Last modified: 2007-11-03 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Chievres]](../images/b/be-whtch.gif)
Municipal flag of Chièvres - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 13 November 2005
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The municipality of Chièvres (6,330 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 4,676 ha) is located 10 km south-east of Ath. The municipality of Chièvres is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Chièvres, Grosage, Huissignies, Ladeuze, Tongre-Notre-Dame and Tongre-Saint-Martin.
The name of Chièvres comes from Latin Cervia, that is "deer or doe's
park". It evolved from Cervia to Chièvres, fixed in the XVIIth century,
through Scrivia (1093-1110), Cirvia (1127), Cirve (1194 Chart-Law),
Chilvia (1200) and Chirvia (1210).
Chièvres, already settled in the Prehistoric and Gallo-Roman times, was
mentioned, as de villa Cervo in Eginhard's Translatio et Miracula
SS. Marcellini et Petri, written in 830. Chièvres was later allowed to
mint coins for King of Francia Occidentalis Charles le Chauve
(869-875): such a coin bears the writing + Cervia Moneta.
The region of Chièvres, included in the ancient pagus of Brabant, was incorporated into the County of Hainaut in the middle of the Xth century. The feudal family of Chièvres, known since 936 (Egbert de
Chièvres) and probably related to the Counts of Hainaut, owned a big
free domain. The last member of that lineage was Eve de
Chièvres (1115-1180), daughter of Guy de Chièvres (d. 1127) and Ide
d'Ath. Eve, described as beautiful (moult fut belle), had three
husbands. Her first husband, Gilles de Chin, defeated the dragon in
Wasmes and was killed during the siege of Roucourt in 1137; Eve
remarried with her cousin Rasse VI de Gavre (Gavere), killed during
another siege of Roucourt in 1148; Eve eventually remarried with
Nicolas III de Rumigny, who died in 1170-1175. Eve then retired in the
abbey of Ghislenghien, founded in 1128 by her aunt Ide. Eve de
Chièvres, who built the St. Nicolas' hospital and the Ladrerie and St.
Jean's chapels, set up a pilgrimage to the Blessed Virgin of
Chièvres, still active today as a procession; the chapel was known as a
"respite chapel", where the newborn dead without baptism were placed
and christened at the first miraculous sign of life.
After Eve's death, the domain was shared between her two sons, who were
half-brothers, Rasse VII de Gavre and Nicolas IV de Rumigny; an
agreement was signed in 1193.
In 1194, the two lords of Chièvres granted a chart to the village. The
chart is known by an authentic, sealed copy, made in 1586 in Chièvres
and kept in the Kingdom General Archives. That copy was rediscovered by
R. de Liedekerke in 1961. According to M.A. Arnould, it is the oldest
known document written in langue d'oïl (Romanic). The original chart
was lost before the French Revolution and might be kept in a
private collection.
The chart set up a written legal status for Chièvres, which was a free
town (franche ville) in the County of Hainaut. The urban evolution of
the town started with the set up of a market (1336), a horse fair
(1363), a city wall and a crossbowmens' company (1366-1388) and a
cloth-making factory (1389). In 1406, Chièvres was granted the title of
good town (bonne ville) of Hainaut.
However, the economical development of the town was limited by the
black plague epidemics (1349 and 1414), blazes (1436, 1459, 1476), the
military and economic competition with the neighbouring city of Ath,
and the wars in the XVI-XVIIth century.
In the XVIIIth century, the road linking Ath and Mons was rebuilt north of the town, which was excluded from trade.
The title of town was confirmed by Royal Decree in 1825, en
considération de sa fortune passée (taking in consideration its past
fortune).
The airfield of Chièvres was built by the Belgian government in 1939.
After the invasion of Belgium, the Germans completed the building of
the airfield, which was transformed into a diversion airfield by the
Luftwaffe. The allied forces took control of the airfield on 3
September 1944; the airfield, destroyed by the Germans, was revamped by
the US Engineers Corps and used by the US Air Force. The 123th Wing,
including the 609 Squadron with Belgian pilots, stationned in Chièvres
during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
In 1945, the US Air Force retroceded the airfield to the Belgian army.
It was transferred on 8 March 1947 to the Belgian Air Force. On 1
December 1950, the 7th Wing, made of the 7th, 8th and 9th fighter
squadrons, was created. The 8th and 7th squadrons were disbanded on 31
July and 28 October 1963, respectively. The 7th Wing was disbanded in
1964. From 14 November 1963 to 3 July 1967, the Blind Flight School was
stationned in Chièvres. The base was ceded on 31 December 1967 to SHAPE
(Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe), the General Headquarters
of NATO in Europe, formerly established in Rocquencourt, near Paris, in
1951.
The International Museum of the Airforce Base of Chièvres was founded
in 2003.
There is a project - or at least a lobbying action - of transforming
the airfield of Chièvres in a new international airport, the current
airport of Brussels-National in Zaventam being heavily congested.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 13 November 2005
The municipal flag of Chièvres is vertically divided red-yellow, with
three crowned yellow lions in the red stripe, placed 2 (back to back)
and 1.
The flag 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:
Deux laizes transversales rouge et jaune, la laize rouge chargée de
trois lions couronnés jaunes, les deux premiers adossés.
The colours of the flag are taken from the municipal arms, which,
moreover, constitute the left part of the flag.
The municipal arms are slightly different from the old arms of the municipality,
granted by Royal Decree on 18 December 1837 as De gueules à trois
lions rampants mornés d'or (Gules three lions disarmed [depicted
without tongue, teeth or claws] or). On the modern arms, the two upper
lions are accosted and the three lions are crowned, armed and langued
or.
Chièvres was a Pairy in the County of Hainaut. According to the Heraldus website,
the oldest known arms of Chièvres are those of the Gavre family, de
gueules à trois lions d'argent, armés, lampassés et couronnés d'or (Gules three lions argent armed langued and crowned), bore by Ida de
Chièvres, mother of Rasse IV de Gavre, lord of Chièvres.
The three white lions on a red field are the arms and flag of the
Flemish municipality of Gavere.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 5 June 2007