Last modified: 2006-10-21 by ivan sache
Keywords: silly | opzullik | lion (umbrate) |
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![[Flag of Silly]](../images/b/be-whtsl.gif)
Municipal flag of Silly - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 14 January 2006
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The municipality of Silly (in Dutch, Opzullik [Upper Silly]; 6,813 inhabitants in 1994; 6,771 ha) is located in northern Hainaut, at mid-distance of Ath and Enghien. It is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Bassily, Fouleng, Gondregnies, Graty, Hellebecq, Hoves, Silly and Thoricourt.
Silly, most probably meaning a settlement near the river Sylle, was
successively known as Sillia (1095), Siligio (1095), Silli, Silly and
Haltsigli (that is Haut Silly, Upper Silly, as opposed to Bassily, that
is Bas Silly, Lower Silly, 1169).
According to Aimée Ingeveld, Silly belonged to Malgaire, husband of the
later Abbess St. Waudru of Mons. Malgaire founded the abbey of Soignies in 670 and is better known as St. Vincent. Malgaire ceded Silly to the abbey of Hautremont; the domain was reincoporated to the County of
Hainaut before 1000. Guéric le Sor, lord of Avesnes (today
Avesnes-sur-Helpe, in northern France), was also lord of Silly before
the reincoporation to Hainaut, but there are no written sources on the
lords of Silly before 1095. However, those sources are not clear and
often mix up lateral branches of the Silly and Trazegnies (the former municipality of Trazegnies is now part of the municipality of Courcelles) families.
The oldest charts, dated 1095, mention the three lords of Silli (or
Siligio) Walter (or Wautier), Fastré (or Fastrede) and Siger. Later
known lords of Silly are Roger (or Raignier, 1114 or 1115), Walter
(1117). Othon I, probably a son of Siger, is known as the lord of
Silly, Blicquy and Trazegnies. His son Gilles I was the first lord of
Trazegnies; he was mostly a rascal, so that the neighbouring lords
besieged his castle and killed him. His brother Anselme founded the
abbey of Cambron in 1148. Gilles I had three sons, including Othon II
(b. around 1150), killed during the siege of Akkro. His son Gilles II
was the father of Gilles le Brun (or le Noir), Constable of King
Saint-Louis in 1250. Gilles II's brother Othon III (d. 1251) was the
root of the next lords of Trazegnies and Pairs of Silly. His son Gilles
III, Baron of Trazegnies and Silly, organized in 1251 the famous
tournament during which Count of Flanders Guillaume de Dampierre was
killed. Agnès, Gilles III's daughter, married Eustache V du Roeulx in
1255 (or 1256) and their son Othon V du Roeulx founded the second house of Trazegnies.
In 1414, Marie-Anne de Trazegnies married Arnould de Hamal and the
domains of Trazegnies and Silly were transfered in the Hamal family.
Their second son Anselme (or Anseau II) took the name of his mother.
One of their descendants, Charles I, was made Marquis of Trazegnies in
1614. The last Pair of Silly was Marquis Ferdinand-Octave de Trazegnies
(1740). The domain was then transfered to the family of Ligne; its last
lord was Feld-Marshal Charles de Ligne, Grand Baillif of Hainaut.
Source: Heraldus website
The Brewery of Silly (Brasserie de Silly) was founded in 1850 and has remained in the same family since then. In 1975, the brewery purchased the Tennstedt Decroes brewery in Enghien. Its last creation is the Pink Killer, a white beer aromatized with pink grapefuit.
Ivan Sache, 15 January 2006
The municipal flag of Silly is diagonally divided in six yellow-blue
descending stripes, with a red engrailed border and an umbrate
lion outlined in black.
The flag is described in Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et
germanophones as:
Six laizes diagonales descendantes, trois jaunes et trois bleues, avec
le tracé d'un lion noir et une bordure engrêlée rouge.
It is a banner of the municipal arms.
The new municipality seems to have reused the old arms of Silly, which
are shown by Servais as identical to the modern ones.
According to the Heraldus website, the first lords of Silly bore:
Bandé d'or et de gueules de six pièces.
Bendy or and gules six pieces.
These were also the arms of the family of Oisy, which were later used
by the first generation of the family of Avesnes. These arms are still
used as the muncipal arms of the city of Avesnes-sur-Helpe.
The seals used by Gilles de Trazegnies (1199) and Othon III de
Trazegnies bear:
Bandé d'or et de gueules à la bordure engrêlée de gueules, therefore adding the red engrailed border.
The shadow of the lion was added by Othon VII around 1374. There is no explanation of the further change of the red
stripes to blue stripes.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 14 January 2006