Last modified: 2008-03-29 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Machelen]](../images/b/be-vbrmc.gif)
Municipal flag of Machelen - Image by by Filip van Laenen, 30 October 2001
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The municipality of Machelen (12,792 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 1,159 ha) borders the Region of Brussels-Capital in the north-east. The municipality of Machelen is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Machelen (613 ha, including 36 ha of the Zaventem airport) and Diegem (547 ha).
Machelen might share its etymology with
J. Martens (Gallo-Romains uit Vlaams Brabant, 1955) found in the place called today
"De Heuve" (The Farm) remains of a wealthy Gallo-Roman villa from the
IInd century. Another place called "Geldput" (The Money's Well) might
recall the early finding of a Roman treasure. J. Martens also found a
Merovingian cemetary. In the XIIth century, Machelen was ruled by lords
from the families of
Lord of Machelen in the XVIIth century, Count Lamoraal II
Claude-François of Thurn and
Taxis, seventh hereditary Chief Master of the Postal Service of the
Empire, built the castle of Beaulieu (lit., in French, "nice place").
The domain of Machelen was purchased in 1717 by Pierre-Antoine, Baron
of Colins, lord of Wavre. Under the Dutch rule (1815-1830), the King of
the Netherlands owned personally 35 ha in Machelen, an estate called
"op de Loo". Spared during the First World War, Machelen was severely
bombed during the Second World War by the allied air forces targeting
the nearby airfield of Melsbroek and industrial parks. Mechelen is still one of the main
centers of witloof cultivation in Belgium.
Joanna Catharina Turcksin (1880-2002), aka Woinke Turck, from Mechelen,
became on 25 August 2001 the oldest Belgian citizen ever and the fourth
oldest European ever, then aged 111 years and 83 days. Until her death
on 8 December 2002, aged 112, she was among the ten oldest human beings
in the world. Her grandson Jan Vanhaelen published her biography Lang
zal ze leven. De biografie van Joanna Turcksin, alias Woinke Turck, de
oudste Belg aller tijden, verteld door haar kleinzoon in 2002 in
Diegem was mentioned for the first time in 1208 as Didenghem, according
to Servais. The name of the village was written Dydenghem in 1223. The
suffix -hem clearly means a settling, an estate, but the origin of
the first part of the village name is still disputed. Servais
"translates" it to the anthroponym Thiuda, Carnoy to the Frankish
anthroponym Dido, a short form for Diederik / Theodoric. Chotin
believes that Diegem means "an estate in the valley", from delling,
the root of dal, a valley, here the valley of the Woluwe. Wauters
prefers to invoke the Slavic god Dido, Odin's grandson, whatever Diegem
has to do with Slavs. Van Overstraeten translates Didisheim as "the
place near the marshes"; the use of the root dud- for marshy places
is found for instance in Dudweiler (Saar, Germany) and Dedelange (Grand
Duchy of Luxembourg).
Around 1810, coins portraying Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, were
found in Diegem, as well as a funerary urn from the VIIth century.
Found in 1950, a white stone pitcher, two vases and wood remains were
related to a Gallo-Roman cemetary from the IInd/IIIrd century. The
monks of Cornelimünster, in Aachen, were granted the rights on the
church of Diegem by either Charlemagne or Louis the Pious. Ruined by
the wars in the XIIIth century, the abbey had to sell its goods, much
of them in the region of Brussels being purchased by the Duke of
Brabant. The oldest lords of Diegem are related to Gilbert of
Diedenghem, known in 1265 as a vassal of the lord of Perk. Margareta,
the sister of the last lord, Jan of Diedenghem, transferred by marriage
the domain to Jan of Brecht around 1384. The Brecht family kept the
domain all over the XVIIth century, and was succeeded by the Oudaert,
Happaert, Pieremans and Lanfranchy.
Source: Municipal website
A website dedicated to Flemish legends reports the story of the Mechelen snakes. Once lived in a manor in Machelen a wealthy but careless lord who mostly thaught of eating and drinking. After having feasted for several days, he had to give up while a lot of expensive food remained untouched. Instead of giving them to the poor, he dropped the whole into the manor's cellar and forgot it, going downtown with his friends and loose women for another couple of days. Back to the manor, thursty and hungry as usual, he went down the cellar where food had changed to a bunch of swarming snakes, which quickly suffocated the bad lord. After the event, his relatives abandoned the castle and nobody dared approaching it until it was eventually suppressed.
Ivan Sache, 1 September 2007
The flag of Machelen is vertically divided black-yellow-blue.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 26 January 1982, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 3
December 1984 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 8 July
1986. It had already been adopted by the Municipal Council in 1977.
The flag is a combination of the flags of the former municipalities of
Diegem and Machelen.
The modern arms of Machelen are, according to the municipal website:
Doorsneden:
1. in zilver een drieblad van keel, doorboord van het veld en een
schildhoek van sabel met een leeuw van goud;
2. in zilver een dobberende driemaster van natuurlijke kleur, met
wimpels van keel, voerende de Oostenrijkse keizerlijke vlag.
(Per fess, argent a trefoil gules seeded of the field a canton sable a
lion or, argent a three-master floating proper with red pennants and
flying the Imperial Austrian ensign).
The horizontally divided red-white-yellow flag, here with a forked
tail, is the flag of the Austrian Netherlands.
The canton of the modern arms of Machelen shows the former arms of Diegem,
According to Servais, these arms, identical to the arms of the Dukes of
Brabant, were granted by Royal Decree on 26 May 1902, with St. Cornelis
as the supporter behind the shield, based on a municipal seal dated
1507. It can be guessed (only guessed) that the former flag of Diegem
was vertically divided black-yellow.
The website of the local history circle Heemkundekring Machala shows a black and white representation of what is, beyond reasonable doubt,
the former arms of Machelen. Unsurprisingely, these are the modern
arms of Machelen without the Diegem canton. A picture of the Machala flag shows the arms in full colours. The colours of the flag might indicate that the former flag of Machelen
was vertically divided yellow-blue or yellow-blue.
Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 1 September 2007
