Last modified: 2007-12-02 by ivan sache
Keywords: ham-sur-heure-nalinnes | nalinnes | hame-sur-heure | cross:moline (red) | merode |
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![[Flag of Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes]](../images/b/be-whthm.gif)
Municipal flag of Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 1 November 2005
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The municipality of Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes (13,383 inhabitants on 1
January 2007; 4,568 ha) is located 10 km south of Charleroi, on the border wit the Province of Namur. The municipality of Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes is made since 1976 of the
former municipalities of Ham-sur-Heure, Nalinnes, Cour-sur-Heure, Jamioulx and Marbaix-la-Tour.
Ham-sur-Heure is named after the ancient toponym Ham, "a pasture
surrounded by water", and the river Eau d'Heure, which flows into the
Sambre a few kilometers south-west of Charleroi. The river is said to
be so mighty that it can burst its banks within one hour (in French,
heure).
Ham belonged to the abbey of Lobbes (listed as Ham super Hur among 174 villages in the abbey's Polyptich made in 868-869) and was incorporated
into the principality of Liège from 889 to 1794. Its early lords belonged to the family of Morialmé. In 1096, Godescald de Morialmé went
on the First Crusade with Godefroid de Bouillon (and he came back, since he
signed in 1127 the act of foundation of the abbey of Solières, near
Huy); in 1189, Godefroid III de Morialmé went on the Third Crusade with King of France Philippe-Auguste. The castle and domain of Ham were
transferred in 1256 to the CondŽ family, in 1441 to the Enghien family, and in 1487 to the Merode family. Ferdinand de Merode, Count de
Montfort (1638-1687), built a 5 km long wall around the park and
decorated the bastions with votive niches.
The castle was often sacked and burned, especially in the XVIIth
century (1667 and 1689). In 1667, Louis XIV stayed in the castle and
ordered to suppress one of its five towers because a
castle was not allowed to have more than four towers. Joachim-Maximilien
de Merode rebuilt the castle completely in 1700 and transformed the old
fortress into a smaller but more comfortable castle. The castle was not
destroyed during the French Revolution because it was used as a
military hospital. It was abandoned from 1806 to 1896, when Countess
Louise de Merode spent 2 million francs to revamp it and bequeathed it
to her daugther and her son-in-law, Count John d'Oultremont. The castle
was eventually purchased by the municipality of Ham-sur-Heure in 1952.
Like many villages of the region of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse,
Ham-sur-Heure has its folkloric march, called Marche Saint-Roch, whose
origin dates back to the 1635 black plague epidemic. The Marche
Saint-Roch is considered as one of the oldest and nicest folkloric
marches; its specificity is a torchlight procession. The companies
involved in the march are the Garde d'Honneur, the Volontaires Réunis
de la Révolution Branbançonne, the Flanqueurs de la Garde, the Jeune
Marche, the Compagnie Royale Les Vrais Sapeurs, the Fanfare Royale, the
11e Légers and the 1er Régiment de Zouaves.
Nalinnes is listed on the aforementioned Polyptich of Lobbes. The succession of the lords of Nalinnes is very complicated until the village was ceded in 1489 to Richard de Merode, whose family kept it until the French Revolution. Nalinnes was originally a clearing and has still a lot of woods on its territory.
Cour-sur-Heure belonged to the abbey of Lobbes and later to the family of Morialmé. In 1512, the domain was sold to the family of Glyrnes, which kept it until the French Revolution. Cour was a free domain, and its inhabitants did not pay taxes to the States of Brabant. Until the First World War, the main crop in Cour was sugar beet, processed in the sugar house of Ham. Stone quarries were exploited at the end of the XIXth century on the banks of the Eau d'Heure. Cour was far from Charleroi and developed less in the 1830-1900 than the average in Hainaut. Rural exodus increased until the 1960s.
Jamioulx also belonged to the abbey of Lobbes in the IXth century; the abbey lost the domain but bought it again in 1309 and kept it until the French Revolution. Jamioulx belonged to the châtellenie of Thuin and to the sauvement (protected area) of Beaumont, in spite of being located quite far from the fortress of Beaumont. There were in the XIXth century a few industries in Jamioulx such as a small colliery (closed in 1876), a tannery and a clog workshop.
Marbaix-la-Tour belonged to the abbey of Lobbes and later to the Principality of Liège. The full name of Marbaix-la-Tour appeared in 1765 but there is no evidence that a tower (tour) existed then in the village. On 15 June 1815, Napoléon, on his way to Waterloo, stopped at Marbay (and not at Thy-le-Château as often reported).
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 1 November 2005
The municipal flag of Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes is vertically divided
yellow-red-yellow-red-yellow-red-yellow-red-yellow with a blue
engrailed border and a white shield charged with a red fer de moline in
the middle.
It follows the proposal made by the Heraldry and Vexillology Council of
the French Community, described in Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et
germanophones, as:
Neuf laizes transversales alternativement jaunes et rouges avec une
bordure engrêlée bleue et, au centre, un écusson blanc chargé d'une
anille rouge.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.
The municipal arms of Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes combine the former arms of Ham-sur-Heure and
Nalinnes.
The arms of Ham-sur-Heure were granted by Royal Decree on 4 September
1910 as D'or à quatre pals de gueules un écu d'argent à une anille de
gueules en abyme ("Or four pales gules in the middle an escutcheon
argent a fer de moline gules").
The arms of Nalinnes were granted by Royal Decree on 3 January 1911 as
D'or à quatre pals de gueules brisé d'une bordure engrêlée d'azur
(Merode) ("Or four pales gules a border engrailed azure"). The banner of
arms of Merode is also used as the municipal flag of Westerlo (Province of Antwerp); the neighbouring municipality of Herselt has added a blue H for differentiation.
Merode is one of the oldest Belgian nobler lineage; there were Counts
of Merode in the Middle Ages, as well as Barons of Merode and
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, and Princes of Merode in 1759. The
current titles of the Merode are:
- Prince of Rubempré, in the Holy Roman Empire (1759);
- Prince of Rubempré, in the Kingdom of Belgium (1846);
- Prince of Everberghe, in the Holy Roman Empire (1759);
- Prince of Everberghe, in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1827);
- Prince of Grimberghe, in the Kingdom of Belgium (1842);
- Prince of Merode, in the Kingdom of Belgium (1929).
The head of the House of Merode is since 1980 Charles-Guillaume (b.
1940), third Prince of Merode, Marquis of Westerloo, Prince of Rubempré
and Grimberghe. Prince Alexandre of Merode (1934-2002) was Vice
President of the International Olympic Committee and President of the
Royal Association of the Historic Houses of Belgium. Princess Baudoin
de Merode (b. 1948), née Nathalie van den Abeele, is the unique
lady-in-waiting of Queen Paola since 1997.
Count Frédéric de Merode (1792-1830) fought during the Independence
War of Belgium in 1830; injured during the battle of Berchem on 25 October 1830, he died in Antwerp ten days later and became a national hero, being the first noble of higher rank to die for the new Belgium.
His brother, Count Félix de Merode (1791-1857) was one of the political
leaders of the War; appointed member of the Provisory Government and
then of the National Congress, he refused the throne because he was not
a Prince and was member of the delegation that proposed the throne to
Prince Louis d'Orléans, to no avail, in Paris on 3 July 1831. King Leopold I
appointed him State Minister in 1831 but he resigned in 1839 because he
did not want to sign the treaty of abandon of parts of Luxembourg and
Limburg by Belgium. His son, Count Xavier de Merode (1820-1874), served
in the French Army in Kabylia (Algeria) in 1844-1847 and then was
ordained priest. Pope Pius IX appointed him Director of the Pontifical
Prisons and Minister of War in 1860. After the defeat of Castelfidardo
against the Piemontese troops, Merode carried on the reorganization of
the papal army and also contributed to the modern urbanization of Rome.
Forced to resign in 1865, Merode was appointed Archbishop of Mytilene
(in partibus) in 1866. After the seizure of Rome by the Piemontese in
1870, Merode withdrew with the pope into the Vatican.
Arnaud Bunel's Héraldique Européenne website shows the arms of
several branches of the Merode lineage.
The House of Merode bears "Or four pales gules a border engrailed
azure", whereas the House of Scheiffart de Merode, the senior branch
extincted in 1733, bore "Or four pales gules".
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 14 July 2007