Poperinge
Encyclopedia
Poperinge is a municipality
located in the Belgian
province of West Flanders, Flemish Region
, and has a history going back to mediaeval times. The municipality comprises the town of Poperinge proper and surrounding villages. The area is famous for its hops
and lace
.
. The region is famous for growing hops and furnishes 80% of Belgian production. The town is home to the national hop museum and is called the hop capital - hoppe stad in Dutch, a play on hoofd stad, the word for capital. A triennial hop festival and parade is held in the month of September. The local brew is known as Hommel (which means hops in the West Flanders dialect).
The carillon in the tower of the town's oldest church, Sint-Bertinuskerk, was noted as one of the most beautiful in Flanders in mediaeval times. It was destroyed during warfare in 1677 and restored in 1781.
Poperinge is twinned
with
Poperinge is the birthplace of Dirk Frimout, Belgium's first astronaut, after whom the town park is named.
n") of Krombeke, Proven
, Reningelst
, Roesbrugge-Haringe
and Watou. The hamlets of Abele
and Sint-Jan-Ter-Biezen are also located on the territory, but they do not have the status of "deelgemeente", since they were not independent municipalities before the mergers of municipalities which took place in Belgium in the 1970s.
Roesbrugge-Haringe actually comprises two separate villages, Roesbrugge
and Haringe. The hamlet Abele
is located on the border with France, and partially lies on French territory.
The municipality borders a large number of rural villages, and because of the long border is also close to a large number of French municipalities.
. In the time of the Franks it appeared under the name Pupurningahem and was made subject to the ecclesiastical benefice of Saint Omer
in the mid-7th century. The Count of Flanders, Dietrich of Alsace
, granted the town a charter in 1147 at the request of the abbot. From this time it began to thrive as a cloth-making centre and, in order to accommodate the growing population, the churches of Saint John and of Our Lady were added in 1290 to the already existing Sint-Bertinuskerk.
In 1322 Louis de Nevers forbade cloth-making outside Ieper, which inclined the citizens to join the revolt against him the following year. Nor did they ever submit to this restraint on their prosperity and were forever finding new ways to evade the restriction. Their resistance during this period gained them the nickname of keikoppen (cobble-heads), a term first recorded in 1341, when the Ieper militia took revenge on the town.
During the disturbances associated with the Hundred Years War, Poperinge suffered from the shifting allegiances of the Counts of Flanders and their commercial consequences. When they supported the French, the wool trade with England was interrupted. In the course of the consequent revolt, the town was sacked and burned by French troops in 1382. Then in 1436 it suffered the same fate from an English army. In 1513, at a time of declining prosperity, much of the town was again destroyed by fire and once more in 1563. During this period Poperinge was stirred up to support the Protestant cause and took part in the iconoclastic fury
of 1566. It was in the consequent fighting and persecution that the town and its trade were finally ruined.
Matters were made worse by the wars between the French and the Dutch for control of the region. By the treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 the town passed into French hands and then returned to the Spaniards by the treaty of Ryswick
in 1697, before being ceded to the Austrians in 1713 by the treaty of Utrecht
. In 1794 its was absorbed by revolutionary France into the département of Lys. Following the defeat of Napoleon it was included in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
, from which Belgium revolted in 1830. Since then Poperinge has repaired its fortunes by concentrating on hop-production, the growing of which was first introduced in the 15th century.
During World War I
, the town was one of only two in Belgium not under German occupation. It was used to billet British troops and also provided a safe area for field hospitals. Known familiarly as 'Pop', it was just behind the front line and formed an important link for the soldiers and their families, especially via the Talbot House. A grim reminder of that time remains within the town hall, where two death cells are preserved, and outside in the courtyard, where there is a public execution post used by firing squads. Another reminder is the location of a number of military cemeteries on the outskirts of the town with the graves of English, Australian, French, German, US and Chinese servicemen.
makes it the birthplace of his Flemish knight in "The Tale of Sir Thopas" from the Canterbury Tales. Some 150 years later John Skelton
follows a line in Flemish with the mention that 'In Popering grew pears when parrot was an egg' in his enigmatic poem "Speak Parrot". The poem is an attack on Cardinal Wolsey and the line is taken to refer to his ambition to become Pope.
The town has also been associated with several Neo Latin poets. Jacques May (Jacobus Majus) was born in Poperinge and left a Latin verse epistle in sapphics dated 1563. Later in the century Maximilian de Vriendt, who was born elsewhere, wrote a poem that praised the town and its churches:
The Flemish poet Gislain de Coninck, who was born in the town, translated the Latin poems of Charles Wynkius in Himni, Quorum Usus Est In Ecclesiastico Dei Cultu, and the two were published together in 1573. Then in the following century there were two more Latin poets from the town, Joannes Bartholomaeus Roens and Petrus Wenis (1648-1726). Wenis published Gheestelycken nachtegael (The Spiritual Nightingale, 1698) on the miracle that restored a still-born child to life in 1479, an event associated with the statue of Our Lady in Sint-Janskerk that is still celebrated.
In modern times, the town was referred to in one of the epigrams in Charles Baudelaire
’s Amœnitates Belgicæ. In “Une Béotie belge” the sophisticated French-speakers of Brussels look down on the rustic Poperinghe of their Flemish compatriots. In the following century, the town is the subject of the imagist night piece "Poperinghe 1917" by the Canadian poet W.W.E.Ross.
The Flemish novelist Anne Provoost
, who now lives in Antwerp, was born in Poperinge in 1964.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
located in the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
province of West Flanders, Flemish Region
Flemish Region
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 usually simply referred to as Flanders, of which it is the institutional iteration within the context of the Belgian political system...
, and has a history going back to mediaeval times. The municipality comprises the town of Poperinge proper and surrounding villages. The area is famous for its hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
and lace
Lace
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
.
The town
Poperinge is situated about 8 miles to the west of Ieper/YpresYpres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
. The region is famous for growing hops and furnishes 80% of Belgian production. The town is home to the national hop museum and is called the hop capital - hoppe stad in Dutch, a play on hoofd stad, the word for capital. A triennial hop festival and parade is held in the month of September. The local brew is known as Hommel (which means hops in the West Flanders dialect).
The carillon in the tower of the town's oldest church, Sint-Bertinuskerk, was noted as one of the most beautiful in Flanders in mediaeval times. It was destroyed during warfare in 1677 and restored in 1781.
Poperinge is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with
- ZatecŽatecŽatec is an old town in the Czech Republic, in Louny District, Ústí nad Labem Region. It has a population of 19,813 .The earliest historical reference to Sacz is in the Latin chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg of 1004. During the 11th century it belonged to the Vršovci - a powerful Czech...
in the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, since 1964 - Wolnzach in Germany, since 1965, in recognition of which the town was presented with a traditional German maypole in 1976
- Hythe, KentHythe, KentHythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....
in England and BerckBerckBerck, sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer, is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France and lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve...
in PicardyPicardyThis article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
, since 1980 - RixensartRixensartRixensart is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006 Rixensart had a total population of 21,355. The total area is 17.54 km² which gives a population density of 1,217 inhabitants per km²....
in Walloon BrabantWalloon BrabantWalloon Brabant is a province of Wallonia in Belgium. It borders on the province of Flemish Brabant and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut . Its capital is Wavre...
, Belgium, since 1990
Poperinge is the birthplace of Dirk Frimout, Belgium's first astronaut, after whom the town park is named.
Administration
In addition to the town centre of Poperinge, the municipality also comprises the submunicipalities (so-called "deelgemeenteDeelgemeente
A deelgemeente is a subdivision of a gemeente in Belgium and the Netherlands.-Belgium:...
n") of Krombeke, Proven
Proven
Proven is a rural village in the Belgian province of West-Flanders, and a "deelgemeente" of the municipality Poperinge. The village has about 1400 inhabitants....
, Reningelst
Reningelst
Reningelst is a rural village in the Belgian province of West-Flanders, and a "deelgemeente" of the municipality Poperinge. The village has about 1405 inhabitants....
, Roesbrugge-Haringe
Roesbrugge-Haringe
Roesbrugge-Haringe is a place in the Belgian province of West-Flanders. It's a part of the municipality of Poperinge. Roesbrugge-Haringe consists of two small rural villages, Roesbrugge and Haringe, located in the north western region of Poperinge. Roesbrugge, the largest of both villages, is...
and Watou. The hamlets of Abele
Abele
Abele is a small village or hamlet in the city of Poperinge, in the Belgian province of West-Flanders. The village is located on the territory of Poperinge proper and its "deelgemeente" Watou, but is also partly located on French territory. Abele has about 600 inhabitants, of whom about 100 are...
and Sint-Jan-Ter-Biezen are also located on the territory, but they do not have the status of "deelgemeente", since they were not independent municipalities before the mergers of municipalities which took place in Belgium in the 1970s.
Roesbrugge-Haringe actually comprises two separate villages, Roesbrugge
Roesbrugge
Roesbrugge is a small rural village in de Belgian provincie of West-Flanders. Roesbrugge is the largest of two villages that make up the "deelgemeente" Roesbrugge-Haringe in the municipality of Poperinge. Roesbrugge is located in the north western part of Poperinge and in the northern parth of...
and Haringe. The hamlet Abele
Abele
Abele is a small village or hamlet in the city of Poperinge, in the Belgian province of West-Flanders. The village is located on the territory of Poperinge proper and its "deelgemeente" Watou, but is also partly located on French territory. Abele has about 600 inhabitants, of whom about 100 are...
is located on the border with France, and partially lies on French territory.
| # | Name | Area | Population (1999) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Poperinge | 47,61 | 12.644 |
| II | Krombeke | 8,54 | 711 |
| III | Proven Proven Proven is a rural village in the Belgian province of West-Flanders, and a "deelgemeente" of the municipality Poperinge. The village has about 1400 inhabitants.... |
13,10 | 1.394 |
| IV | Reningelst Reningelst Reningelst is a rural village in the Belgian province of West-Flanders, and a "deelgemeente" of the municipality Poperinge. The village has about 1405 inhabitants.... |
15,20 | 1.405 |
| V (VII) (VIII) |
Roesbrugge-Haringe Roesbrugge-Haringe Roesbrugge-Haringe is a place in the Belgian province of West-Flanders. It's a part of the municipality of Poperinge. Roesbrugge-Haringe consists of two small rural villages, Roesbrugge and Haringe, located in the north western region of Poperinge. Roesbrugge, the largest of both villages, is... - Roesbrugge Roesbrugge Roesbrugge is a small rural village in de Belgian provincie of West-Flanders. Roesbrugge is the largest of two villages that make up the "deelgemeente" Roesbrugge-Haringe in the municipality of Poperinge. Roesbrugge is located in the north western part of Poperinge and in the northern parth of... - Haringe |
11,60 |
1.105 |
| VI (IX) (X) |
Watou - Sint-Jan-Ter-Biezen - Abele Abele Abele is a small village or hamlet in the city of Poperinge, in the Belgian province of West-Flanders. The village is located on the territory of Poperinge proper and its "deelgemeente" Watou, but is also partly located on French territory. Abele has about 600 inhabitants, of whom about 100 are... |
23,28 |
1.940 |
The municipality borders a large number of rural villages, and because of the long border is also close to a large number of French municipalities.
History
Archaeological finds in the area date local habitation back to Neolithic times. Under the Romans a link was made to it from the road between Cassel and AardenburgAardenburg
Aardenburg is a small city close to the Dutch border with Belgium. It is part of the Sluis Municipality, located in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands...
. In the time of the Franks it appeared under the name Pupurningahem and was made subject to the ecclesiastical benefice of Saint Omer
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer , a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais. The town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area....
in the mid-7th century. The Count of Flanders, Dietrich of Alsace
Thierry, Count of Flanders
Thierry of Alsace , in Flanders known as Diederik van den Elzas, was count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168. He was the youngest son of Duke Thierry II of Lorraine and Gertrude of Flanders...
, granted the town a charter in 1147 at the request of the abbot. From this time it began to thrive as a cloth-making centre and, in order to accommodate the growing population, the churches of Saint John and of Our Lady were added in 1290 to the already existing Sint-Bertinuskerk.
In 1322 Louis de Nevers forbade cloth-making outside Ieper, which inclined the citizens to join the revolt against him the following year. Nor did they ever submit to this restraint on their prosperity and were forever finding new ways to evade the restriction. Their resistance during this period gained them the nickname of keikoppen (cobble-heads), a term first recorded in 1341, when the Ieper militia took revenge on the town.
During the disturbances associated with the Hundred Years War, Poperinge suffered from the shifting allegiances of the Counts of Flanders and their commercial consequences. When they supported the French, the wool trade with England was interrupted. In the course of the consequent revolt, the town was sacked and burned by French troops in 1382. Then in 1436 it suffered the same fate from an English army. In 1513, at a time of declining prosperity, much of the town was again destroyed by fire and once more in 1563. During this period Poperinge was stirred up to support the Protestant cause and took part in the iconoclastic fury
Beeldenstorm
Beeldenstorm in Dutch, roughly translatable to "statue storm", or Bildersturm in German , also the Iconoclastic Fury, is a term used for outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th century...
of 1566. It was in the consequent fighting and persecution that the town and its trade were finally ruined.
Matters were made worse by the wars between the French and the Dutch for control of the region. By the treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 the town passed into French hands and then returned to the Spaniards by the treaty of Ryswick
Treaty of Ryswick
The Treaty of Ryswick or Ryswyck was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the Nine Years' War, which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces.Negotiations started in May...
in 1697, before being ceded to the Austrians in 1713 by the treaty of Utrecht
Treaty of Utrecht
The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed by the belligerents in the War of Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713...
. In 1794 its was absorbed by revolutionary France into the département of Lys. Following the defeat of Napoleon it was included in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...
, from which Belgium revolted in 1830. Since then Poperinge has repaired its fortunes by concentrating on hop-production, the growing of which was first introduced in the 15th century.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the town was one of only two in Belgium not under German occupation. It was used to billet British troops and also provided a safe area for field hospitals. Known familiarly as 'Pop', it was just behind the front line and formed an important link for the soldiers and their families, especially via the Talbot House. A grim reminder of that time remains within the town hall, where two death cells are preserved, and outside in the courtyard, where there is a public execution post used by firing squads. Another reminder is the location of a number of military cemeteries on the outskirts of the town with the graves of English, Australian, French, German, US and Chinese servicemen.
Literary associations
Poperinge is mentioned by two major English poets. Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
makes it the birthplace of his Flemish knight in "The Tale of Sir Thopas" from the Canterbury Tales. Some 150 years later John Skelton
John Skelton
John Skelton, also known as John Shelton , possibly born in Diss, Norfolk, was an English poet.-Education:...
follows a line in Flemish with the mention that 'In Popering grew pears when parrot was an egg' in his enigmatic poem "Speak Parrot". The poem is an attack on Cardinal Wolsey and the line is taken to refer to his ambition to become Pope.
The town has also been associated with several Neo Latin poets. Jacques May (Jacobus Majus) was born in Poperinge and left a Latin verse epistle in sapphics dated 1563. Later in the century Maximilian de Vriendt, who was born elsewhere, wrote a poem that praised the town and its churches:
-
-
- Non formosa pales, non hospitae in urbe napeae,
- Non agiles radii, Palidiique coli
- Non celebres baiae (quae dos tua propria) tantis
- Nominibus celebrem te, Poperinga vehunt:
- Quantum larga manus, pietasque insigne avorum,
- In superos templis testificata sacris.
- Omnia de nobis praedantur fata: Tonanti
- Quas damus, has solas semper habemus opes.
-
The Flemish poet Gislain de Coninck, who was born in the town, translated the Latin poems of Charles Wynkius in Himni, Quorum Usus Est In Ecclesiastico Dei Cultu, and the two were published together in 1573. Then in the following century there were two more Latin poets from the town, Joannes Bartholomaeus Roens and Petrus Wenis (1648-1726). Wenis published Gheestelycken nachtegael (The Spiritual Nightingale, 1698) on the miracle that restored a still-born child to life in 1479, an event associated with the statue of Our Lady in Sint-Janskerk that is still celebrated.
In modern times, the town was referred to in one of the epigrams in Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
’s Amœnitates Belgicæ. In “Une Béotie belge” the sophisticated French-speakers of Brussels look down on the rustic Poperinghe of their Flemish compatriots. In the following century, the town is the subject of the imagist night piece "Poperinghe 1917" by the Canadian poet W.W.E.Ross.
The Flemish novelist Anne Provoost
Anne Provoost
Anne Provoost Anne Provoost Anne Provoost (born 26 July 1964 in the Belgian town of Poperinge, is a Flemish author who now lives in Antwerp with her husband and three children.-Career:...
, who now lives in Antwerp, was born in Poperinge in 1964.
External links
- Official website - Information available in DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
and limited information available in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... - Altmeyer, Jean-Jacques, Notice historique sur la ville de Poperinghe, Ghent 1840