Beerlegem is a village belonging to the municipality of

Zwalm Zwalm () is a municipality located in Flanders, in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is b ...

. It is located in the

Flemish Ardennes The Flemish Ardennes ( Dutch: ''Vlaamse Ardennen'') is an informal name given to a hilly region in the south of the province of East Flanders, Belgium. Highest summit is the Hotondberg (145 m). Main characteristics of the region are rural hilly la ...

, the hilly southern part of the province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. Until 1970, it was an independent municipality.

History

During excavations in the 1950s and 1960s, a

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

graveyard was discovered containing 225 graves, and a unique wooden burial vault from the 11th or 12th century. The village was first mentioned as Berlengien in 1177, and used to belong to the Lands of Aalst. In 1682 the ''

heerlijkheid A ''heerlijkheid'' (a Dutch word; pl. ''heerlijkheden''; also called ''heerschap''; Latin: ''Dominium'') was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800 ...

'' was elevated to a barony. In 1970, the municipality was merged into

Munkzwalm Zwalm () is a municipality located in Flanders, in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is b ...

which in turn was merged into Zwalm in 1977.

Castle

Beerlegem is the location of an 18th-century Baroque castle, known as either Castle of Beerlegem or Castle Ten Bieze. The original castle was built in the 11th or 12th century. The current castle was built around 1730. It was repaired and extended after it was hit by a

V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name '' Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develop ...

in March 1945. The castle used to be the residence of the

Marquess of Rode Marquess of Rode is a former title of the Belgian nobility, now extinct. Rode is a former part of Schelderode in Flanders. History The dominium of Rode was the property of don Simon Rodriguez de Evora who had bought the property in 1602; he w ...

, but is nowadays the private property of the Count d'Ursel.

Nature

A part of the Munkbosbeek Valley is located near the village. The forest was spared from deforestation by industry and roads, however a large part of the forest was turned into agricultural land in the early 19th century. The brook in the forest still follows its natural course.

Jan de Lichte Joannes "Jan" De Lichte (7 April 1723 – 13 November 1748) was an 18th-century Flemish outlaw and gang leader. Motivated by poverty during the upheavals of the Austrian War of Succession (1740–48), de Lichte led a gang of bandits who committed b ...

, the outlaw and gang leader, used the forest as a hiding place.

Notable people

* Charles Philippe de Rodoan (c.1553–1616), bishop.

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline
Webpage at Reocities
Zwalm Populated places in East Flanders