Last modified: 2007-10-20 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Arendonk]](../images/b/be-vanar.gif)
Municipal flag of Arendonk - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 29 July 2006
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The municipality of Arendonk (12,329 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 5,538 ha) is located in the region of Kempen, 10 km east of Turnhout and close to the border with the Netherlands.
Until the French Revolution, Arendonk, located in the middle of Brabant
(and so until the independence of Belgium and the split of historical
Brabant between Belgium and the Netherlands) was mostly known for its
falconers. Falconry, aka hawking, that is hunting with trained birds of
prey, was a noble art highly prized in the Low Countries, especially
during the Burgundian and Spanish rules. The skillful falconers from
Arendonk were hired by all the European courts.
In the XIXth century, Arendonk became a small industrialized town, with
the developemnt of cloth factories and the digging of the canal
Dessel-Turnhout-Schoten in 1845. In 1876, the Dutch Henri Van der Pas founded in Arendonk a cigare workshop with five workers. Ten years
later, Arendonk was known as the Belgian cigare's village and 80
workers produced 90,000 cigares per week. The brothers Goppel opened
their factory in Arendonk in 1877; in 1886, their 45 workers produced
2,000,000 cigares per year. New workshops opened from time to time
whereas home-working increased. Before the Second Word War, half of the
cigare workers in Arendonk were home workers. Cigare industry also
developed on the Dutch side of the border and attracted several
workers, since the Dutch guilder was a stronger currency.
Arendonk has preserved a very specific dialect, said to be not
understandable by the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Priest and
painter Remi Lens (d. 1983) was a tireless scholar and champion of the
Arendonk dialect.
Arendonk claims to be the birth place of the Primitive Flemish painter
Jan Van Eyck (1385/90-1441). As usual with those artists, very little
is known on their biography, especially on their early life (the exact
identity of some of them, known as "The Master of..." is even unknown),
and several towns claim to be their birth place.
In 1959, the former Mayor and hobbyist local historian Jan Goris, doing
research on the Arendonk falconers, found an old document mentioning
Heine Van Eyck, falconer at the court of Duke of Burgundy Philip the
Handosme and Cousine van den Malnaere, "cousin of the painter". Goris
claimed that this was a strong evidence for Arendonk being the birth
place of Jan Van Eyck.
It is more generally admitted, however, that the painter was born in
Maaseik, because of his patronym and a settlement he did to a local
convent. In 2005, the ruins of the St. Agnes convent in Maaseik were
excavated and a wax medallion portraying Pope Eugen IV was founded.
Other sources say that this medallion was offerred to Jan Van Eyck by
Cardinal Niccolo Albertagi in 1435 as a reward for his portrait made by
the painter. Van Eyck's daughter, Lievine, inherited the medallion
after her father's death and brought it with her when she entered the
convent in 1441. Historians from Maaseik claim that the medallion is a
strong evidence for Maaseik being the birth place of Jan Van Eyck.
Arendonk is without the least doubt the birth town of the cyclist Rik
(Hendrik) Van Steenbergen (1924-2003). Rik started his professional
career in 1943, winning that year the Flanders Championship in
Koolskamp. Among his famous victories are the Tour of Flanders (1944
and 1946), Paris-Roubaix (1948 and 1952, defeating that time Fausto
Coppi), the Flèche Wallonne (1949, defeating against Coppi, who claimed
that Rik had been "brought back" in the wake of the cars, and 1958),
Paris-Brussels (1950) and Milan-San Remo (1954).
Rik Van Steenbergen took part to eleven World Championships and won
three of them, in 1949 (Copenhagen), 1956 (Ballerup) and 1957
(Waregem). He was less successful in the great Tours because he did not
like mountains; however, he wore the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de
France for 10 days in 1952; he wore the Pink Jersey in the Giro
d'Italia eight times, won 15 stages and finished second in 1951, only
1'46" behind Fiorenzo Magni; he took part once to the Vuelta, wearing
the Amarillo Jersey for a while and finishing 5th and winner of the
points classification.
Rik Van Steenbergen was also a brilliant track racer, with 715 wins. He
won 40 out of the 134 Six-Days races he ran, in team with famous
cyclists such as Bruneel, Post, De Bruyne and Bahamontes, and also with
his son-in-law Palle Lykke. He ran his last race on 10 december 1966 in
the Sportpaleis of Brussels.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 29 July 2006
The municipal flag of Arendonk is blue with a yellow eagle spreading
its wings all over the flag.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag and arms were adopted by the Municipal Council on 10 October 1988, confirmed by the Executive of
Flanders on 13 December 1988 and published in the Belgian official
gazette on 8 November 1989.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.
According to Servais, similar arms (but with a different representation
of the eagle) were granted to the town by Royal Decree on 31 December 1938.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 29 June 2006