Last modified: 2008-03-29 by ivan sache
Keywords: nassogne | lion: half (red) | label (yellow) | clog (yellow) |
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![[Flag of Nassogne]](../images/b/be-wlxns.gif)
Municipal flag of Nassogne - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 6 May 2005
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The municipality of Nassogne (5,045 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 11,193 ha including 5,000 ha of forest; elevation 197-561 m a.s.l.) is located on the border between the regions of Fammenne and Ardenne. The municipality of Nassogne is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Nassogne, Ambly, Bande, Forrières, Grune, Harsin, Lesterny and Masbourg.
In the Celtic times, there was in the forest of Arduina (later Ardenne) a fountain called Nassonia. The village which was built near the fountain was called Nassonia, Nassoigne, Nassonacum and eventually Nassogne. In the Roman times, Nassogne was located on the Roman way Bavay-Trier. Emperor Valentinian (321-375, Emperor in 364) stayed in Villa Nassonia, where he signed decrees in 372.
Around 600, a Scottish monk called Monon was ordered by an angel
to evangelize the pagans living near the Nassonia fountain.
Monon decided to go first to Rome to ask for the assistance of Sts.
Peter and Paul. On his way to Rome, he met John the Lamb, then Bishop
of Tongeren and became his friend. Back
to the place allocated to him by the angel, Monon started clearing
and evangelization. Monon used a small bell found by a pig to call
his flock to prayer in a small oratory later replaced by the Coumont
chapel. The bell was probably a Gallo-Roman tintinnabulum lost
by a convoy on the Roman way. After Monon had destroyed their idols,
the local woodcutters allied with thieves in order to suppress him.
Monon was murdered in his oratory with a spear or a wood wedge around
636.
John the Lamb, who had ben appointed Bishop of
Maastricht, built a church paying hommage
to his friend Monon, and ordered the canons of
Huy to celebrate mass there every week.
In the VIIIth century, King of the Franks Pépin le Bref
(715-768, King in 751), who enjoyed hunting in the Ardenne forest,
was impressed by St. Monon's miracles. He donated his
royal hat decorated with jewels set in fine gold to the church and appointed a
college of canons, who perceived the tithe in the region limited by
the rivers Lesse and Ourthe. Once in Nassogne, thirsty Pépin
hit a rock with his sword and water gushed forth. Since then, that
place is called Pépinette.
In 825, Walcand, Bishop of
Liège, ordered the transportation
of St. Hubert's body to Andage (today Saint
Hubert) and submitted the church of Nassogne to the prebends of
Saint-Hubert abbey. The chapter of Nassogne rejected in 1086 the
authority of the abbey but still recognized his preeminence in the
assemblies convened by the Pope. To solve the conflict, the Bishop of
Liège transferred the Nassogne prebend to the Sts. Peter and
Hubert church in Liege but acknowledged the independence of the
church of Nassogne. However, discipline got lax in the independent
church and the Bishop had to sent legates in 1253 and again in 1254
to rectify the situation.
In January 1274, Gerard de Luxembourg proclaimed the freeing of
the domain of Nassogne and granted a chart to its
inhabitants. Duke Wenceslas confirmed the chart and sold Nassogne to
the Count de Namur to wipe off
his debts. On 1 August 1536, Collard Malaize, Abbot of Saint-Hubert,
signed a new chart prescribing the respective rights of the abbey,
the lord and the villagers of Nassogne. The chart includes a
detailed description of St. Monon's procession, called
remuages (from remuer, "to move"). During the procession,
the parishioners were arranged alphabetically by two halberdiers,
starting with the parish of Ambly. When reaching letter "F", the
helberdiers shouted: "Stand back, people of Forrières who
killed St. Monon!".
The rights of Nassogne were confirmed by Ferdinand of Bavaria,
Prince-Bishop of Liège on 30 August 1634, and again on 25
January 1650 by Prince-Bishop Maximilian-Henri. The chapter founded
by Pépin le Bref still existed but started to divide, so that
Pope Clement XI (1649-1721, Pope in 1700) had to sent an apostolic
nuncio on 10 May 1709 to rectify the situation. The chapter was
suppressed in 1794 by the French and the goods of the abbey were
sold.
The collegiate church of Nassogne was completely rebuilt in 1661
and restored in 1673, 1782 and 1949, after blazes.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 12 April 2004
The flag of Nassogne is horizontally divided red-yellow
with the municipal coat of arms in the middle.
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 21 June 1990 and
confirmed by the Executive of the French Community on 18 December 1991, as Coupé rouge sur jaune, chargé au centre de l'écu communal occupant le
tiers du battant.
The colours of the flag are taken from the municipal coat of arms:
Coupé, au premier d'argent à deux fasces d'azur au lion naissant de
gueules brochant, armé, lampassé et couronné d'or, à un lambel à cinq pendants du même brochant sur le tout; au deuxième de gueules à un sabot d'or, "Per fess, argent two fesses azure a lion emerging gules armed langued
and crowned or a label of the same with five pendants, gules a clog or".
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 6 May 2005