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your way in the Belgian archives?
Need local help, or translation of records?
Belgian Ancestry Help
Feel free to contact us.
Belgian History in a Nutshell
Around 2600 B.C. (the Neolithic period) agriculture appeared in the region of what is now Belgium. There were mining activities (silex mines) at Spiennes in the province of Hainaut. At the same time megalithic monuments were erected in the region of Luxembourg.
Before the Romans conquered the region in 57 BC, Belgium was populated by several tribes. They built defensive fortresses and maintained good relations with the Mediterranean world. Belgae is the name that the Romans, especially Caesar in his book "Commentarii de Bello Gallico", gave to the Celtic inhabitants of Northern Gaul, the area between the North Sea, the Rhine, Seine and Marne rivers. Julius Caesar wrote "Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae": i.e. "of them all, the Belgians are the bravest".
The Romans exterminated some Celtic groups but the establishment of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) had a beneficial effect on the economy. New centres of trade sprang up alongside the newly constructed roads. Christianity slowly began to spread through the Low Countries in the 4th century A.D. One century later the Franks conquered Belgium and swept away the Roman civilisation together with the first footholds of Christianity.
At the beginning of the fifth century, Belgium was conquered by the Franks, who made Doornik their capital. The rulers were from the Merovingian royal dynasty. Their most important descendant, King Clovis had himself baptised in around the year 500, and moved to Paris. From the year 630, Belgium was effectively Christianised by Celtic monks.
In 751, the Carolingian dynasty came to power, with Charlemagne as its most important representative. The valley of the rives Maas became the backbone of the Carolingian empire. Charlemagne was succeeded by his only son: Louis the Pious. After his death, the empire was split up, with the Scheldt river as its border. As a result, the western part of Belgium was added to France and the eastern portion to the Holy Roman (German) Empire. Royal power gradually declined as a result of the Viking invasions during the second half of the ninth century, and shifted to local elites.
The early medieval economy was based on agriculture. The large domains of the lords tried to be as self-sufficient as possible. The administration of justice was dominated by customary law, recorded in the "Salische Codex". In today’s Belgium, the people spoke German and Roman dialects during the early middle ages. In time, one particular dialect would dominate in a certain area, which led to the gradual formation of a language barrier.
Because of the collapse of royal authority, the power gradually shifted to local counts and dukes. They fought many small wars to enlarge their bit of territory. They and their vassals were lord and master of the countryside. The farmers were subordinate to them and had to provide for their upkeep.
From the ninth century, trading routes developed along the rivers. The trading posts gradually developed into cities. In time, trade was organised through annual market days. Overland transport routes were established to transport the goods between the cities.
The cities were able to demand and get political autonomy from the local lords. In these cities, a new class of traders and later craftsmen, emerged. The traders dominated the government of the city, but the craftsmen increasingly threatened their position. The 1302 Battle of the Spurs brought the craftsmen into the government of the city.
The county of Flanders experienced the strongest economic growth. It became one of the most densely populated regions of Europe. The textile industry initially established itself in the larger cities, but towards the end of this period, it moved to the smaller cities and the countryside. Its most important product was Flemish cloth, which was shipped to the Baltic via the Northern German Hanseatic League.
Bruges (Brugge) was the pre-eminent port of shipment. When coastal shipping started to gain in importance, Bruges became the transhipment port between the areas around the Mediterranean and the Baltic. The Maas River area also experienced strong metropolitan growth because of its metal industry.
The tensions between merchants and craftsmen on the one hand and between the Count of Flanders and the King of France on the other, led to the Battle of the Spurs in 1302. It was won by the craft guilds who gained power in various Flemish cities. In the Brabant cities however, power stayed in the hands of the aristocracy. In the principality-episcopacy of Liege, the power of the Prince-Bishop was reduced in favour of the cities that were also ruled by the craft guilds.
In the fifteenth century, all districts except the Principality-episcopacy, came under the rule of the Burgundy dukes. They curtailed the power of the large Flemish cities. The dukes created overarching institutions for government and the administration of law, but the districts remained largely autonomous.
The textile industries in the cities concentrated on luxury goods from this time on. The cheaper cloth and linen were produced in the smaller cities and in the countryside. The export of cloth increasingly fell into foreign hands. Bruges did become the transhipment port between the Baltic and the Mediterranean, but the trade was controlled by foreigners. As a result of the silting up of the Zwin, the waterway linking Bruges to the sea, but also because of political and economic reasons, Antwerp took over from Bruges as the most important transit port of Western Europe.
Under the reign of Emperor Charles V (1500-1555) Belgium was one of the most urbanized regions in the world. The port of Antwerp was a leading commercial centre and also became a financial centre. Art and science florished along with the economy and Belgian intellectuals became famous throughout Europe.
In the second half of the sixteenth century the Belgians and Dutch reacted against the tyranny of Philip II (1555-1598), King of Spain and the Netherlands. This resistance was intertwined with troubles between catholics and protestants. In the 1580's the protestants of the Northern Netherlands managed to secede. The Spanish king reconquered the south, where catholisism was imposed. The leading traders and intellectuals migrated to the north and took their capital and knowlegdge with them. Moreover, the Dutch were able to block the Scheldt estuary until 1794. This caused the decline of Antwerp and the rise of Amsterdam.
Under Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella (daughter of Philip II) the Southern Netherlands (Belgium excluding Liège) became semi-autonomous (1598-1621) and they could preserve some of their cultural splendour (Rubens). The Southern Netherlands, once back under Spanish control, had to pay for the defeats inflicted on their masters. They thus lost many territories to the Northern Netherlands and France forever. The country suffered heavily during the wars of the French king Louis XIV, who wrought havoc in Brussels in 1695.
In 1713 the Southern Netherlands entered into Austrian hands. They devoted themselves to encouraging prosperity. The Austrians promoted trade and commerce. In the 1720's the Company of Ostend was successful in trading with the Orient but the Austrian emperor was forced by the other European powers to suspend the company's operations. In Wallonia, the industrial sector was characterised by innovation.
In 1792 the troops of the French republic managed to conquer the Southern Netherlands but at the start of 1793 the Austrians reoccupied the country. In the meantime the princedom of Liège remained independent within the Holy Roman Empire. A new French military campaign in 1794 put an end to Austrian rule once and for all. France annexed the Southern Netherlands and Liège. The newly integrated territories were imposed the same republican institutions. When Napoleon came to power, Belgium became part of the French empire. Napoleon implemented a wide ranging framework of civil law, known as the Code Napoléon. This later became the basis of civil law in Belgium.
During the French period Belgian industry took off. Steam engines and machines were smuggled into Belgium and British immigrants erected factories. Wallonia became the most industrialized region on the continent of Europe. Ghent was the only industrial city in Flanders. The port of Antwerp benefited from the French occupation as the Dutch blockade of the Scheldt was lifted.
The French governement imposed military service on all young males. So many Belgians were forced to fight in the Napoleonic wars. During his reign all political freedom was suspended. In Flanders, use of the Dutch language for any purpose was supressed and the press barred from using it. The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, Belgium in 1815 put an end to French rule.
The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) decided to erect a barrier against France by uniting the Northern (The Netherlands) and Southern (Belgium) Netherlands and the princedom of Liège into one State. This new state was ruled by Dutch King William I, who promoted the industrialization of the country. To support mechanised industry, he embarked on large scale infrastructural development and provided financial assistance to enterpreneurs. His measures met with the approval of the industrialists of Wallonia and Ghent. In the rest of Flanders non-mechanised rural industry suffered greatly from the competition represented by new factories, which caused some dissatisfaction.
The catholic church supported this rural opposition because it refused to accept a protestant king. Moreover, William I wanted to limit clerical power, which resulted in catholic distrust. The king was not so liberal in political matters. He refused to devolve power to government ministers, which was what the Liberals demanded. In linguistic matters, he wanted to impose Dutch in Flanders. The young Walloon and Flemish upper-classes, who spoke French, were afraid that their career opportunities would be affected.
In 1828 Catholics and young Liberals formed a Union which had a joint programme. Finally, in 1830, tensions in the south rose to such an extent that the area broke away from the north and formed a new independent Belgian state.
After a series of incidents, the revolution erupted in Brussels in 1830. William I sent in his troops, but they were expelled on September 27th, 1830. The rebels received support from volunteers outside the city. Following this rising Belgium separated from the Northern Netherlands. A provisional government declared independence on October 4th, 1830. On November 3th of the same year, a National Congress was elected by an electorate of 30,000 men, who paid a given level of taxes or who had special qualifications. On February 7th, 1831 the national congress adopted a constitution which, for its time, was very progressive.
Julius Caesar's quote "Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae" became very popular in the years 1830-1839, when the newly created Kingdom of Belgium was looking to stir up its own identity, trying to create a Belgian nationalism among the population. A diplomatic conference on the future of Belgium opened in London on the November 4th. The great powers of the time recognised the secession of Belgium from the (Northern) Netherlands. Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg became the first King of the Belgians (1831-1865). In 1865 he was succeeded by his son Leopold II (1865-1909). Under their reign Belgium became the second most important industrial power.
Both kings wanted to secure Belgium's economic independence by promoting colonial expeditions, but they were not successful in this until the end of the 19th century. It was at this time that Leopold II backed expeditions by Henry Stanley to the Congo basin. He entered into agreements with local chiefs. It resulted in a confederation of states. At first the Belgian government and parliament had no hand in the king's operations. Since Leopold II had been the first occupant of areas in Central Africa, he held a strong position at the Conference of Berlin in 1884. His demands were met. In 1885 the Belgian parliament agreed that Leopold II should become the head of state of the Congo. In 1908 control of Congo was transferred to the Belgian state. Congo gained its independance in 1960.
World Wars
Although the great powers forced Belgium to remain neutral when it became independent, it couldn't escape World War I. The Belgian army under the command of King Albert I (1909-1934) was too small a match for the Germans, it nevertheless could manage to halt the enemy at the river Yser. Dug in trenches, the entire Belgian army, and British, French, and many other nation's forces held the Germans back. Belgium suffered greatly during the war. The Yser region was laid waste. A German-speaking community was added to Belgium only in 1919, when the area was granted by the Treaty of Versailles to Belgium as compensation for the war suffering.
The years after the war were very difficult. The international economic crisis affected the country. When Hitler came to power in Germany, the dangers posed by that country rose again. From 1936 onwards Belgium took a neutral stance, just as it had done before the 1914-1918 war, but Germany invaded again on May 10th, 1940. After 18 days king Leopold III (1934-1951) decided to capitulate. This decision provoked a rupture with the government. After the war the "royal question" dominated politics. In 1951 Leopold III abdicated in favour of his son Baudouin I. This king reigned until his death in 1993 after which his brother Albert II became King. Since 2013, his son Philippe I is the seventh monarch. Note that he is officially called King of the Belgians, not Belgian King. The heir apparent is his daughter Princess Elisabeth.
Towards a federal state
The question of relations between the communities (culture, language) has played a highly important part in recent Belgian history. A major step in the reform of the State were the laws on the use of official languages. These were enacted between 1873 and 1963. Those laws recognise French, Dutch and German as official languages of Belgium, even when German as a mother tongue is only spoken by 1% of the entire population. Following four difficult state reforms Belgium was transformed into a federal state. The political scene is also dominated by economic problems and increased internationalisation. Belgium played an important role in the creation of the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union, the Benelux and the European Union. As a member of the United Nations, and in the service of world peace, Belgium often sends its troops on peace missions or sends its observers to areas over the world. Many international headquarters are based in Belgium as it is located in the heart of Europe: the EU Parliament, Headquarters of the NATO, the SHAPE, the World Customs Organization, etc.
Before the Romans conquered the region in 57 BC, Belgium was populated by several tribes. They built defensive fortresses and maintained good relations with the Mediterranean world. Belgae is the name that the Romans, especially Caesar in his book "Commentarii de Bello Gallico", gave to the Celtic inhabitants of Northern Gaul, the area between the North Sea, the Rhine, Seine and Marne rivers. Julius Caesar wrote "Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae": i.e. "of them all, the Belgians are the bravest".
The Romans exterminated some Celtic groups but the establishment of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) had a beneficial effect on the economy. New centres of trade sprang up alongside the newly constructed roads. Christianity slowly began to spread through the Low Countries in the 4th century A.D. One century later the Franks conquered Belgium and swept away the Roman civilisation together with the first footholds of Christianity.
At the beginning of the fifth century, Belgium was conquered by the Franks, who made Doornik their capital. The rulers were from the Merovingian royal dynasty. Their most important descendant, King Clovis had himself baptised in around the year 500, and moved to Paris. From the year 630, Belgium was effectively Christianised by Celtic monks.
In 751, the Carolingian dynasty came to power, with Charlemagne as its most important representative. The valley of the rives Maas became the backbone of the Carolingian empire. Charlemagne was succeeded by his only son: Louis the Pious. After his death, the empire was split up, with the Scheldt river as its border. As a result, the western part of Belgium was added to France and the eastern portion to the Holy Roman (German) Empire. Royal power gradually declined as a result of the Viking invasions during the second half of the ninth century, and shifted to local elites.
The early medieval economy was based on agriculture. The large domains of the lords tried to be as self-sufficient as possible. The administration of justice was dominated by customary law, recorded in the "Salische Codex". In today’s Belgium, the people spoke German and Roman dialects during the early middle ages. In time, one particular dialect would dominate in a certain area, which led to the gradual formation of a language barrier.
Because of the collapse of royal authority, the power gradually shifted to local counts and dukes. They fought many small wars to enlarge their bit of territory. They and their vassals were lord and master of the countryside. The farmers were subordinate to them and had to provide for their upkeep.
From the ninth century, trading routes developed along the rivers. The trading posts gradually developed into cities. In time, trade was organised through annual market days. Overland transport routes were established to transport the goods between the cities.
The cities were able to demand and get political autonomy from the local lords. In these cities, a new class of traders and later craftsmen, emerged. The traders dominated the government of the city, but the craftsmen increasingly threatened their position. The 1302 Battle of the Spurs brought the craftsmen into the government of the city.
The county of Flanders experienced the strongest economic growth. It became one of the most densely populated regions of Europe. The textile industry initially established itself in the larger cities, but towards the end of this period, it moved to the smaller cities and the countryside. Its most important product was Flemish cloth, which was shipped to the Baltic via the Northern German Hanseatic League.
Bruges (Brugge) was the pre-eminent port of shipment. When coastal shipping started to gain in importance, Bruges became the transhipment port between the areas around the Mediterranean and the Baltic. The Maas River area also experienced strong metropolitan growth because of its metal industry.
The tensions between merchants and craftsmen on the one hand and between the Count of Flanders and the King of France on the other, led to the Battle of the Spurs in 1302. It was won by the craft guilds who gained power in various Flemish cities. In the Brabant cities however, power stayed in the hands of the aristocracy. In the principality-episcopacy of Liege, the power of the Prince-Bishop was reduced in favour of the cities that were also ruled by the craft guilds.
In the fifteenth century, all districts except the Principality-episcopacy, came under the rule of the Burgundy dukes. They curtailed the power of the large Flemish cities. The dukes created overarching institutions for government and the administration of law, but the districts remained largely autonomous.
The textile industries in the cities concentrated on luxury goods from this time on. The cheaper cloth and linen were produced in the smaller cities and in the countryside. The export of cloth increasingly fell into foreign hands. Bruges did become the transhipment port between the Baltic and the Mediterranean, but the trade was controlled by foreigners. As a result of the silting up of the Zwin, the waterway linking Bruges to the sea, but also because of political and economic reasons, Antwerp took over from Bruges as the most important transit port of Western Europe.
Under the reign of Emperor Charles V (1500-1555) Belgium was one of the most urbanized regions in the world. The port of Antwerp was a leading commercial centre and also became a financial centre. Art and science florished along with the economy and Belgian intellectuals became famous throughout Europe.
In the second half of the sixteenth century the Belgians and Dutch reacted against the tyranny of Philip II (1555-1598), King of Spain and the Netherlands. This resistance was intertwined with troubles between catholics and protestants. In the 1580's the protestants of the Northern Netherlands managed to secede. The Spanish king reconquered the south, where catholisism was imposed. The leading traders and intellectuals migrated to the north and took their capital and knowlegdge with them. Moreover, the Dutch were able to block the Scheldt estuary until 1794. This caused the decline of Antwerp and the rise of Amsterdam.
Under Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella (daughter of Philip II) the Southern Netherlands (Belgium excluding Liège) became semi-autonomous (1598-1621) and they could preserve some of their cultural splendour (Rubens). The Southern Netherlands, once back under Spanish control, had to pay for the defeats inflicted on their masters. They thus lost many territories to the Northern Netherlands and France forever. The country suffered heavily during the wars of the French king Louis XIV, who wrought havoc in Brussels in 1695.
In 1713 the Southern Netherlands entered into Austrian hands. They devoted themselves to encouraging prosperity. The Austrians promoted trade and commerce. In the 1720's the Company of Ostend was successful in trading with the Orient but the Austrian emperor was forced by the other European powers to suspend the company's operations. In Wallonia, the industrial sector was characterised by innovation.
In 1792 the troops of the French republic managed to conquer the Southern Netherlands but at the start of 1793 the Austrians reoccupied the country. In the meantime the princedom of Liège remained independent within the Holy Roman Empire. A new French military campaign in 1794 put an end to Austrian rule once and for all. France annexed the Southern Netherlands and Liège. The newly integrated territories were imposed the same republican institutions. When Napoleon came to power, Belgium became part of the French empire. Napoleon implemented a wide ranging framework of civil law, known as the Code Napoléon. This later became the basis of civil law in Belgium.
During the French period Belgian industry took off. Steam engines and machines were smuggled into Belgium and British immigrants erected factories. Wallonia became the most industrialized region on the continent of Europe. Ghent was the only industrial city in Flanders. The port of Antwerp benefited from the French occupation as the Dutch blockade of the Scheldt was lifted.
The French governement imposed military service on all young males. So many Belgians were forced to fight in the Napoleonic wars. During his reign all political freedom was suspended. In Flanders, use of the Dutch language for any purpose was supressed and the press barred from using it. The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, Belgium in 1815 put an end to French rule.
The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) decided to erect a barrier against France by uniting the Northern (The Netherlands) and Southern (Belgium) Netherlands and the princedom of Liège into one State. This new state was ruled by Dutch King William I, who promoted the industrialization of the country. To support mechanised industry, he embarked on large scale infrastructural development and provided financial assistance to enterpreneurs. His measures met with the approval of the industrialists of Wallonia and Ghent. In the rest of Flanders non-mechanised rural industry suffered greatly from the competition represented by new factories, which caused some dissatisfaction.
The catholic church supported this rural opposition because it refused to accept a protestant king. Moreover, William I wanted to limit clerical power, which resulted in catholic distrust. The king was not so liberal in political matters. He refused to devolve power to government ministers, which was what the Liberals demanded. In linguistic matters, he wanted to impose Dutch in Flanders. The young Walloon and Flemish upper-classes, who spoke French, were afraid that their career opportunities would be affected.
In 1828 Catholics and young Liberals formed a Union which had a joint programme. Finally, in 1830, tensions in the south rose to such an extent that the area broke away from the north and formed a new independent Belgian state.
After a series of incidents, the revolution erupted in Brussels in 1830. William I sent in his troops, but they were expelled on September 27th, 1830. The rebels received support from volunteers outside the city. Following this rising Belgium separated from the Northern Netherlands. A provisional government declared independence on October 4th, 1830. On November 3th of the same year, a National Congress was elected by an electorate of 30,000 men, who paid a given level of taxes or who had special qualifications. On February 7th, 1831 the national congress adopted a constitution which, for its time, was very progressive.
Julius Caesar's quote "Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae" became very popular in the years 1830-1839, when the newly created Kingdom of Belgium was looking to stir up its own identity, trying to create a Belgian nationalism among the population. A diplomatic conference on the future of Belgium opened in London on the November 4th. The great powers of the time recognised the secession of Belgium from the (Northern) Netherlands. Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg became the first King of the Belgians (1831-1865). In 1865 he was succeeded by his son Leopold II (1865-1909). Under their reign Belgium became the second most important industrial power.
Both kings wanted to secure Belgium's economic independence by promoting colonial expeditions, but they were not successful in this until the end of the 19th century. It was at this time that Leopold II backed expeditions by Henry Stanley to the Congo basin. He entered into agreements with local chiefs. It resulted in a confederation of states. At first the Belgian government and parliament had no hand in the king's operations. Since Leopold II had been the first occupant of areas in Central Africa, he held a strong position at the Conference of Berlin in 1884. His demands were met. In 1885 the Belgian parliament agreed that Leopold II should become the head of state of the Congo. In 1908 control of Congo was transferred to the Belgian state. Congo gained its independance in 1960.
World Wars
Although the great powers forced Belgium to remain neutral when it became independent, it couldn't escape World War I. The Belgian army under the command of King Albert I (1909-1934) was too small a match for the Germans, it nevertheless could manage to halt the enemy at the river Yser. Dug in trenches, the entire Belgian army, and British, French, and many other nation's forces held the Germans back. Belgium suffered greatly during the war. The Yser region was laid waste. A German-speaking community was added to Belgium only in 1919, when the area was granted by the Treaty of Versailles to Belgium as compensation for the war suffering.
The years after the war were very difficult. The international economic crisis affected the country. When Hitler came to power in Germany, the dangers posed by that country rose again. From 1936 onwards Belgium took a neutral stance, just as it had done before the 1914-1918 war, but Germany invaded again on May 10th, 1940. After 18 days king Leopold III (1934-1951) decided to capitulate. This decision provoked a rupture with the government. After the war the "royal question" dominated politics. In 1951 Leopold III abdicated in favour of his son Baudouin I. This king reigned until his death in 1993 after which his brother Albert II became King. Since 2013, his son Philippe I is the seventh monarch. Note that he is officially called King of the Belgians, not Belgian King. The heir apparent is his daughter Princess Elisabeth.
Towards a federal state
The question of relations between the communities (culture, language) has played a highly important part in recent Belgian history. A major step in the reform of the State were the laws on the use of official languages. These were enacted between 1873 and 1963. Those laws recognise French, Dutch and German as official languages of Belgium, even when German as a mother tongue is only spoken by 1% of the entire population. Following four difficult state reforms Belgium was transformed into a federal state. The political scene is also dominated by economic problems and increased internationalisation. Belgium played an important role in the creation of the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union, the Benelux and the European Union. As a member of the United Nations, and in the service of world peace, Belgium often sends its troops on peace missions or sends its observers to areas over the world. Many international headquarters are based in Belgium as it is located in the heart of Europe: the EU Parliament, Headquarters of the NATO, the SHAPE, the World Customs Organization, etc.
- Belgium is a constitutional monarchy.
- There are 10 provinces; 5 officially Dutch (Flemish) speaking in the north and 5 French (Walloon) speaking in the south.
- The capital is Brussels (Brussel, Bruxelles, Brüssel)
- Neighbouring countries are The Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France. The United Kingdom is just across the Channel (North Sea).
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