Last modified: 2008-03-29 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Orp-Jauche]](../images/b/be-wbroj.gif)
Municipal flag of Orp-Jauche - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 September 2007
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The municipality of Orp-Jauche (in Walloon, Oû-Djôce; 7,932 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 5,050 ha) is located in the extreme east of Brabant, on the border with the Provinces of Liège and Namur. The municipality of Orp-Jauche is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Orp-le-Grand, Jauche (in Dutch, Geten; including Enines and Folx-les-Caves since 1971), Jandrain-Jandrenouille, Marilles and Noduwez.
Orp-le-Grand, together with the hamlets of Maret and Orp-le-Petit,
forms the northeastern part of Orp-Jauche. From the several known forms
of the village name - Hadorp, Adorp, Auendorp, Adorp, Hardorp, Aorb,
Aorp -, the etymologists have stated that Orp was "the old
village", in Dutch ald dorp or oud dorp, locally pronounced
aadorp, the first syllab having been eventually dropped.
Two villages emerged, each with its chapel, and were differentiated as
Orp-le-Grand and Orp-le-Petit. Maret, like Marilles, might have been
named after marshes. Remains of a Magdalenian camp (12000 BC), of
Neolithic mines (4000 BC), of a Celtic village, of a Gallo-Roman villa
and of a Frankish cemetary proved that the site of Orp has been
continuously inhabited since the early ages.
It is believed, without evidence, that the first permanent settlement
appeared in Orp-le-Petit, on a crossroads of Roman secondary ways
(diverticuli). At the end of the VIIth century, the noble nun Adèle
was sent from the abbey of
The inhabitants of Orp-le-Grand
warmly welcomed the patriots from Liège, led by Charles Rogier, on
their way to Brussels in 1830. As a reward, the Liège Susbistence
Committee offerred them a flag with the colours of the Province of
Liège, that is still kept in the Council Room of Orp-Jauche.
Jauche, located between Enines and Jandrain-Jandrenouille, was built in
the valley and on the hillsides of the Petite Gette, aka Jauce. Former written
forms of the name of the village are Gyaz, Jace, Jeace and Jauce, and
sometimes Jauche-le-Grand. In 1869, a big necropolis was found, used
from the Age of Stone to the Frankish period. The powerful Barony of
Jauche emerged around 1100, ruled successively by four feudal lineages.
The early local lords of Jauche built the first feudal castle. The
lords of Jauche set up a series of fortunate alliances; they kept
several domains in Brabant, Hainaut and Namur, which allowed the junior
sons and the daughters to rule prestigious religious establishments
such as the St. Denis church in Liège and the abbey of Nivelles. Theearly lords of Jauche used the strategic location of their domain to
increase their autonomy, which was, however, limited after the
destruction of their castle by the Duke of Brabant in 1183. It is
believed that the Duke increased the privileges of the domains located
around Jodoigne to watch the lords of Jauche.
The local lords were
succeeded in 1517 by the Cottereau, who built a Renaissance castle
whose entrance gate can still be seen on the village's main square. In
September 1567, the Counts of Egmont and Hornes were drawn into the
manor owned in Brussels by Jean of Cottereau, where they were arrested.
The next lords of Jauche were the Berlaymont de la Chapelle (1756) and
the Van der Meer.
The building of the Tamines-
Enines, once known as Anines, Ayninne, Hennines and Ennines, is the
westernmost and highest (150 m) village of Orp-Jauche. The place was
already settled in the Neolithic, as proved by remains of a big
necropolis and of a village found there. In the Middle Ages, the
village depended on the municipality of Jandrain and was divided into
two or three small domains depending on the abbey of
Folx-les-Caves forms the south-western part of Orp-Jauche. Once known
as Foul (XIIIth century), Folz, Foulx and Fooz (probably from Latin
fossa, "a quarry", or fauces, "a narrow cave"), the village was often added
something to its name to differentiate it from other villages of the
same name, so that is was called Foul-en-Brabant, Fooz-de-Jauche or
Faulz-les-Caves. The village is probably of Frankish origin; it
depended on the municipality of Geest-Gérompont and was ruled the lords
of Foul. Later, the village was shared between the lord of Jauche,
representing the St. Denis chapter in Liège (Folx de Jauche) and the
Duke of Brabant (Folx du Duc) until Guillaume of Cottereau, Baron of
Jauche, purchased the Duke's domain in 1648. The village was severely
damaged by the French artillery during the battle of Ramillies, 1706.
The caves of Folx spread 13-18 m underground on an area of six
hectares. Dug by men in the local stone known as tuffeau at an unknown
period, they are formed by a series of small rooms hold by pillars;
several galleries have caved down. They were used in the past by the
villagers as a garage for the agricultural tools and as a shelter in
wartime. Their most famous inhabitants was Pierre Colon, who lived in
the middle of the XVIIIth century in a small house linked to the caves,
then partially flooded, by a well. Colon was identified as the rascal
who attacked the travelers in the neighbouring woods and his house was
besieged for two months by the police, to no avail. The rumor said that
Colon escaped the police by witchery, while he had indeed hidden in the caves
and been resupplied by his wife. Eventually arrested and jailed in
Jauche, Colon was visited by his wife who braught him a pie in which a
file was hidden. Colon escaped and nagged the police by sending a
message saying "if you want to keep pigeons (in local Walloon,
colons, build a safer pigeonhouse." Colon was eventually arrested in
1769 and executed. He has been locally recalled as a kind of Robin
Hood, robbing the rich to help the poor.
In 1862, Jean-Baptiste Gérondal, Mayor of Jauche, opened a brewery and
vinegar distillery in the lower part of the caves, using the water of
the underground brook that gushed forth there. In 1985, Pierre Celis,
owner of the De Kluis brewery producing the Hoegaarden white beer,
purchased that part of the caves to experience a new brewing process
based on the champagne method, but eventually moved to the caves of
Kanne, Limburg, in 1998.
In 1886, a French hawker asked the local inn-keeper Désiré Racourt
about the origin of the name of the village. A former employee in a
mushroom bed in Paris, the French convinced Racourt that temperature
and hygrometry were suitable for growing mushrooms. The mushroom bed
was exploited by the Racourt family until 1975, with its golden age
between the two world wars, when six workers picked up every day 180 kg
of mushrooms shipped to Liège, Brussels, Hasselt, Spa and Ostende.
Louis Bodart grew mushroom from 1907 to 1952 in the lower part of the caves
formerly housing the brewery.
Jandrain-Jandrenouille, the biggest village of Orp-Jauche, forms the south-easterh part of the municipality. Jandrain and Jandrenouille are seprated by a small ridge topped with a water tower. Jandrain was mentioned for the first time in 855, as Gundrinium, later written Jandren, Jandrine, Jangdraine and Jaindrain. Jandrenouille, once Jandrinul, Jandernoul and Jandrignoule, is a diminutive form of Jandrain. The hamlet of Jauche-la-Marne was known in the past as Jauche-le-Male or Jauche-la-Mavayse, that is "the Bad", probably referring to its very isolated location. The two villages belonged to the Dukes of Brabant but the lords of Jauche kept some power there. In the XIIIth century, Jandrain was a wealthy village and the capital of a municipality including Jandrenouille, Marilles, Nodrenge and Enines. It was destroyed in 1334 during the war between Brabant and Liège, plundered by the lord of Houffalize in 1402 and nearly disappeared at the end of the XVth century. The wars of the XVI-XVIIth centuries did not improve the situation: in 1706, there were no cultivated lands in either of the two villages. Once owned mostly by the local big abbeys, the two villages were purchased from the Duke of Brabant by Guillaume of Cottereau, lord of Jauche, around 1650. On 14 July 1812, a Decree officialized their merging into a single municipality.
Marilles, together with the hamlet of Nodrenge, forms the north-western
part of Orp-Jauche. The name of the village, once written Maruiles,
Mariles, Marioles and Marieles, probably alludes to marshes (in French,
marais). Nodrenge, once known as Nordrenge, Nuadrenge, Nordreinghe
and Norderinghen, is of Germanic origin. Several artefacts from the
Neolithic, Gallo-Roman and Frankish periods have been found in the
village. In the early XIIth century, Marilles belonged to the Duchy of
Brabant while Nodrenge was ran by the lords of Jauche on behalf of the
St. Lambert chapter in Liège. In 1216, Gerard of Jauche founded the
Ramée abbey in Jauchelette and transferred Marilles and Nodrenge to it.
In 1204, Duke Henri I of Brabant granted a chart to the villages of
Marilles and Nodrenge. Following war damages and epidemics, Marilles
was abandoned by its inhabitants in 1582; resettled, the village was
plundered and the church burned in 1635 by the French-Dutch army coming
back from the unsuccessful siege of Leuven. Marilles and Nodrenge were
merged into a single municipality around 1650.
Noduwez, together with the hamlet of Libertange, forms the northernmost
part of Orp-Jauche. The village and the hamlet are separated by a hill
hiding them to each other. Noduwez, which has several written forms and
is still known in Walloon as Nodwé, might have been derived from noa,
"a pasture", and wez, "a ford". Libertange means Libert's estate. Like
the other villages, Noduwez and Libertange were settled very early.
Depending on the municipality of Orp-le-Grand in the XIIth century,
they were granted a chart by the Duke of Brabant in the beginning of
the XIIIth century. Libertange was eventually incorporated to Noduwez
in 1794; from 1824 to 1893, Noduwez-Libertange and Linsmeau
(incorporated into Hélécine in 1976) formed a single municipality with
its administrative seat in Libertange
In the XIXth century, home-working developed in Noduwez, which is the
origin of the nickname of Vis Tècheus (Old Knitters) given to the
villagers. There were still 150 weavers in 1867 but none in 1910.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 12 September 2007
The municipal flag of Orp-Jauche is horizontally divided red-yellow-red
(3:2:3).
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, the flag was adopted by the Municipal
Council on 29 January 1996 and confirmed by the Executive of the French
Community on 28 March 1997.
The flag is based on the arms of the family of Jauche, which were
granted to the former municipality of Jauche under the Dutch rule.
The arms of the Jauche family were also granted to the municipality of Kruishoutem, which still uses a banner of these arms as the municipal flag (but has adopted more complicated arms since the municipal reform).
The municipality of Hornaing, located near Denain, in the north of
France, uses the arms of the family Jauche-Mastaing as its municipal
arms. These arms are the arms of the Jauche family with a yellow vivre
in the upper red stripe.
The very same arms are used by the municipality of Brugelette (also on the municipal flag).
Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 12 September 2007