Sint-Martens-Voeren
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Voeren (; ) is a
Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...
Dutch-speaking
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
with
facilities A facility is a place for doing something, or a place that facilitates an activity. Types of facility include: * A commercial or institutional building, such as a hotel, resort, school, office complex, sports arena, or convention center * Med ...
for the French-speaking minority, located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
to the north and the
Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
region's
Liège Province Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Dutch province of Limburg, the ...
() to the south, it is geographically detached from the rest of Flanders, making Voeren an
exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...
of Flanders. Voeren's name is derived from that of a small right-bank tributary of the
Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...
, the
Voer The Voer (Dutch, ; ) is a small river in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is a right-bank tributary to the river Meuse. It has three (creek-) tributaries of its own: the ''Veurs'', the ''Noor (Meuse), Noor'' and the ''Beek''. The source of the Voer ...
, which flows through the municipality. The current municipality of Voeren was established by the municipal reform of 1977. On 1 January 2008, Voeren had a total population of 4,207. Its total area is , giving a
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
of . About 25% of the population is made up of foreign nationals, most of whom have Dutch nationality.


Villages

The municipality consists of the six villages of 's-Gravenvoeren (), Sint-Pieters-Voeren (), Sint-Martens-Voeren (),
Moelingen Moelingen, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (French name Mouland, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) is a village in the Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Vo ...
(), Teuven and Remersdaal (, ). 's-Gravenvoeren is the most important and most populous village of the municipality. Locally, the three villages are named Sint-Marten (), Sint-Pieter (), and Voeren () for 's-Gravenvoeren.


History

Since the 11th century, two-thirds of the territory of the present municipality of Voeren was in the county of
Dalhem Dalhem (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2012 Dalhem had a total population of 6,996. The total area is 36.06 km² which gives a population density of 180 inhabitants per km². Th ...
, which was a possession of the
dukes of Brabant The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven (who was duke of L ...
, and the remaining one-third in the
Duchy of Limburg The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire. Much of the area of the duchy is today located within Liège Province of Belgium, with a small portion in the municipality of Voeren, an Enclave and exclave, excla ...
, which also belonged to Brabant after 1288. Both of these duchies were part of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
but they developed a relatively independent regime ruled by powerful dynasties. They successively became part of the
Burgundian Netherlands The Burgundian Netherlands were those parts of the Low Countries ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy during the Burgundian Age between 1384 and 1482. Within their Burgundian State, which itself belonged partly to the Holy Roman Empire and partly t ...
, the
Habsburg Netherlands Habsburg Netherlands were the parts of the Low Countries that were ruled by sovereigns of the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. This rule began in 1482 and ended for the Northern Netherlands in 1581 and for the Southern Netherlands in 1797. ...
, and after the
Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...
, part of the Spanish, later Austrian controlled,
Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the ...
. During the French occupation (1794–1815), the old boundaries of the "
ancien regime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Socié ...
" were rejected and the French "département" of
Ourthe The Ourthe (; Walloon: ''Aiwe d' Oûte'') is a long river in the Ardennes in Wallonia, Belgium. River It is a right tributary to the river Meuse. The Ourthe is formed at the confluence of the ''Ourthe Occidentale'' (Western Ourthe) and the '' ...
was created. After the defeat of France and the end of
Napoleonic wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, this became the modern Belgium's
Liège Province Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Dutch province of Limburg, the ...
until 1963 when the Voer Region was detached from Liège, and became part of the province of Limburg, within
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
. On 11 or 12 September 1944, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Voeren was captured by the American 30th Infantry Division. With its capture, the allies had reached the
Belgium–Netherlands border The Belgium–Netherlands border separates Belgium and the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is ...
and crossed into the Netherlands. Hence, neighbouring Mesch became the first Dutch village to be liberated on 12 September.https://www.dodenherdenking-beek.nl/documents/PDF/BeekseHistorie/Beek%20in%20WW2-deel%203-De-buren-ons-huis-uit.pdf


Linguistic and political issues

Most native people in Voeren speak a variant of
Limburgish Limburgish ( or ; ; also Limburgian, Limburgic or Limburgan) refers to a group of South Low Franconian Variety (linguistics), varieties spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands, characterized by their distance to, and limited participation ...
, a regional language related to Dutch (in the Netherlands referred to as a separate language; in Flanders treated as a Dutch dialect), and
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
. The same Germanic dialect is also spoken in the neighbouring Walloon municipalities of Blieberg,
Welkenraedt Welkenraedt (; Ripuarian: ; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2018, Welkenraedt had a total population of 9,920. The total area is 24.47 km2 which gives a population density of 405 i ...
and Baelen and has been recognised by the
French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...
as a regional language since 1990. Voeren is economically dependent on the surrounding provinces of Liège and Dutch Limburg and standard Dutch and French are also generally spoken. Until the beginning of the 20th century, language use in the area was mixed. People spoke the local dialect in daily life. The government institutions used French, while church and school used German or Dutch. However, some influential inhabitants, such as the local priest, Hendrik Veltmans, argued that Voeren was culturally Flemish and actively tried to bring Voeren into Flanders. In 1932, with the introduction of new language laws, the linguistic alignment of Voeren was determined (as for all other towns along the language border in Belgium) on the basis of the results of the census of 1930. According to this census, 81.2% of the population of the six villages that now make up Voeren spoke Dutch, and 18.8% declared that they spoke French. Administrative changes were made as a result. The results of the next census, held in 1947, were only made public in 1954 and gave a totally different outcome, with only 42.9% stating that they spoke Dutch and 57.1% French. According to the 1932 legislation, this would have meant that the linguistic status of the villages would have changed from Dutch speaking with a French minority to French speaking with a Dutch-speaking minority. At that time, however, due to the rising political controversy between the Dutch- and French-speaking communities in Belgium, a parliamentary committee (the so-called centrum Harmel, named after
Pierre Harmel Pierre Charles José Marie, Count Harmel (; 16 March 1911 – 15 November 2009) was a Belgian lawyer, Christian Democratic politician and diplomat. Harmel served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1965 to 1966, leading a centre-left cabinet. ...
) was established to fix, amongst other things, the language boundary once and for all. This committee proposed, notwithstanding the 1947 results (strongly disputed by the Flemish and recognised by the Belgian parliament as useless for determining the language border since the consultation was found to be rigged by nationalist francophones which is why the 1947 results were published in 1954), that the six villages were Dutch speaking with special regulations for the French-speaking minority to be decided after discussion with the town councils. In 1962 the work of the committee resulted in a law proposed by the French-speaking Minister of the Interior, Arthur Gilson, whereby Voeren would be officially Dutch speaking with language facilities for the French-speaking community, but would remain part of the French-speaking Liège Province. The proposal included a similar system for
Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
and Comines-Warneton which would be officially French-speaking with language facilities for the Dutch-speaking community, but would remain part of the Dutch-speaking province of West-Flanders. After fierce debate in parliament, the proposal of minister Gilson was approved but subject to the amendment that Voeren would become part of the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg and Mouscron and Comines-Warneton become part of the French-speaking
Hainaut province Hainaut ( , also , ; ; ; ; ), historically also known as Heynault in English, is the westernmost province of Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders ...
. This amendment was introduced by the Walloon socialist politician and former mayor of
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
, Paul Gruselin, who wanted to transfer the Flemish towns with a Francophone majority Comines-Warneton and
Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
to the Walloon province of Hainaut and offered to transfer the Voer region to the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg as compensation. In order to understand this proposal of the Walloon socialists of
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
and
Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
, one must take into account the fact that almost everyone at the time considered that a Dutch dialect was spoken in the Voer Region and that, consequently, their inhabitants would willingly accept this change. The 75,000 inhabitants of the towns
Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
and Comines-Warneton brought one extra deputy's seat while the 4,000 inhabitants of the villages of the Voer Region were far from being worth as much. This switch from Liège to Limburg was received badly by many local people because of the region's dependence on Liège. Francophones in particular campaigned for the region to be returned to the province of Liège. Similarly in Comines-Warneton and
Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
, the city councils and a large majority of the population wanted to remain part of the Dutch-speaking province of
West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...
or at the very least become a new francophone province together with the city of
Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...
, the Tournaisis because they identified as Frenchified Flemings, having shared a history with the other regions of the former
County of Flanders The County of Flanders was one of the most powerful political entities in the medieval Low Countries, located on the North Sea coast of modern-day Belgium and north-eastern France. Unlike the neighbouring states of Duchy of Brabant, Brabant and ...
and felt culturally closer to
French Flanders French Flanders ( ; ; ) is a part of the historical County of Flanders, where Flemish—a Low Franconian dialect cluster of Dutch—was (and to some extent, still is) traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day northern French regi ...
than to the
Hainaut Province Hainaut ( , also , ; ; ; ; ), historically also known as Heynault in English, is the westernmost province of Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders ...
. On 1 January 1977, the six small municipalities were merged into the present-day Voeren municipality. The Francophone and Flemish movements could organize themselves politically more effectively as there was now one, instead of six, municipal council. This resulted in political and linguistic strife between the Francophone ''Retour à Liège'' (Return to Liège) party and the Flemish ''Voerbelangen'' (Voeren's Best Interests) party. The ''Retour à Liège'' faction won a majority in the new council. There were also action committees on both sides and gangs who daubed place-name signs and took part in violent demonstrations. The language struggle in Voeren became a national issue, and people from outside the region became involved. The linguistic struggle came to a head when José Happart was put forward as mayor in 1983. For one thing, he was alleged to have supported the Francophone gangs in Voeren. However, the main problem was the constitutional question of whether someone who could not speak Dutch could become mayor of a Flemish municipality. Happart was dismissed as mayor for refusing to take a Dutch-language test, but appealed against his dismissal, and the question dragged on for years, ultimately causing the Belgian government Martens VI to fall on 19 October 1987. In 1988, concessions to the Francophone inhabitants were made. The powers of the provincial government of Limburg were curtailed, and more autonomy was given to the municipality. The government of the Walloon Region was allowed to build facilities for Francophones in Voeren. In the 1994 municipal elections, the Dutch-speaking party (''Voerbelangen'') won a seat more than in earlier elections but was still a minority on the council. In 1995, Mayor Happart was forced to leave office. The national court of arbitration (now
Belgian Constitutional Court The Constitutional Court ( Dutch: ; ; ) plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980. Its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003. History Founded as the Court of Arbitration, the court owe ...
) declared some of the 1988 concessions unconstitutional (e.g. the Walloon building rights). EU nationals were given suffrage at the municipal level in 1999. This factor was decisive in the 2000 municipal elections, because of the significant number of Dutch citizens living in Voeren (about 20% of the total population): ''Voerbelangen'' won a majority of 53% of the votes and 8 out of 15 local council seats. However, the new majority faced budgetary difficulties, since large debts had been incurred by the previous administration. The council had to sell several items of municipal property, such as forests and goods to stabilise its finances. As from 2003 to 2004 the council is viable again, and new projects are being started to fulfill the promises made during the elections. In the 2006 municipal elections ''Voerbelangen'' won again, gaining 61% of the votes and 9 out of 15 council seats. For the first time, ''Voerbelangen'' also won the majority of the seats in the council of the OCMW ( Public Centre for Social Welfare), the social affairs department of the municipality, for which nationals of other EU countries may not vote. Though the violence of the 1970s and 1980s has subsided, some activists still daub graffiti on place-name signs. In December 2006, the Flemish Government decided to abolish all official French translations in Flemish municipalities and villages, including
municipalities with language facilities In Belgium, there are 27 municipalities with language facilities (; ; ), which must offer linguistic services to residents in Dutch, French, or German in addition to their single official languages. All other municipalities – with the except ...
. Thus the French names of the Voeren municipality and villages will no longer be used on place-name signs, traffic signs and by municipality and other governments in official documents.


Results of the linguistic censuses of 1930 and 1947 per village

Precise figures on the ethnic composition of Belgium are impossible to obtain, for the language question is so controversial that the Belgian census has not included data on linguistic composition of communes since 1947.


Gallery

File:Gravenvoeren-Kasteel Altembrouck1.JPG, Altembrouck castle at 's Gravenvoeren File:Remersdaal - Dorpszicht.jpg, Remersdaal File:Teuvewkped06.JPG, Teuven File:Casa Moelingen.JPG, Moelingen File:Kerk Sint-Pieters-Voeren.jpg, Sint-Pieters-Voeren church File:StPietersvoerewkpedo6.jpg, Sint-Pieters-Voeren castle


See also

* Comines-Warneton, a similarly detached part of Wallonia.

A Klankatlas 2013 commission by sound artists Jonathon Kirk and Thomas Smetryns of a soundscape composition of the Voeren.


References


External links


Official website
Dutch and French language, French {{Authority control Municipalities of Limburg (Belgium) Enclaves and exclaves