1.
Municipalities of Belgium
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As such, only Antwerp, having over 500,000 inhabitants, became subdivided into nine districts. The Belgian arrondissements, a level between province and municipality, or the lowest judicial level, are in English sometimes called districts as well. The municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants were grouped in so-called canton municipalities, in 1800, these canton municipalities were abolished again and the number of autonomous municipalities became 2,776. Not much changed during the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, only a number of municipalities were merged. In 1831, Belgium was divided into 2,739 municipalities, New municipalities were created until 1928. There were 2,528 municipalities in 1850,2,572 in 1875,2,617 in 1900 and this also includes the municipalities of the East Cantons that were added to Belgium following the First World War. In 1961, the so-called Unitary Law, of which the chapter was dedicated to the territorial organisation of the municipalities, was adopted. The authority to abolish municipalities was entrusted to the branch for a period of 10 years. Municipalities could be merged on financial grounds or on grounds of a geographical, linguistic, economic, in 1964 and in 1969 and 1970, roughly 300 municipalities ceased to exist and were subsumed into other municipalities. The number of municipalities was reduced from 2,663 in 1961 to 2,586 in 1965, article 4 of the constitution states that each municipality must belong to only one of the four official language areas that were established in 1962–63. In the three officially unilingual language areas, a couple of municipalities in the vicinity of another language area must provide limited facilities for speakers of that other language. Lucien Harmegnies, Minister of the Interior in the government of Gaston Eyskens decided to continue the process of reorganization of Belgium. In 1971, the provisions of the Unity Law were extended and modified to apply to large agglomerations and it was another Minister of the Interior, Joseph Michel, who managed the process. On December 30,1975, the law regarding the merger of the municipalities was adopted, the merger became effective on January 1,1977. The merger of 1977 further reduced the number of municipalities in Belgium from 2,359 to 596, because of the specific nature of the reorganization in Antwerp, the law of December 30,1975 didnt enter into force for Antwerp until January 1,1983. The formerly independent municipalities were called districts and were given an advisory function, however, on January 1,2001 they were given an administrative function again. The Mayor is not only the head of the municipality, he or she is also the representative of the Regional, in that capacity, he or she is responsible for the execution of laws, decrees, ordinances and orders. The Mayor is also responsible for the maintenance of order in his or her municipality
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
4.
Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
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Belgium is a federal state comprising three communities, three regions, and four language areas. For each of these types, the subdivisions together make up the entire country, in other words. The language areas were established by the Second Gilson Act, which entered force on August 2,1963. The division into language areas was included in the Belgian Constitution in 1970 and this is a schematic overview of the basic federal structure of Belgium as defined by Title I of the Belgian Constitution. Each of the entities either have their own Parliament and Government or their own Council, the language areas have no offices or powers and exist de facto as geographical circumscriptions, serving only to delineate the empowered subdivisions. The institutional communities are thus equally geographically determined, Belgian Communities do not officially refer directly to groups of people but rather to specific political, linguistic and cultural competencies of the country. There is no subnationality in Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region each comprise five provinces. The Brussels-Capital Region is not a province, nor does it contain any, the three regions are further subdivided into 589 municipalities, which in general consist of several sub-municipalities. These sub-municipalities were independent municipalities in the past, but no longer serve an official purpose, the Federal State retains a considerable common heritage. This includes justice, defence, federal police, social security, public debt and other aspects of public finances, nuclear energy, the State is responsible for the obligations of Belgium and its federalized institutions towards the European Union and NATO. It controls substantial parts of public health, home affairs and foreign affairs and they supervise the provinces, municipalities and intercommunal utility companies. In several fields, the different levels each have their own say on specificities, each level can be involved in scientific research and international relations associated with its powers. Communities were created in 1970 as cultural communities with limited power, in 1980, more power was transferred from the federal state to these entities and they became simply communities. Both the Flemish and French Community have jurisdiction over the area of the Brussels-Capital Region, consequently, they do not have a defined number of inhabitants. The German-speaking Community is the community with an area over which they have sole jurisdiction as a community. It is located within the Walloon Region, which has transferred some regional powers to the German-speaking Community with regards to its area. The Flemish Region or Flanders occupies the part of Belgium. It has an area of 13,522 km2, or 44. 29% of Belgium
5.
Flemish Community
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The term community should then not be capitalized. State reforms in Belgium turned the country from a state into a federal one. Cultural communities were the first type of decentralisation in 1970, forming the Dutch, French, later on, in 1980, these became responsible for more cultural matters and were renamed to simply Community, the Dutch Community also being renamed to the Flemish Community. In the same state reform of 1980, the Flemish and Walloon Region were set up, in Flanders it was decided that the institutions of the Flemish Community would take up the tasks of the Flemish Region, so there is only one Flemish Parliament and one Flemish Government. Legally speaking, in the region of Brussel-Capital, the Flemish Community is responsible not for people but for Flemish institutions such as schools, theatres, libraries. The reason is no distinct sub-national status exists in Belgium. Yet, individuals living in Brussels can opt by their own choice for certain policies of the Flemish Community, Dutch is the official language of the Flemish Community. Minorities speak French, Yiddish, Turkish, Arabic, Berber, Italian, Spanish, English, though most of these groups are recent immigrants, since the Middle Ages, Jews have formed the oldest minority to retain its own identity. Compared with most areas in the Netherlands, the dialects of Flemish people still tend to be strong. In Dutch, these are often called tussentaal or, rather derogatorily, more recently, a number of local initiatives have been set up to save the traditional dialects and their diversity. In Brussels, the dialect is heavily influenced by French. Nowadays, most Flemings in Brussels do not speak the local dialect and this is due in part to the relatively large numbers of young Flemings coming to Brussels, after a long period of many more others moving out while French-speakers moved in. In certain municipalities along the border with the Walloon and the Brussels-Capital regions and these cover rights such as to receive official documentation in their own tongue. The community competencies there, are exercised by the two affected institutional communities, the Flemish Community therefore established a local elected council and executive to cater for intermediate-level decision making & public services. The VGC then recognised local, municipal institutions to care of the purely local public service in these community areas. Flanders has a radio and television broadcasting company, the Vlaamse Radio en Televisieomroep or VRT in Dutch. Since 1989, several companies for region-wide radio and television broadcasting have become established. There are also so-called regional broadcast companies of which the range is limited to smaller parts of the Flemish Region
6.
Flemish Region
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The Flemish Region is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is simply referred to as Flanders. It occupies the part of Belgium and covers an area of 13,522 km2. It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 470 inhabitants per square kilometer, immediately after its establishment in 1980, the region transferred all its constitutional competencies to the Flemish Community. Thus, the current Flemish authorities represent all the Flemish people, hence, the Flemish Region is governed by the Flemish Community institutions. However, members of the Flemish Community parliament elected in the Brussels-Capital Region have no right to vote on Flemish regional affairs, the Flemish Region comprises five provinces, each consisting of administrative arrondissements that, in turn, contain municipalities. Brussels city, the seat of the Flemish parliament, is located within the Brussels-Capital Region, Brussels contains both the Flemish Community and the French Community, both having their institutions in Brussels. Flanders is home to a modern economy, with emphasis put on research. Many enterprises work closely with local knowledge and research centres to develop new products, De Lijn serves as the main public transport company, run by the Flemish government. It consists of buses and trams, TEC is the equivalent company in Wallonia, and MIVB-STIB in Brussels. The railway network run by the NMBS, however, is a federal responsibility, the Flemish government is also responsible for about 500 kilometers of regional roads and about 900 kilometers of highways in the territory of the Flemish Region. Other types of roads are roads and municipal roads. Approximately 5,500,000 people live in the area, the official language is Dutch, sometimes colloquially referred to as Flemish. The main dialect groups include West Flemish, East Flemish, Brabantian, French may be used for certain administrative purposes in a limited number of the so-called municipalities with language facilities around the Brussels-Capital Region and on the border with Wallonia. Rim municipalities are Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel, Brussels was originally a Dutch-speaking city, but it was frenchified in the 19th and 20th century and is now largely French-speaking. A few municipalities in the Flemish agglomeration of Brussels are now also frenchified, municipalities with language facilities on the border with Wallonia are Bever, Herstappe, Mesen, Ronse, Spiere-Helkijn, Voeren. Communities and regions of Belgium Provinces of regions in Belgium De Vlaamse Leeuw Count of Flanders Flanders Flemish Flemish authorities, toerisme Vlaanderen French Flanders Frans-Vlaanderen The Flemish region reaches 6 million inhabitants
7.
Provinces of Belgium
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The country of Belgium is divided into three regions. Two of these regions, the Flemish Region or Flanders, and Walloon Region, the third region, the Brussels-Capital Region, is not divided into provinces, as it was originally only a small part of a province itself. Many of the provinces evolved from earlier duchies and counties of the name and similar location. At the time of the creation of Belgium in 1830, only nine provinces existed, including the province of Brabant and these divisions reflected political tensions between the French-speaking Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemish, the Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual. The division into provinces is fixed by Article 5 of the Belgian Constitution, the provinces are subdivided into 43 administrative arrondissements, and further into 589 municipalities. These each had their own identities and governments, though in the modern period almost all the Belgian states became part of larger entities. Each of the provinces of Belgium takes its name from one of these predecessors. At the time of the independence of Belgium from the Netherlands in 1830, the first article of the Belgian Constitution said, Belgium is divided into provinces. These provinces are Antwerp, Brabant, West Flanders, East Flanders, Hainaut, Liège, Limburg, Luxembourg, Namur, in 1839 half of the province of Limburg became part of the Netherlands, which consequently has its own province of Limburg. In 1920, following the First World War, Belgium annexed the Eupen-Malmedy territory, during the second half of the 20th century, Belgium transitioned from a unitary state to a federal state with three Communities and three Regions. As part of the reforms, the province of Brabant was split in 1995 three ways, into two provinces and into the Brussels-Capital Region. The two new Brabant provinces became part of the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region respectively, the remaining eight provinces became part of these regions as well, so the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region each contain five provinces. The Provincial Councils are the bodies of the population of the provinces. This is the equivalent of the States-Provincial in the Netherlands, the numbers of seats in the Provincial Councils are proportional to the population of the province, the numbers were reduced in both Flanders and Wallonia, starting 2013. They are directly elected each six years, at the time of the municipal elections. Before 1994, the elections instead coincided with the national elections. Until then, the provincial councils also appointed Provincial Senators to the Belgian Senate, the executive branch was previously called the Permanent Deputation. In the Flemish Region it is now called the Deputation and it consists of the Governor
8.
East Flanders
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East Flanders is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on Zeelandic Flanders and on the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, of Hainaut and it has an area of 2,991 km² which is divided into six administrative districts containing 65 municipalities. The provincial population is 1,408,484 and the capital is Ghent, during the short-lived Napoleonic Empire, most of the area of the modern province was part of the Department of Escaut, named after the River Scheldt. The provincial flag has a lion with red tongue and claws, on a background of horizontal white. This is a recent adaptation, formerly, East Flanders used the Flemish flag, the old flag is still publicly used, e. g. for road signs. The province has several geographic and/or tourist regions, Denderstreek Meetjesland Waasland Flemish Ardennes Important rivers are the Scheldt, the Dender merges into the Scheldt in the city of Dendermonde. East Flanders is divided into 6 administrative arrondissements, subdivided into a total of 65 municipalities, in addition, there are 3 judicial and 3 electoral arrondissements. The province had a population of 1,445,831 as of 1 January 2011 and it had 734,000 inhabitants in 1380 and about a million in 1900. The capital and biggest city is Ghent, also the second largest city in the Flemish Region, other smaller cities are Aalst, Sint-Niklaas and Dendermonde in the east of the province. The provincial council consists of 72 members which were last elected in the 2012 elections, previously it consisted of 84 members. The deputation of East Flanders is a coalition of the political parties CD&V, Open Vld, the biggest party in the council, N-VA, is not included. The daily government is led by the governor, who is appointed by the Flemish Government, andré Denys has been the governor of East Flanders from 26 November 2004 until 21 January 2013. Jan Briers, who is not member of a party but was nominated by N-VA. The province has a budget of approximately 300 million euro
9.
Arrondissements of Belgium
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Arrondissements of Belgium are subdivisions below the provinces of Belgium. There are administrative, judicial and electoral arrondissements and these may or may not relate to identical geographical areas. The 43 administrative arrondissements are a level between the municipalities and the provinces. Brussels-Capital forms a single arrondissement for all 19 municipalities in the region by that name, Belgium had 27 judicial arrondissements until April 1,2014. Until 1999 the electoral districts for the election of the parliaments were electoral arrondissements, the arrondissement of Brussels-Capital is not part of any province and consequently forms its own electoral district
10.
Arrondissement of Aalst
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The Arrondissement of Aalst is one of the six administrative arrondissements in the Province of East Flanders, Belgium. It forms the Judicial Arrondissement of Dendermonde together with the Arrondissements of Dendermonde, when the language border was determined in 1963, part of the then municipality of Twee Akren, in the Arrondissement of Soignies, was added to the arrondissement. In 1977, the then-municipality of Sint-Maria-Oudenhove ceased to exist when merged with the municipalities of Zottegem, as a result, the part of Sint-Maria-Oudenhove which was merged with Brakel was ceded to the Arrondissement of Oudenaarde. The Administrative Arrondissement of Aalst consists of the municipalities, Aalst Denderleeuw Erpe-Mere Geraardsbergen Haaltert Herzele Lede Ninove Sint-Lievens-Houtem Zottegem
11.
Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten
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Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, commonly known as Open Vld or simply as the VLD, is a liberal and conservative-liberal Flemish political party in Belgium. The party was created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress, the party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 until March 2008. Open VLD most recently formed the Federal Government with N-VA, CD&V, in the Flemish Parliament, the VLD formed a coalition government with sp. a-Spirit and Christian Democratic and Flemish from after the 2004 regional election until the 2009 regional election. Ideologically, Open VLD started as a liberal, somewhat Thatcherite party under its founder. The VLD rapidly became more centrist and gave up much of its free market approach, Party chairman Bart Somers called in November 2006 for a revolution within the party, saying that a liberal party, like the VLD, can be only progressive and social. Several of its thinkers such as Boudewijn Bouckaert, president of Nova Civitas, in 2004 the VLD teamed up with the minority social-liberal party Vivant for both the Flemish and European elections. VLD-Vivant lost the elections to arch rivals CD&V and the Flemish Bloc, the VLD fell from second to third place among the Flemish political parties, slipping narrowly behind the sp. a-Spirit cartel. Internal feuds, the support for electoral rights for immigrants and an economic policy were seen as the main reasons for its election defeat. From 2007 the party kept having electoral difficulties, first due to competition from split-off List Dedecker and after 2010 from the liberal-conservative Flemish-nationalist party N-VA, under the presidency of current chairwoman Gwendolyn Rutten the Open-Vld took on a more rightwing socio-economic course again. As such the party is the oldest political party of Belgium. In 1846, Walthère Frère-Orban succeeded in creating a program which could unite several liberal groups into one party. Before 1960, the Liberal Party of Belgium was barely organised, the school pact of 1958, as a result of which the most important argument for the traditional anti-clericalism was removed, gave the necessary impetus for a thorough renewal. During the liberal party congress of 1961, the Liberal Party was reformed into the bilingual Party for Freedom and Progress and it is a central principle of Classical Liberalism that employers and employees do NOT have opposed long term interests. In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the tensions between the different communities in Belgium rose and there were disagreements within the movement as well. In 1972, the unitary PVV-PLP was split into separate a Flemish, willy De Clercq became the first chairman of the independent Party of Freedom and Progress. De Clercq, together with Frans Grootjans and Herman Vanderpoorten, set out the lines for the new party and this reform was coupled an Ethical Congress, on which the PVV adopted very progressive and tolerant stances regarding abortion, euthanasia, adultery, homosexuality and gender equality. In 1982, the 29-year-old reformer Guy Verhofstadt became the chairman of the party, Annemie Neyts succeeded him as chairman, becoming the first female party chairman. In 1989, Verhofstadt once more became the chairman of the PVV, in 1992, the PVV was reformed into the Flemish Liberals and Democrats under the impulse of Verhofstadt
12.
Socialistische Partij Anders
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Socialist Party Differently is a social-democratic Flemish political party in Belgium. From December 2011 to September 2014, sp. a was part of the Di Rupo Government, sp. a has been several times part of the Flemish Government. The party was the big winner in the 2003 election, running on the SP. A-Spirit joint list with the social-liberal party Spirit and their share of the vote went up from 9% to almost 15%, a second place in the number of votes. The main victim of this resurgence was the Green, in 2004, the sp. a along with its partner Spirit lost the elections for the Flemish Parliament. Although they won more seats in comparison to the Flemish elections of 1999, the reputation of then party leader Steve Stevaert took a beating too. The party was led by Caroline Gennez, after former president Steve Stevaert left to become governor of Limburg. Johan Vande Lanotte, who served as Minister of the Budget in the federal Government, was elected President and he resigned 11 June 2007, after sp. a-Spirit lost the elections for the federal parliament of 10 June 2007. In these federal elections, the cartel won 14 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in the Senate, afterwards, Caroline Gennez was elected President by the party members. As of May 2009, sp. a was in opposition in federal politics, in January 2009 the party had apparently changed its name to Socialisten en Progressieven Anders. This name change was however retracted, and the party baseline instead was changed from Sociaal Progressief Alternatief to Socialisten en Progressieven Anders, in the 2010 federal election sp. a won 13 seats with 9% of the overall vote. The party was a member of the Di Rupo Government formed on 6 December 2011, from 2009-2014, sp. a participated in the Flemish Government, in an uneasy coalition with the CD & V and the N-VA. ° In Limburg sp. a formed a cartel with Groen, * In cartel with Spirit Johan Vande Lanotte, Vlugschrift – over welvaart en geluk,96 p. ISBN 978-90-486-0629-0. Patrick Vander Weyden & Koen Abts, De basis spreekt — onderzoek naar de leden, mandatarissen en kiezers van sp. a, Acco,239 p. ISBN 978-90-334-7571-9
13.
Groen (political party)
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Groen, founded as Agalev, is a political party in Belgium based on green politics. Groen is often the smallest Flemish party with a representation in the federal, regional or European parliament and its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo, both parties maintain close relations with each other. Many of the founders of political party Agalev came from or were inspired by the social movement Agalev and this movement was founded by the Jesuit Luc Versteylen, who had founded the environmental movement Agalev in the 1970s. Core values of social movement were quiet, solidarity and soberness. This movement combined progressive Catholicism with environmentalism and it sought to spread environmental consciousness first on a small scale, but since 1973 it took action to protect the environment and promote environmental consciousness. In the 1974 and 1977 elections Agalev supported several candidates from traditional parties, in 1977 the movement entered the elections in several municipalities not to gain seats, but to promote its ideals. In reaction to these promises, a debate erupted within Agalev on whether to set up a political party or to remain independent of politics. In the same year the party contested several elections to no avail. A national level Agalev Working Group was founded to coordinate the new party and it also set up a separate association that could enter in elections. It participated in the 1979 European elections, although the party won 2. 3% of the votes, it won no seats. In the 1981 election the party won 4% of vote and two seats in the Chamber of Representatives and one in the Senate, Ecolo, the Walloon green party also won two seats in the Chamber and three seats in the Senate. The political party Agalev was officially founded in 1982 and it remained separate of the social movement. Prominent members of the movement Agalev, such as founder Versteylen chose not to join the political party Agalev, in the municipal elections of 1982 the party performed particularly well winning more than 10% in several municipalities. In its first periods in parliament the party functioned as a protest party forcing the other parties to take action against environmental pollution. The party campaigned on environmental issues, such as local anti-nuclear energy protests. The party won two seats in the 1985 elections, two additional seats in 1987 and one in 1991, in that year it won seven seats in parliament. Agalev had become a political partner for other parties. In 1992 Agalev was asked to support a change called the Sint-Michiels accords
14.
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams
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Christian Democratic and Flemish is a Christian democratic Flemish political party in Belgium. The party has ties to both trade unionism and trade associations and the Farmers League. Until 2001, the party was named the Christian Peoples Party and it was traditionally the largest political party of Flanders, until it was overtaken by the New Flemish Alliance in the 2010s. CD&V participated in most governments and has generally the largest number of mayors, most Prime Ministers of Belgium and Ministers-President of Flanders have been CD&V politicians. Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council from 2009 to 2014, is one of the politicians of CD&V. CD&V is a member of the European Peoples Party and Centrist Democrat International, the history of the CD&V dates back to the 19th century. It originated in the 19th century catholic party, or Parti conservateur, at the end of the century, the new fraction of the so-called Christian democrats shifted the focus of the party slightly to the left. In the interwar years the party was renamed Catholic Bloc, then, the Christian Social Party existed from 1945 until 1968. In 1968, the PSC-CVP was split into to the French-speaking Christian Social Party, in 2001 the CVP changed its name to the CD&V. The party was almost continually in power from its establishment until 1999, in 1999, the Flemish Liberals and Democrats became the largest party in Belgium, and formed a majority purple government of liberals, social democrats and greens. The same happened in the Flemish Government, but with the addition of Flemish nationalists, in 2003 CD&V again lost the federal elections which continuated the federal center-left coalition, but this time without the Greens. In 2004, Flemish elections were held and the CD&V once more became the largest political party by representation in the Flemish Parliament, after successful local elections in 2006, the party became the largest party in the Belgian Chambre of Representatives after the federal elections of 2007. The CD&V led the subsequent coalition talks, which repeatedly stalled, on the 20 March 2008, a new federal government was finally assembled, led by Yves Leterme. Kris Peeters subsequently became the next minister-president of Flanders, from 30 December 2008 till 25 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy led his first cabinet before becoming the first permanent president of the European Council. Afterwards, Yves Leterme led his second government, in June 2009, Flemish elections were held and the CD&V remained the largest party of Flanders. Kris Peeters stayed as Flemish minister-president, the party also remained the largest Flemish party in the European Parliament after the 2009 European elections. In 2010, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats decided to out of the federal coalition. The federal elections of 2010 resulted in a loss of historic proportions for CD&V
15.
Municipality
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It is to be distinguished from the county, which may encompass rural territory and/or numerous small communities such as towns, villages and hamlets. The term municipality may also mean the governing or ruling body of a given municipality, a municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The term is derived from French municipalité and Latin municipalis, a municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state, such as the Principality of Monaco, or a small village, such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The power of municipalities range from virtual autonomy to complete subordination to the state, municipalities may have the right to tax individuals and corporations with income tax, property tax, and corporate income tax, but may also receive substantial funding from the state. Similar terms include Spanish ayuntamiento, also called municipalidad, Polish gmina, Dutch/Flemish Gemeente, in Australia, the term local government area is used in place of the generic municipality. Here, the LGA Structure covers only incorporated areas of Australia, incorporated areas are legally designated parts of states and territories over which incorporated local governing bodies have responsibility. In Canada, municipalities are local governments established through provincial and territorial legislation, the Province of Ontario has different tiers of municipalities, including lower, upper, and single tiers. Types of upper tier municipalities in Ontario include counties and regional municipalities, nova Scotia also has regional municipalities, which include cities, counties, districts, or towns as municipal units. In India, a Nagar Palika or Municipality is a local body that administers a city of population 100,000 or more. Under the Panchayati Raj system, it directly with the state government. Generally, smaller cities and bigger towns have a Nagar Palika. Nagar Palikas are also a form of local self-government entrusted with duties and responsibilities. Such a corporation in Great Britain consists of a head as a mayor or provost, since local government reorganisation, the unit in England, Northern Ireland and Wales is known as a district, and in Scotland as a council area. A district may be awarded borough or city status, or can retain its district title, in Jersey, a municipality refers to the honorary officials elected to run each of the 12 parishes into which it is subdivided. This is the highest level of government in this jurisdiction. In the United States, municipality is usually understood as a city, town, village, or other local government unit, in the Peoples Republic of China, a direct-controlled municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing. In Taiwan, a municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei. In Portuguese language usage, there are two words to distinguish the territory and the administrative organ, when referring to the territory, the word concelho is used, when referring to the organ of State, the word município is used
16.
Flanders
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Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
17.
Dender
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The Dendre or Dender is a 65-kilometre long river in Belgium, right tributary of the river Scheldt. The confluence of rivers is in the Belgian town of Dendermonde. The Western or Little Dender springs near Leuze-en-Hainaut at an elevation of about 60 to 70 metres above sea level, the source of the Eastern Dender is near Jurbise at a height of 100 metres above sea level. The two rivers meet in the town of Ath, the length of the Western Dender up to Ath is 22 kilometres, the Eastern Dender is 39 kilometres long. From that confluence the river is called the Dender proper, from Ath, the river passes in the Denderstreek through the cities and towns of Geraardsbergen, south of which its tributuary the Mark flows into it, Ninove and Aalst to end in Dendermonde. The Dender is navigable to Aalst for small ships up to 600 tons, the Molenbeek-Ter Erpenbeek flows into the Dender at Hofstade
18.
Denderstreek
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The Denderstreek or Denderland is a region in the heart of Belgium. It is named after the river Dender, though the river stretches over three provinces, Hainaut, East Flanders and Flemish Brabant, the region called after the river is situated in East Flanders. The Dutch word streek means region, thus Denderstreek means the Dender Region. Most of the Denderstreek is part of the Scheldeland, the rest is part of the Flemish Ardennes, there are several bicycle routes in the Denderstreek, including the Molenbeekroute, Denderende steden, the Reuzenroute and the Ros Beiaardroute. There are also motorcycle and car routes like Denderroute zuid The Dender, the Molenbeek-Ter Erpenbeek in Zottegem, Herzele, Haaltert, Erpe-Mere and Aalst as a tributary of the Dender
19.
Ninove
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Ninove is a city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders in Belgium. It is situated on the river Dender, and is part of the Denderstreek, on January 1,2012, Ninove had a total population of 37,289. The total area is 72.57 km² which gives a density of 514 inhabitants per km². The oldest version of the name Ninove, Neonifus dates from the 9th century, later versions of the city name were Ninive and Nineve. The current version of the city dates from the 14th century. The origin of the city name is not clear, there are two theories about the origin. One states that name is from Roman origin, the states that it is of Frankish origin. The meaning of the name, however, is known, Ninove means nieuw weiland or in English, new pasture. During the Roman rule, Ninove was a settlement located in the current Nederwijk. With the arrival of the Franks in the 4th century AD, the area on which Ninove is located was from 843 on part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 11th century this area was conquered by the Count of Flanders, Boudewijn V, from the 11th century on, the medieval castrum was fortified into a castle stronghold. Because it lay on the route between Flanders and Brabant, the town prospered and grew into a city. In 1137, Norbertine monks founded the Saint Cornelius Abbey, adjacent to the city, because of its large landholdings, the abbey soon became one of the biggest grain producers in Flanders. In 1295 the town and lands were bought by the count of Flanders Guy of Dampierre and his grandson Henry awarded the town a city charter in 1339. The 15th to 17th century was a bad time for the city as the region was plagued with war and religious, the abbey was plundered by the French in 1578 during the reformation. In 1658, Ninove was occupied by the French army, after the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the French returned the area back to Spain but the area was to change hands many times during the wars of Louis XIV and Louis XV of France. During the 17th century, Ninove was crippled under the indemnities laid on it by the warring parties, the big abbey was closed by the French in 1796, after Flanders was annexed to France. The town served as a headquarters during the Waterloo Campaign of 1815
20.
Voorde
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Ninove is a city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders in Belgium. It is situated on the river Dender, and is part of the Denderstreek, on January 1,2012, Ninove had a total population of 37,289. The total area is 72.57 km² which gives a density of 514 inhabitants per km². The oldest version of the name Ninove, Neonifus dates from the 9th century, later versions of the city name were Ninive and Nineve. The current version of the city dates from the 14th century. The origin of the city name is not clear, there are two theories about the origin. One states that name is from Roman origin, the states that it is of Frankish origin. The meaning of the name, however, is known, Ninove means nieuw weiland or in English, new pasture. During the Roman rule, Ninove was a settlement located in the current Nederwijk. With the arrival of the Franks in the 4th century AD, the area on which Ninove is located was from 843 on part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 11th century this area was conquered by the Count of Flanders, Boudewijn V, from the 11th century on, the medieval castrum was fortified into a castle stronghold. Because it lay on the route between Flanders and Brabant, the town prospered and grew into a city. In 1137, Norbertine monks founded the Saint Cornelius Abbey, adjacent to the city, because of its large landholdings, the abbey soon became one of the biggest grain producers in Flanders. In 1295 the town and lands were bought by the count of Flanders Guy of Dampierre and his grandson Henry awarded the town a city charter in 1339. The 15th to 17th century was a bad time for the city as the region was plagued with war and religious, the abbey was plundered by the French in 1578 during the reformation. In 1658, Ninove was occupied by the French army, after the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the French returned the area back to Spain but the area was to change hands many times during the wars of Louis XIV and Louis XV of France. During the 17th century, Ninove was crippled under the indemnities laid on it by the warring parties, the big abbey was closed by the French in 1796, after Flanders was annexed to France. The town served as a headquarters during the Waterloo Campaign of 1815
21.
Population density
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Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume, it is a quantity of type number density. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and most of the time to humans and it is a key geographical term. Population density is population divided by land area or water volume. Low densities may cause a vortex and lead to further reduced fertility. This is called the Allee effect after the scientist who identified it, commonly this may be calculated for a county, city, country, another territory, or the entire world. The worlds population is around 7,000,000,000, therefore, the worldwide human population density is around 7,000,000,000 ÷510,000,000 =13.7 per km2. If only the Earths land area of 150,000,000 km2 is taken into account and this includes all continental and island land area, including Antarctica. If Antarctica is also excluded, then population density rises to over 50 people per km2, thus, this number by itself does not give any helpful measurement of human population density. Several of the most densely populated territories in the world are city-states, microstates, cities with high population densities are, by some, considered to be overpopulated, though this will depend on factors like quality of housing and infrastructure and access to resources. Most of the most densely populated cities are in Southeast Asia, though Cairo, for instance, Milwaukee has a greater population density when just the inner city is measured, and the surrounding suburbs excluded. Arithmetic density, The total number of people / area of land, physiological density, The total population / area of arable land. Agricultural density, The total rural population / area of arable land, residential density, The number of people living in an urban area / area of residential land. Urban density, The number of people inhabiting an urban area / total area of urban land, ecological optimum, The density of population that can be supported by the natural resources. S. States by population density Selected Current and Historic City, Ward & Neighborhood Density
22.
Mural crown
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A mural crown is a crown or headpiece representing city walls or towers. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, later the mural crown developed into a symbol of European heraldry, mostly for cities and towns, and in the 19th and 20th centuries was used in some republican heraldry. In Hellenistic culture, a mural crown identified tutelary deities such as the goddess Tyche, the high cylindrical polos of Cybele too could be rendered as a mural crown in Hellenistic times, specifically designating the mother goddess as patron of a city. The mural crown became an ancient Roman military decoration, the Roman mural crown was made of gold, and decorated with turrets, as is the heraldic version. As it was among the highest order of military decorations, it was not awarded to a claimant until after a strict investigation. The rostrata mural crown, composed of the indicative of captured ships, was assigned as naval prize to the first in a boarding party. The Graeco-Roman goddess Romas attributes on Greek coinage usually include her mural crown, in recent times, mural crowns were used, rather than royal crowns, for medieval and modern Italian communes. A mural-crowned lady, Italia Turrita, personifies Italy, in Italy, communes and some provinces and military corps have a mural crown on their coat of arms, gold with five towers for cities, and silver with nine-towered for others. The coat of arms of the Second Spanish Republic had a mural crown, the Romanian municipal coats of arms contain a mural crown, with one or three towers for villages and communes, five and seven towers for towns and municipalities. Camp crown Naval crown Grass crown Civic crown Civic heraldry Emblem of Italy Laurel wreath Italia Turrita National personification The Stella d’Italia Mural Crown
23.
Franks
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Some Franks raided Roman territory, while other Frankish tribes joined the Roman troops of Gaul. In later times, Franks became the rulers of the northern part of Roman Gaul. The Salian Franks lived on Roman-held soil between the Rhine, Scheldt, Meuse, and Somme rivers in what is now Northern France, Belgium, the kingdom was acknowledged by the Romans after 357 CE. Following the collapse of Rome in the West, the Frankish tribes were united under the Merovingians, who succeeded in conquering most of Gaul in the 6th century, which greatly increased their power. The Merovingian dynasty, descendants of the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies that would absorb large parts of the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish state consolidated its hold over the majority of western Europe by the end of the 8th century, developing into the Carolingian Empire. This empire would gradually evolve into the state of France and the Holy Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages, the term Frank was used in the east as a synonym for western European, as the Franks were then rulers of most of Western Europe. The Franks in the east kept their Germanic language and became part of the Germans, Dutch, Flemings, the Franconian languages, which are called Frankisch in Dutch or Fränkisch in German, originated at least partly in the Old Frankish language of the Franks. Nowadays, the German and Dutch names for France are Frankreich and Frankrijk, respectively, the name Franci was originally socio-political. To the Romans, Celts, and Suebi, the Franks must have seemed alike, they looked the same and spoke the same language, so that Franci became the name by which the people were known. Within a few centuries it had eclipsed the names of the tribes, though the older names have survived in some place-names, such as Hesse. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English and it has been suggested that the meaning of free was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation. It is traditionally assumed that Frank comes from the Germanic word for javelin, there is also another theory that suggests that Frank comes from the Latin word francisca meaning. Words in other Germanic languages meaning fierce, bold or insolent, eumenius addressed the Franks in the matter of the execution of Frankish prisoners in the circus at Trier by Constantine I in 306 and certain other measures, Ubi nunc est illa ferocia. Feroces was used often to describe the Franks, contemporary definitions of Frankish ethnicity vary both by period and point of view. According to their law and their custom, writing in 2009, Professor Christopher Wickham pointed out that the word Frankish quickly ceased to have an exclusive ethnic connotation. North of the River Loire everyone seems to have considered a Frank by the mid-7th century at the latest. Two early sources describe the origin of the Franks are a 7th-century work known as the Chronicle of Fredegar. Neither of these works are accepted by historians as trustworthy, compared with Gregory of Tourss Historia Francorum, the chronicle describes Priam as a Frankish king whose people migrated to Macedonia after the fall of Troy
24.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
25.
Count of Flanders
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The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders, beginning in the 9th century. The title was held for a time by the Holy Roman Emperor, during the French Revolution in 1790, the county of Flanders was annexed to France and the peerage ceased to exist. In the 19th century, the title was appropriated by Belgium, the most recent holder died in 1983. Although the early rulers, starting with Arnulf I, were referred to as margraves or marquesses. Since then, the rulers of Flanders have only referred to as Counts. The Counts of Flanders enlarged their estate through a series of diplomatic marriages, the counties of Hainaut, Namur, Béthune, Nevers, Auxerre, Rethel, Burgundy, and Artois were all acquired in this manner. However, the County of Flanders suffered the fate in turn. As a result of the marriage of Countess Margaret III with Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, the county, the Counts of Flanders were also associated with the Duchy of Brittany prior to its union with France. In c 1323, Joan, the daughter of Arthur II, Duke of Brittany, joanna of Flanders, the granddaughter of Count Robert III and daughter of his son, Count Louis I, married John Montfort. It was through this alliance that the Duchy of Brittany was eventually joined to the throne of France, baldwin I Iron Arm, married Judith and was granted lands and honours, which would evolve into the County of Flanders. In 1246, King Louis IX of France awarded Flanders to William, when the Habsburg empire was divided among the heirs of Charles V, the Low Countries, including Flanders, went to Philip II of Spain, of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg. The fief was claimed by the House of Habsburg and the House of Bourbon, in 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht settled the succession and the County of Flanders went to the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg. The Emperor Francis II relinquished his claim to the Low Countries in the Treaty of Campo Formio of 1797, in modern times, from 1840 onward, the substantive title Count of Flanders has been granted to two younger sons of the Kings of the Belgians. The second of these died in 1983, and the title not be conferred again. It is a title which is only nominally and ceremonially used. Genealogy of the counts of Flanders
26.
Baldwin V, Count of Flanders
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Baldwin V of Flanders was Count of Flanders from 1035 until his death. He was the son of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, during a long war as an ally of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lorraine, against the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, he initially lost Valenciennes to Herman, Count of Mons. Upon the death of Henry III this marriage was acknowledged by treaty by Agnes de Poitou, mother, Baldwin V played host to a grateful dowager queen Emma of England, during her enforced exile, at Bruges. He supplied armed security guards, entertainment, comprising a band of minstrels, Bruges was a bustling commercial centre, and Emma fittingly grateful to the citizens. She dispensed generously to the poor, making contact with the monastery of Saint Bertin at St Omer, from 1060 to 1067 Baldwin was the co-Regent with Anne of Kiev for his nephew-by-marriage Philip I of France, indicating the importance he had acquired in international politics. As Count of Maine, Baldwin supported the King of France in most affairs, but he was also father-in-law to William of Normandy, who had married his daughter Matilda. Flanders played a role in Edward the Confessors foreign policy. Baldwins half-sister had married Earl Godwins third son, Tostig, the half-Viking Godwinsons had spent their exile in Dublin, at a time William of Normandy was fiercely defending his duchy. It is unlikely however that Baldwin intervened to prevent the invasion plans of England. By 1066, Baldwin was an old man, and died the following year, Baldwin and Adèle are known to have had three children, Baldwin VI, 1030–1070 Matilda, c. 1031–1083 who married William the Conqueror Robert I of Flanders, c, but this belief is not accepted by the other historians, including Charles Cawley of Medieval Lands and Stewart Baldwin of The Henry Project. D. Sir Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, The Oxford History of England Heather J. Tanner, Families, Friends and Allies, Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England, c. 879-1160, ISBN 978-9004132436 Harriet H. Wood, The Battle of Hastings, The Fall of Anglo-Saxon England, ISBN 978-1843548072
27.
Scheldt
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The Scheldt is a 350-kilometre long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old English sceald shallow, Modern English shoal, Low German schol, Frisian skol, the headwaters of the Scheldt are in Gouy, in the Aisne department of northern France. It flows north through Cambrai and Valenciennes, and enters Belgium near Tournai, in Ghent, where it receives the Lys, one of its main tributaries, the Scheldt turns east. Near Antwerp, the largest city on its banks, the Scheldt flows west into the Netherlands towards the North Sea, today the river therefore continues into the Westerschelde estuary only, passing Terneuzen to reach the North Sea between Breskens in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and Vlissingen on Walcheren. The Scheldt is an important waterway, and has been navigable from its mouth up to Cambrai. The port of Antwerp, the second largest in Europe, lies on its banks, several canals connect the Scheldt with the basins of the Rhine, Meuse and Seine, and with the industrial areas around Brussels, Liège, Lille, Dunkirk and Mons. In Roman times, it was important for the lanes to Roman Britain. Nehalennia was venerated at its mouth, the Franks took control over the region about the year 260 and at first interfered with the Roman supply routes as pirates. Later they became allies of the Romans, Antwerp was the most prominent harbour in Western Europe. After this city fell back under Spanish control in 1585, the Dutch Republic took control of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, a strip of land on the left bank, and closed the Scheldt for shipping. Access to the river was the subject of the brief Kettle War of 1784, once Belgium had claimed its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the treaty of the Scheldt determined that the river should remain accessible to ships heading for Belgian ports. Nevertheless, the Dutch government would demand a toll from passing vessels until 16 July 1863, in the Second World War, the Scheldt estuary once again became a contested area. Paget-Tyrell Memorandum of August 7,1916, Section 6
28.
Flanders (county)
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The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards the Counts of Flanders were one of the twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres formed one of the most affluent regions in Europe, up to 1477, the area under French suzerainty was located west of the Scheldt River and was called Royal Flanders. Aside from this the Counts of Flanders from the 11th century on also held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, an area called Imperial Flanders. Part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1384, the county was removed from French to Imperial control after the Peace of Madrid in 1526. In 1795 the remaining territory within the Austrian Netherlands was incorporated by the French First Republic, the former County of Flanders, except for French Flanders, is the only part of the medieval French kingdom that is not part of modern-day France. Flanders and Flemish are likely derived from the Frisian *flāndra and *flāmisk, the Flemish people are first mentioned in the biography of Saint Eligius, the Vita sancti Eligii. This work was written before 684, but only known since 725 and this work mentions the Flanderenses, who lived in Flandris. The geography of the historic County of Flanders only partially overlaps with present-day region of Flanders in Belgium, though there it extends beyond West Flanders. Some of the county is now part of France and the Netherlands. The arms of the County of Flanders were allegedly created by Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191, as a result, the arms of the county live on as arms of the Flemish Community. It is said that Philip of Alsace brought the flag with him from the Holy Land, where in 1177 he supposedly conquered it from a Saracen knight. The simple fact that the lion appeared on his personal seal since 1163, in reality Philip was following a West-European trend. In the same period also appeared in the arms of Brabant, Luxembourg, Holland, Limburg. It is curious that the lion as a symbol was mostly used in border territories. It was in all likelihood a way of showing independence from the emperor, in Europe the lion had been a well-known figure since Roman times, through works such as the fables of Aesop. The future county of Flanders had been inhabited since prehistory, during the Iron Age the Kemmelberg formed an important Celtic settlement. During the times of Julius Caesar, the inhabitants were part of the Belgae, for Flanders in specific these were the Menapii, the Morini, the Nervii and the Atrebates
29.
Castra
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In the Roman Empire, the Latin word castrum was a building, or plot of land, used as a fortified military camp. Castrum was the used for different sizes of camps including a large legionary fortress, smaller auxiliary forts, temporary encampments. The diminutive form castellum was used for fortlets, typically occupied by a detachment of a cohort or a century, in English, the terms Roman fortress, Roman fort and Roman camp are commonly used for castrum. However, scholastic convention tends toward the use of the camp, marching camp. For a list of known castra see List of castra, the term castrum appears in three Italic languages, Oscan, Umbrian and Latin. g. Castrum Album, Castrum Inui, Castrum Novum, Castrum Truentinum, Castrum Vergium. The plural was used as a place name, as Castra Cornelia. Castrorum Filius was one of names used by the emperor Caligula, the terms stratopedon and phrourion were used by Greek language authors to translate castrum and castellum, respectively. A castrum was designed to house and protect the soldiers, their equipment and this most detailed description that survives about Roman military camps is De Munitionibus Castrorum, a manuscript of 11 pages that dates most probably from the late 1st to early 2nd century AD. Regulations required a major unit in the field to retire to a properly constructed camp every day, to this end a marching column ported the equipment needed to build and stock the camp in a baggage train of wagons and on the backs of the soldiers. They could throw up a camp under enemy attack in as little as a few hours. Judging from the names, they used a repertory of camp plans, selecting the one appropriate to the length of time a legion would spend in it, tertia castra, quarta castra. A camp of three days, four days, etc, more permanent camps were castra stativa, standing camps. The least permanent of these were castra aestiva or aestivalia, summer camps, in which the soldiers were housed sub pellibus or sub tentoriis, under tents. For the winter the soldiers retired to castra hiberna containing barracks and other buildings of solid materials. The camp allowed the Romans to keep a rested and supplied army in the field, neither the Celtic nor Germanic armies had this capability, they found it necessary to disperse after only a few days. The largest castra were legionary fortresses built as bases for one or more whole legions, previously, legions were raised for specific military campaigns and subsequently disbanded, requiring only temporary castra. From then on many castra of various sizes were established many of which became permanent settlements, from the most ancient times Roman camps were constructed according to a certain ideal pattern, formally described in two main sources, the De Munitionibus Castrorum and the works of Polybius
30.
County of Brabant
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The County of Brabant was a small medieval area of land located west of Brussels, between the Dender and Zenne rivers in the Low Countries, part of the Holy Roman Empire. Before 1085 the land had belonged to Hermann II, Count Palatine of Lotharingia, upon his death, Emperor Henry IV assigned this fief to Henry III, Count of Louvain and Count of Brussels, as the Landgraviate of Brabant. This is the earliest known use of the term Landgrave, the area made up part of South Brabant from 1815 to 1830 as part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and part of the Belgian Province of Brabant from 1830 to 1996. It is currently in the part of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Frans J. Van Droogenbroeck, Het landgraafschap Brabant en zijn paltsgrafelijke voorgeschiedenis, de territoriale en institutionele aanloop tot het ontstaan van het hertogdom Brabant
31.
Premonstratensians
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Norbert was a friend of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and so was largely influenced by the Cistercian ideals as to both the manner of life and the government of his order. The order was founded in 1120, there, in a rural place called Prémontré, he and thirteen companions established a monastery to be the cradle of a new order. As they were regular, they followed the Rule of St. Augustine. Common prayer and celebration of the Eucharist was to be the dynamic of the community. The Norbertines played a predominant part in the conversion of the Wends and the bringing of Christianity to the territories around the Elbe, in time mitigations and relaxations emerged, and these gave rise to reforms and semi-independent congregations within the Order. The Norbertines came to England about 1143, first at Newhouse in Lincoln, like most orders they were almost completely devastated by the successive onslaughts of the Reformation, French Revolution and Napoleon, but then experienced a revival in the 19th century. By the beginning of the century the order had become almost extinct, only eight houses surviving. However, there was something of a resurgence, and at the start of the century there were 20 monasteries and 1,000 priests. As of 2005, the number of monasteries had increased to nearly 100, in 1893, Father Bernard Pennings and two other Norbertines from Berne Abbey came to the United States to minister to Belgian immigrants in Northern Wisconsin. DePere became the site of the first Norbertine Abbey in the new world, in the twenty-first century, like all canons regular, they follow the Augustinian Rule. According to the Premonstratentian website, there are some 1,000 male and 200 female members of the Order, the Feast of All Norbertine Saints and Blesseds is celebrated internally on Nov.13. The Order has several abbeys of women who, though technically called canonesses who followed the life of a religious order and are therefore more commonly termed Norbertine nuns. Like the Norbertine communities for men, those for women are autonomous, today, it is common for a foundation of canonesses to have links not only with other canonesses, but also a community of canons. The priory is located in Tehachapi, California, and by 2013 had grown to 26 members in all, the community was first founded as a public association of the faithful by the Norbertine canons of St. Michaels Abbey, Orange County, California. It is the first canonry of Norbertine canonesses founded in North America, the Premonstratensians were among the religious orders with their own rite who kept this rite after Pope Pius V suppressed such rites with a continuous tradition of less than two hundred years. The Premonstratensian Rite was especially characterized by a ritual solemnity, the Premonstratensian Rite was also characterized by an emphasis on the Paschal Mystery unique among the Latin rites. Another unique practice of the Premonstratensian Rite was the celebration of a votive mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary in each of its abbeys. As each abbey or priory is autonomous, practices and apostolates differ, however, each is guided by the Rule of Saint Augustine as well as the Constitutions established by the General Chapter which is held every 6 years
32.
Guy, Count of Flanders
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Guy of Dampierre was the Count of Flanders and Marquis of Namur. He was a prisoner of the French when his Flemings defeated the latter at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, Guy was the second son of William II of Dampierre and Margaret II of Flanders. The death of his elder brother William in a tournament made him joint Count of Flanders with his mother. Guy and his mother struggled against the Avesnes in the War of the Succession of Flanders and Hainault, but were defeated in 1253 at the Battle of Walcheren, by the mediation of Louis IX of France, he was ransomed in 1256. Some respite was obtained by the death of John of Hainaut in 1257, in 1270, Margaret confiscated the wares of English merchants in Flanders for non-payment of customs. This led to a trade war with England, which supplied most of the wool for the Flemish weavers. The dispute was ended by a treaty agreed at Montreuil-sur-Mer on 28 July 1274, even after her abdication in 1278, Guy often found himself in difficulties with the fractious commoners. In 1288, complaints over taxes led Philip IV of France to tighten his control over Flanders, tension built between Guy and the king, in 1294, Guy arranged a marriage between his daughter Philippa and Edward, Prince of Wales. However, Philip imprisoned Guy and two of his sons, forced him to call off the marriage, and imprisoned Philippa in Paris until her death in 1306. After these indignities, Guy attempted to revenge himself on Philip by an alliance with Edward I of England in 1297, the French under Robert II of Artois defeated the Flemings at the Battle of Furnes, and Edwards expedition into Flanders was abortive. He made peace with Philip in 1298 and left Guy to his fate, the French invaded again in 1299 and captured both Guy and his son Robert in January 1300. The Flemish burghers, however, found direct French rule to be more oppressive than that of the count, after smashing a French army at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, Guy was briefly released by the French to try to negotiate terms. Guy was returned to prison, where he died, in June 1246 he married Matilda of Béthune, daughter of Robert VII, Lord of Bethune, and had the following children, Marie, married William of Jülich, son of William IV, Count of Jülich. Married in 1285 Simon II de Chateauvillain, Lord of Bremur, Robert III of Flanders, his successor. Guillaume, Lord of Dendermonde and Crèvecoeur, married in 1286 Alix of Beaumont, John of Flanders, Bishop of Metz and Bishop of Liège Baldwin. Isabelle, married 1307 Jean de Fiennes, Lord of Tingry and Chatelain of Bourbourg, mother of Robert de Fiennes, Constable of France. John I, Marquis of Namur, married Margaret of Clermont, daughter of Robert, Count of Clermont, Guy of Namur, Lord of Ronse, Count of Zeeland, married Margaret of Lorraine, daughter of Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine. Henry, Count of Lodi, married January 1309 Margaret of Cleves and had issue
33.
Treaty of the Pyrenees
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The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed on 7 November 1659 to end the 1635-1659 war between France and Spain, a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, an island on the border between the two countries which has remained a French-Spanish condominium since the treaty. The kings Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain were represented by their ministers, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Luis de Haro. France entered the Thirty Years War after the Spanish Habsburg victories in the Dutch Revolt in the 1620s, by 1640, France began to interfere in Spanish politics, aiding the revolt in Catalonia, while Spain responded by aiding the Fronde revolt in France in 1648. Peace was settled by means of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in November 1659, however, the treaty stipulated only that all villages north of the Pyrenees should become part of France. The historic town of Llívia, once the capital of Cerdanya, was exempted from the treaty and became a Spanish exclave as part of the comarca of Baixa Cerdanya and this border was not properly settled until the Treaty of Bayonne was signed in 1856. On the western Pyrenees a definite borderline was drawn and decisions made as to the affiliation of bordering areas in the Basque region—Baztan, Aldude. Spain was forced to recognise and confirm all of the French gains at the Peace of Westphalia, the Portuguese revolt in 1640, led by the Duke of Braganza, was supported monetarily by Cardinal Richelieu of France. Though the Spanish army reconquered most of Catalonia, the French retained Catalan territory north of the Pyrenees, the treaty also arranged for a marriage between Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Spain, the daughter of Philip IV of Spain. Maria Theresa was forced to renounce her claim to the Spanish throne and this settlement was never paid, a factor that eventually led to the War of Devolution in 1668. At the Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants in June 1660, in addition, the English received Dunkirk, although they elected to sell it to France in 1662. The Treaty of the Pyrenees was the last major achievement by Cardinal Mazarin. In the Pyrenees, the treaty resulted in the establishment of customs and restriction of the free cross-border flow of people. In the context of the changes involved in the Treaty, France gained some territory. In the north, France gained French Flanders, language policy in France List of treaties Full Text of Treaty
34.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
35.
Louis XV of France
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Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five, Cardinal Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinals death in 1743, at which time the young king took sole control of the kingdom. During his reign, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, territory won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745, Louis also ceded New France in North America to Spain and Great Britain at the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of Lorraine and Corsica into the kingdom of France and he was succeeded by his grandson Louis XVI in 1774. French culture and influence were at their height in the first half of the eighteenth century, however, many scholars believe that Louis XVs decisions damaged the power of France, weakened the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and made it more vulnerable to distrust and destruction. Evidence for this view is provided by the French Revolution, which broke out 15 years after his death, norman Davies characterized Louis XVs reign as one of debilitating stagnation, characterized by lost wars, endless clashes between the Court and Parliament, and religious feuds. A few scholars defend Louis, arguing that his negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Jerome Blum described him as a perpetual adolescent called to do a mans job, Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on 15 February 1710 during the reign of Louis XIV. His grandfather, Louis Le Grand Dauphin, had three sons with his wife Marie Anne Victoire of Bavaria, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, and Charles, Duke of Berry. Louis XV was the son of the Duke of Burgundy and his wife Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. At birth, Louis XV received a title for younger sons of the French royal family. In April 1711, Louis Le Grand Dauphin suddenly died, making Louis XVs father, the Duke of Burgundy, at that time, Burgundy had two living sons, Louis, Duke of Brittany and his youngest son, the future Louis XV. A year later, Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Burgundy, contracted smallpox and her husband, said to be heartbroken by her death, died the same week, also having contracted smallpox. Within a week of his death, it was clear that the two children had also been infected. The elder son was treated by bloodletting in an unsuccessful effort to save him. Fearing that the Dauphin would die, the Court had both the Dauphin and the Duke of Anjou baptised, the Dauphin died the same day,8 March 1712. His younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, was treated by his governess, Madame de Ventadour. The two year old Dauphin survived the smallpox, on 1 September 1715, Louis XIV died of gangrene, having reigned for 72 years
36.
Waterloo Campaign
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The Waterloo Campaign was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, the Anglo-allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army by Prince Blücher. Rather than wait for the Coalition to invade France, Napoleon decided to attack his enemies and he chose to launch his first attack against the two Coalition armies cantoned in modern-day Belgium, then part of the Netherlands but until the year before part of the First French Empire. On 16 June the French prevailed with Marshal Ney commanding the left wing of the French army holding Wellington at the Battle of Quatre Bras and Napoleon defeating Blücher at the Battle of Ligny. On the night of 17 June the Anglo-allied army turned and prepared for battle on a gentle escarpment, the next day the Battle of Waterloo proved to be the decisive battle of the campaign. The next day he left Wavre and started a retreat back to Paris. After the defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon chose not to remain with the army and attempt to rally it and this he failed to do and was forced to abdicate. The two Coalition armies hotly pursued the French army to the gates of Paris, during which the French on occasion turned and fought some delaying actions, in which thousands of men were killed. Initially the remnants of the French left wing and the reserves that were routed at Waterloo were commanded by Marshal Soult while Grouchy kept command of the right wing. However, on 25 June Soult was relieved of his command by the Provisional Government and was replaced by Grouchy, Cloud which ended hostilities between France and the armies of Blücher and Wellington. The two Coalition armies entered Paris on 7 July, the next day Louis XVIII was restored to the French throne, and a week later on 15 July Napoleon surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena where he died in May 1821, under the terms of the peace treaty of November 1815, Coalition forces remained in Northern France as an army of occupation under the command of the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon returned from his exile on the island of Elba on 1 March 1815, King Louis XVIII fled Paris on 19 March, the hopes of peace that Napoleon had entertained were gone — war was now inevitable. A further treaty was ratified on 25 March in which each of the Great European Powers agreed to pledge 150,000 men for the coming conflict, such a number was not possible for Great Britain, as her standing army was smaller than the three of her peers. Besides, her forces were scattered around the globe, with units still in Canada. With this in mind she made up her numerical deficiencies by paying subsidies to the other Powers, the advantage of this later invasion date was that it allowed all the invading Coalition armies a chance to be ready at the same time. Yet this postponed invasion date allowed Napoleon more time to strengthen his forces and defences, Napoleon now had to decide whether to fight a defensive or offensive campaign
37.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
38.
Match
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A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, modern matches are made of wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matches are packaged in matchboxes, and paper matches are cut into rows. The coated end of a match, known as the head, consists of a bead of active ingredients and binder. There are two types of matches, safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface. Some match-like compositions, known as electric matches, are ignited electrically, historically, the term match referred to lengths of cord impregnated with chemicals, and allowed to burn continuously. These were used to fires and fire guns and cannons. Such matches were characterised by their burning speed i. e. quick match, depending on its formulation, a slow match burns at a rate of around 30 cm per hour and a quick match at 4 to 60 centimetres per minute. The modern equivalent of this sort of match is the simple fuse, the original meaning of the word still persists in some pyrotechnics terms, such as black match and Bengal match. But, when friction matches became commonplace, they became the object meant by the term. The word match derives from Old French mèche referring to the wick of a candle, but an ingenious man devised the system of impregnating little sticks of pinewood with sulfur and storing them ready for use. At the slightest touch of fire they burst into flame, one gets a little flame like an ear of corn. This marvellous thing was called a light-bringing slave, but afterwards when it became an article of commerce its name was changed to fire inch-stick. Another text, Wu Lin Chiu Shih, dated from 1270 AD, lists sulphur matches as something that was sold in the markets of Hangzhou, the matches were known as fa chu or tshui erh. Prior to the use of matches, fires were lit using a burning glass to focus the sun on tinder. Another, more common method was igniting tinder with sparks produced by striking flint and steel, early work had been done by alchemist Hennig Brandt, who discovered the flammable nature of phosphorus in 1669. Smoking tobacco was lit a number of different ways, another was to use a striker, a tool that looked like scissors, but with flint on one blade and steel on the other
39.
Tour of Flanders
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The Tour of Flanders, also known as De Ronde, is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour, first held in In 1913, the Tour of Flanders had its 100th edition in 2016. Today it is one of the five monuments of cycling, together with Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and it is one of the two major Cobbled classics, anticipating Paris–Roubaix, which is on the calendar one week after the Tour of Flanders. The event had its only interruptions during World War I and has been organized without hiatus since 1919, six men hold the record of most victories, making the Tour of Flanders unique among the major classics. Belgians Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen, Italian Fiorenzo Magni, since 2004, a womens race, the Tour of Flanders for Women, is organized annually on the same day as the mens but at a shorter distance. The Tour of Flanders was conceived in 1913 by Léon van den Haute, in the era it was customary for publishers of newspapers and magazines to organise cycling races as a means of promoting circulation. By the beginning of the 20th century, cycling was in a state in Belgium. Velodromes were closing and national championships on the road or track were no longer organised, the one major Belgian race, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, was in the French-speaking South. As the gloom increased, Odile Defraye became the first Belgian winner of the Tour de France in 1912 and he was a 20-year old Fleming and, although he rode for Alcyon, a French team, he symbolized a potential rise for Belgian cycling. Defrayes victory inspired August De Maeght, mayor of Halle and director of the press group Société Belge dImprimerie, sportwerelds most prominent cycling writer was Karel Van Wijnendaele, a young sports journalist and passionate cycling fan who had tried cycle-racing himself. The first issue appeared in time for the Championship of Flanders on 12 September 1912, Van Wijnendaele became the editor of Sportwereld on 1 January 1913. Much has been written about the link between cycling in Flanders and Flemish nationalism, Van Wijnendaele wanted to create a race run entirely on Flemish soil, crossing as many cities as possible, because all Flemish cities had to contribute to the liberation of the Flemish people. The Tour of Flanders is the classic to have been held on German-occupied territory during the Second World War. The Germans not only allowed and enjoyed the race but helped police the route as well and this led to accusations of collaboration in an age where many Flemish nationalists had strong ties with Nazi Germany. After the War, De Standaard and Het Algemeen Nieuws-Sportwereld were sequestered by the state and several journalists, a rival Flemish newspaper, Het Volk, started the Omloop van Vlaanderen in 1945. Het Volk, a publication, wanted to initiate a new cycling event in Flanders as a rival race to what it saw as the Rondes closeness to the Nazis. The Rondes organizers protested that the name was too close to their own – in Dutch there is difference between Ronde and Omloop. The Belgian cycling federation demanded that Het Volk change the name of their event and that race became the Omloop Het Volk, nowadays the opening race of the Belgian cycling season
40.
Aalst, Belgium
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Aalst is a city and municipality on the Dender River,31 kilometres northwest from Brussels. It is located in the Flemish province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek, the municipality comprises the city of Aalst itself and the villages of Baardegem, Erembodegem, Gijzegem, Herdersem, Hofstade, Meldert, Moorsel and Nieuwerkerken. Aalst is crossed by the Molenbeek-Ter Erpenbeek in Aalst and Hofstade, the current mayor of Aalst is Christoph DHaese, from the New-Flemish Alliance party. The town has a feud with Dendermonde, which dates back from the Middle Ages. The first historical records on Aalst date from the 9th century, when it was described as the villa Alost, during the Middle Ages, a town and port grew at this strategic point, where the road from Bruges to Cologne crossed the Dender. While it was within the Holy Roman Empire it was considered the capital of the province of Flanders. In 1046, Aalst was transferred to the Countship of Imperial Flanders, and absorbed a portion of Brabant and its frontier position on the border of the Holy Roman Empire allowed the town to keep a certain degree of independence. Its relation with Brabant has been preserved in the white and red coat of arms. Construction of the hall began in the middle of the 12th century. Several manuscripts from this period survive in the town archives. During the Hundred Years War the town of Aalst allied themselves with Louis de Male against Philip van Artevelde, the town hall, and the city itself, were almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1360. The town was rebuilt and a new belfry in gothic style was built in the 15th century. This was a time of prosperity for the city, dominated by the powerful weavers guild. Aalst suffered considerably under the Eighty Years War, the textile-based economy flourished under the French. In the 18th century, the Austrians controlled the region,1830 saw Belgium gain independence and Aalst became part of the country, this ended a long period, starting in 1056, of foreign control, by such as the Spanish, German, French, and the Dutch. The 19th century was marked by social crises engendered by the Industrial Revolution, with Father Adolf Daens and this was in response to Rerum novarum, which established worker rights. However Daens felt this did not do enough, eventually, he was made to pay for his splinter movement. In the Pre-World War II years, the fascist movement in the Low Countries gained momentum, Aalst, along with Brussels and Antwerp were the strongest subscribers to this line of thought
41.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
42.
Vlaams Belang
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Vlaams Belang is a right-wing populist and Flemish nationalist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels of Belgium. Vlaams Belang originated from Vlaams Blok, which adopted its new name and it has since sought to change its image from a radical to a more conservative party, and has distanced itself from some of its former programs. The direct predecessor of the Vlaams Belang was the Vlaams Blok, the immigration positions of the Vlaams Blok was subject to much controversy, and the party was forced to disband in 2004 after a political trial ruled that it sanctioned discrimination. In the same interview he questioned the scale of the Nazis use of gas chambers, in response to the media assault following the interview, Raes was forced to resign his position but vowed to remain active within the party. By April 2004, the Appellate Court of Ghent came to a verdict, forbidding their. In November that year, the Court of Cassation rejected their last appeal to annul the verdict, after the Supreme Court ruling, the leadership of the VB seized the occasion to dissolve itself, and start afresh under a new name. On 14 November, the Vlaams Blok thus disbanded itself, the Vlaams Belang instituted a number of changes in its political program, carefully moderating some of the more radical positions of the former Vlaams Blok. Nevertheless, the party leader Frank Vanhecke made it clear that the party would remain the same, We change our name. We change our name, but not our programme, former Vlaams Blok chairman Frank Vanhecke was chosen as chairman of the Vlaams Belang on 12 December 2004. This situation was altered slightly with the emergence of the smaller right-wing party List Dedecker. The VB contested the 2006 municipal elections on the theme of Secure, Flemish, the VB enjoyed a massive increase of votes, and its council members almost doubled, from 439 to about 800. The election result was described by the party as a landslide victory, in Antwerp, the VBs vote count ran behind that of the Socialist Party, which increased their share of the vote dramatically. Nevertheless, the VB, which was in a coalition with the minor VLOTT party, in the 2007 general election, the party won 17 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and five seats in the Senate, remaining more or less at status quo. Earlier the same year, the party joined the short-lived European Parliament group Identity, Tradition, in 2008, Bruno Valkeniers was chosen as new party chairman for the VB, having contested the position unopposed. In 2009, the party contested elections for the Flemish Parliament, the party was reduced from 32 to 21 seats in the Flemish parliament, and from three to two seats in the European parliament. In the 2010 general election, the party was reduced, to 12 seats in the Chamber. This was largely due to the success of the more moderate new party New Flemish Alliance. After the party suffered losses during the local elections of 2012 Bruno Valkeniers stepped down as party chairman and was succeeded by Gerolf Annemans
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New Flemish Alliance
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The New Flemish Alliance is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium, founded in 2001. The N-VA is a regionalist and separatist movement that self-identifies with the promotion of civic nationalism and it is part of the Flemish Movement, and strives for the peaceful and gradual secession of Flanders from Belgium. In recent years it has become the largest party of Flanders as well as of Belgium as a whole, the main objective of the party is to work on Flemish independence by gradually obtaining more powers for both Belgian communities separately. Furthermore, it emphasizes its non-revolutionary and pro-European character in order to legitimize increased Flemish autonomy, the N-VA advocates free-market economics, and their manifesto proposes immediate tax reductions to stimulate the economy. They also advocate deepening ties with the European Union, the N-VA stems from the Peoples Union, a Belgian political party and broad electoral alliance of Flemish nationalists. Towards the end of the 20th century, with a steadily declining electorate and these experiments were opposed by the more traditional centre-right party base. Factions subsequently clashed multiple times, over the course of the party. A party referendum was held on the future of the party, the right wing gained a substantial plurality of 47% and inherited the party infrastructure. Since no faction got a majority, however, the name Volksunie could no longer be used. In the autumn of 2001, the New Flemish Alliance was founded, seven members of parliament from the Peoples Union joined the new party. The new party created a party manifesto and a statement of principles. The first party congress was held in May 2002, voting on a party program, the party participated in elections for the first time in the 2003 federal elections, but struggled with the election threshold of 5%. This threshold was reached in West Flanders, the constituency of Geert Bourgeois. With only one representative and no senator, the party lost government funding. They joined forces in the elections in 2004 and won. Both parties joined the new Flemish government, led by CD&V leader Yves Leterme, Geert Bourgeois became a minister, and Bart De Wever became the new party leader in October 2004. The cartel was briefly broken when the former right-wing liberal Jean-Marie Dedecker left the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats and entered the N-VA on behalf of the party executive. However, the party congress did not put Dedecker on the election list, instead preferring to continue the cartel with CD&V, Dedecker saw this as a vote of no confidence, and left the party after only 10 days, to form his own party, List Dedecker
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Public Centre for Social Welfare
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The Public Centre for Social Welfare is a public institution that exists in each of the 589 municipalities of Belgium. Every citizen of Belgium has the right to assistance and social integration. The term is a translation of the Dutch Openbaar centrum voor maatschappelijk welzijn, French Centre public daction sociale, examples of social services provided by the OCMW/CPAS are financial help, medical help, housing and legal advice. When you do not have sufficient means to live on, you receive a minimum income, the council is composed of 9 to 15 members depending on the population of the municipality. The fact that OCMW/CPAS is an institution from the municipalities is historical. In other countries, such services are given by the municipalities themselves. The three Belgian regions are responsible for most local government matters, the Flemish Government plans to abolish its OCMW and integrate them into their respective municipalities by 1 January 2019. Healthcare in Belgium Media related to Welfare in Belgium at Wikimedia Commons OCMW, belgium. be
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Schepen
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A schepen is a municipal office in Dutch-speaking countries. It has been replaced by the wethouder in the Netherlands itself, depending on the context, it may be roughly translated as an alderman, councillor, or magistrate. The Dutch word schepen has its origins in the Old Saxon word scepino and is related to the German word Schöffe, the word made its way into early Medieval Latin as scabinus in France. Originally, the referred to member of a council of deciders – literally. Their judgments originally required ratification by a majority of the people present, later, mandatory attendance and ratification were no longer required. In Flanders, the term schepen is the Dutch term used for an alderman who serves on the executive board in the municipal government. Though there is no direct English cognate, the Dutch term schepen is generally translated into English as alderman, schepen has a slightly different meaning depending on whether the term is used in a historic context or in a modern political context. Later the name of the institute of the council of Aldermen became the Schepenbank, the Schepenen both legislated, ratified treaties and acted as judges. Each Flemish municipality has a town council. During the first meeting of an elected town council, council members vote by secret ballot to elect the schepenen. An absolute majority is required for a schepen to be voted in, once elected, the schepenen serve with the mayor on an executive board charged with the day-to-day management of town and city affairs. The executive board is referred to in Dutch as the college van burgemeester en schepenen, Schepenen are often assigned portfolio areas such as culture, education or city planning. They have several executive responsibilities relating to their portfolios and thus assist the mayor in governing the town or city, the total number of schepenen in a town depends on its population. A city like Antwerp has ten, whereas Herstappe, the smallest community in Belgium, has only two, since a schepen is also an ordinary alderman or town councillor, he or she must be re-elected to remain in the office of schepen. Since 2006, Belgian citizenship has not been a requirement for the position, in the Netherlands, the term schepen has been discontinued and replaced by wethouder. Historically, schepenen had administrative and judicial duties in a Dutch seigneury, when acting in an administrative capacity, a schepen was similar to an alderman or town councillor, and is usually referred to in that way in English. When acting in a capacity, the schepenen were often referred to as the schepenbank. One of the functions of the schepenbank was to pass judgment on criminals, as a result, the word schepen is often translated into English as magistrate in this Dutch historical context
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Libertair, Direct, Democratisch
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Libertarian, Direct, Democratic is a conservative-liberal, libertarian, and right-wing populist Flemish political party in Belgium. The party currently holds one seat in the European Parliament, one seat in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, the party surprised commentators by winning five seats in the Chamber and one seat in the Senate in 2007, and eight seats in the 2009 Flemish Parliament election. The party remained with one federal seat after the 2010 election. Previously known as List Dedecker, the party adopted its current name on 22 January 2011, from 2011 to 2014, the LDDs MEP, Derk Jan Eppink, was with the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament. The party was founded in January 2007 by Senator Jean-Marie Dedecker as List Dedecker, the 2007 federal election was the first ever election contested by Lijst Dedecker. They met the 5% threshold for representation, in spite of all pre-election polls dismissing the chances for the party. The partys scandal-loving style also added to this, in the 2007 federal election, the party won 5 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 1 seat in the Senate. On 25 June, one member of the LDD fraction crossed the floor to the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, after the 2010 federal election, the LDD returned one representative to the Chamber of Representatives. In the 2014 federal election, the LDD received of the 0. 4% of the vote, furthermore, LDD stands for the introduction of a binding referendum, the abolition of barriers for new political parties in Belgium and a tougher approach towards crime. The party also strives for a more independent Flanders, LDD is widely considered to be liberal on social issues, in spite of having a strong traditional conservative wing as well. LDD was initially expected to align themselves with the European Liberal Democrat, prior to joining the ECR group, LDD was also briefly courted by Declan Ganleys pan-European movement Libertas. LDD opposes the cordon sanitaire that is used to keep the far-right separatist Vlaams Belang from power, claiming that it is unsuccessful and undemocratic. At a given point in 2008, LDD was also looking for a joint venture in Wallonia with liberal economist Rudy Aernoudt as their partner in this endeavour. In 2010, talks were undertaken with the Peoples Party of Mischaël Modrikamen, which Aernoudt had helped co-found, about political cooperation, the party currently isnt represented in any Belgian parliament, nor in the European Parliament. Liberal Appeal, the liberal party of former VLD floor leader Ward Beysen. Nova Civitas, the think tank of Boudewijn Bouckaert. Veilig Blauw, the liberal party of former VLD senator Leo Govaerts. Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, the social-liberal VLD party, VLOTT, the right-wing liberal party of former VLD senator Hugo Coveliers
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Council of State (Belgium)
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Council of State, in Belgium, is an organ of the Belgian government, it is the Supreme Administrative Court of Belgium. Its functions include assisting the executive with legal advice and being the court for administrative justice. Its members are high level jurists, the Council is taking residence in the Palace of the Marquess of Assche built by Alphonse Balat. After World War II the need arose for a Supreme Administrative Court and it does not officially belong to the judiciary, rather, it falls under the jurisdiction of the minister of the interior. Since then, the Belgian Constitution has been amended to include the existence of the Council of State. Article 160 of the Belgian Constitution provides that there is, for all of Belgium, one Council of State, the composition, competence and functioning of which are regulated by law. The organisation and functioning of the Council of State are presently provided for by the laws on the Council of State. The Council of State comprises the council, the office, the coordination office, the registry. The Council is further divided into a Legislative section and an Administrative litigation section, the Council has 44 judges, a first President a President 14 Presidents of Chambers 28 Councillors The judges themselves elect their Presidents. The aforementioned judges are appointed for life by the King out of a list containing three names nominated by the Council of State itself, in this case the Council of State drafts a new list. The Council has its seat at the address, Wetenschapsstraat/rue de la Science 33 in Brussels. The Belgian Council of State was modelled after her French namesake with greatly similar powers. The general principles of Law are principles that are not found in any statute, yet derive from the spirit of the body of law, they are discovered by the Council, of course, both parties may supply supplemental information until the case is ready for final judgment. In some cases, it is whether a case should be heard before administrative courts or judiciary courts. In this case, Court of Cassation decides who has jurisdiction, normative texts coming from the executive power must be submitted for advice in draft form whereas for normative texts originating from a member of parliament, the advice is optional. Constitutional Court of Belgium Court of Cassation Raadvst-Consetat. be Official website Raadvst-consetat. be, Article about the workings of the Council of State
Ninove
