Last modified: 2007-12-22 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Herne (in French, Hérinnes; 6,483 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 4,463 ha) is located in Pajottenland, 5 km north of Enghien and therefore on the linguistic border between Dutch and French and on the border of Brabant and Hainaut. The municipality of Herne is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Herne (2,168 ha), Herfelingen (1,113 ha) and Sint-Pieters-Kapelle (1,181 ha), which was a French-speaking municipality in the Province of Hainaut until 1963.
Herne was mentioned for the first time in 1100 as Herines, but the name
of the municipality is of prehistoric origin, from karinas, "a
settlement on the glittering water", here the river Mark. The old name
of the river has been kept for one of its tributaries, the Harebeek
(Harenbecca, 1117).
Herne formed together with Tollembeek and Sint-Pieters-Kapelle the
Country of Herne (Hernegewoud - potestas van Herne), while Kester,
Oetingen and Herfelingen formed the Country of Kester (Kestergewoud -
potestas van Castre). The two domains were transferred in the VIIth
century by Waldetrudis to the chapter she had found in Mons (where she is know under her French name of St. Waudru). In the first half of the
XIIth century, the Country of Herne was incorporated into the domain of
Enghien, part of the County of Hainaut. Engelbert, lord of Enghien and
husband of the daughter of Count of Hainaut Jacques d'Avesnes (d. 1191
during the Third Crusade) granted in 1211 a village chart to Herne.
Another chart granted in 1338 confirmed the franchises of Herne. All
the civil and religious buildings of the village were destroyed in 1580
by Protestants coming from Ninove. On 27 October 1798, some 300
brigands were defeated by the French troops during the Boerenkrijg.
Founded in 1314 by Walter II of Enghien and closed in 1783 by Emperor
Josef II, the Cartusian monastery of Herne was the oldest of that kind
in the Low Countries. The monastery was the mother house of the
Cartusian monasteries of Kiel, Geraardsbergen, Gent-Rooigem,
Diest-Zelem and Brussels-Scheut. The monastery of Herne had a
significant influence on the cultural development of Brabant and
Brussels; around 1360, parts of the Latin Bible was translated for the
first time in Middle Dutch in Herne. This book was used for the
translation of the Bible in Dutch, the famous Delft Bible (1477). A
legend says that the heart of Margaret of York (1446-1503; aka Margaret
of Burgundy, sister of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of
England, third wife of Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold) was buried in
Herne.
Herfelingen was mentioned for the first time in 1194 as Harflenges, a Frankish name (V-VIth century) meaning "at Harifolc's family". Together with Oetingen and Kester, Herfelingen formed the Country of Kester, part of the domain of Enghien and therefore of the County of Hainaut.
Sint-Pieters-Kapelle was mentioned for the first time in 1148, when the parish of Herne and its dependencies were transferred to the abbey of Cambrai. Together with Tollembeek and Herne, Sint-Pieters-Kapelle formed the Country of Herne, part of the domain of Enghien and therefore of the County of Hainaut.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 18 July 2007
The flag of Herne is vertically divided, with the left part gyronny of
ten white and black pieces, the black pieces being charged with three
crosses crosslets yellow, and the right part red with a sitting man,
surrounded by a moon and a seven-pointed star in canton, all yellow.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 21 June 1988 and confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on
13 December 1988.
The left part of the flag is a banner of the today's municipal arms of
Herne excluding the central escutcheon (that is the former arms of
Sint-Pieters-Kapelle, unsurprisingly similar to the gyronny arms of the
lords of Enghien), whose banner of arms (that is the former seal of
Herne) forms the right part of the flag.
To say it the other way round, the modern arms of Herne are made of the
former arms of Sint-Pieters-Kapelle, similar to the arms of the lords
of Enghien, with an escutcheon based on the old municipal seal of
Herne.
Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 18 July 2007