was in fact commonly referred to as the or of Lomme (the in Latin, or in German), which also stretched north of the river junction, at least as far as Gembloux. From at least about 800, this region was one of the ones under the religious jurisdiction of the bishopric of Liège, along with Hasbania, Condroz and the Ardennes to the west of it. In the year 832 a document by Emperor Louis the Pious indicates that at least part of the region could be referred to as the pagus of Namur, because it refers to Beez and Wépion, two places now within the city of Namur, as being in the countryside () of Namur (). There was however no mention is this period of any county or count of Namur. During the 10th century, records mentioning local counts Berengar, his possible descendant Robert, and Robert's son Albert I, demonstrate that the counts of Lomme were established at a fort in Namur. Berengar was referred to as a count of Namur in 919, but it is only in the time of Albert that the normal terminology changed. An imperial document of 992 calls Albert a count of Namur. Another imperial document of 986 refers to a county of Namur, when it says that Brogne was in the of Lomme, and the county of Namur. After this period, the term Lomme was no longer used. Namur, Flanders, Hainaut, Luxembourg, Brabant, and Holland became united under Philip of Burgundy.

The Burgundian and Habsburg periods

thumb|right|Hainaut and Namur in 1477

Philip the Good integrated the county of Namur into a large territorial and political union, called the Burgundian Netherlands. From the 15th century on, the county of Namur, along with the rest of the Netherlands, were ruled by the Habsburgs. During this period, the Burgundians and Habsburgs strengthened the city and built new walls around it. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the city became an important military stronghold, and was repeatedly besieged for this reason.

The Spanish king Philip II wanted to turn Namur into a Roman Catholic bastion as a bulwark against the rise of Calvinism. Namur received a bishopric's seat in 1559 and several religious orders were required to establish themselves in Namur. In consequence, the city gained a specific Catholic character. Philip II also managed to make considerable reinforcements to the Citadel of Namur. In 1577, Philip II sent Don Juan of Austria to the Netherlands as the new governor. In Namur, Don Juan received Margaret of Valois (the sister of the French king), and organised a magnificent celebration in her honor.

Troubled times and changing rulers

thumb|The [[Siege of Namur (1695)|Siege of Namur during the Nine Years' War, 1695]]

Namur has had a crucial military role throughout history. After the Spanish period, the strategically important city was repeatedly besieged. In 1692, the troops of Louis XIV took the city after a lengthy and furious siege. Louis and his legendary military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban personally oversaw the siege. Three years later, in 1695, William III of Orange retook Namur. But the Dutch occupation did not last long. At the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, the Southern Netherlands came under the rule of the Austrian house of Habsburg. Though the Austrians ruled over the city, the strategically important citadel remained in the hands of the Dutch. The Austrian rule returned peace and calm to the Netherlands.

The French revolutionists and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands

In 1790 the county of Namur was one of the founders of the failed United States of Belgium. Some years later, in 1794, the revolutionary France occupied Namur, immediately introducing a repressive regime. The county of Namur ceased to exist, becoming part of the newly created French department of Sambre-et-Meuse. The French occupation was ended following Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In the Congress of Vienna that followed, the southern and Northern Netherlands were combined to form the short-lived United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The French departments were turned into provinces, and renamed. In this period, the citadel was again rebuilt and more or less received its present-day looks. The kingdom of the Netherlands also didn't last long. In 1830 the Belgian Revolution broke out, in which Belgium became independent from the Netherlands. The strategically important bastion of Namur played a decisive role in the battles associated with the Belgian Revolution.

Economic activities

The economic activities of the County of Namur were diverse. Next to the cultivation of grapes in the river valleys, the agriculture also cultivated flax, that formed the basis of the wool industry. Clay formed the raw materials for the ceramic-production and for the making of molds for the so-called dinanderie, the overall name for the yellow copper brass art objects such as lecterns, candleholders, tableware and others. The metal industry was also important: in the 16th century the mouth of the Meuse (Dinant, Bouvignes, Namur, but also and Liège) was the central region for metallurgy in the Southern Netherlands. Along the banks of the Meuse, limestone was mined and exported.

References

Léon Vanderkindere, La formation territoriale des principautés Belges au Moyen Age, Tome II, p200