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Walloons
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Walloons () are a Romance-speaking people partly from Germanic origin and Celtic origin; in any case a melting-pot speaking French, living in Belgium principally in Wallonia, more generally the inhabitants of Wallonia. They speak also regional languages like Walloon or Picard.
Etymology
The term Walloon is derived from Walha, a very old Germanic term used by Germanic Tribes to refer to Celtic and Latin speakers.
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Encyclopedia
Walloons () are a Romance-speaking people partly from Germanic origin and Celtic origin; in any case a melting-pot speaking French, living in Belgium principally in Wallonia, more generally the inhabitants of Wallonia. They speak also regional languages like Walloon or Picard.
Etymology
The term Walloon is derived from Walha, a very old Germanic term used by Germanic Tribes to refer to Celtic and Latin speakers. According to region, Walha transformed, in particular by loans in other languages, and by semantic reduction. The Swiss region Wallis and the British region Wales have the same etymological explanation. "Walloon" was created in Roman languages alongside other related terms, but it supplanted them. Its oldest written trace is found in Jean de Haynin's Mémoires de Jean, sire de Haynin et de Louvignies in 1465, where it refers to Roman populations of the Burgundian Netherlands. Its meaning narrows yet again during French and Dutch periods, and at Belgian independence, the term designated only Belgians speaking a Romance language (French, Wallon, Picard, …) The linguistic cleavage in the politics of Belgium adds a political content to «the emotional cultural, and linguistic concept» Walloon so that it then also designates the inhabitants of Wallonia — a monolingual French-speaking territory — as opposed to Flemish. The word Walloon meaning a territory did exist previously for instance in the book of Charles White,The Belgic revolution where we may find the word Wallons used in French The restless Wallons, with that adventurous daring which is their historical characteristic, abandoned their occupations, and eagerly seizing the pike and the musket marched towards the center of the commotion. The French word Wallons in English is also used in Encyclopedia Britannica. Albert Henry wrote that the word Walloon designating a Constitutional reality in 1988 was first referring to Roman populations of the Burgundian Netherlands. It was also used in order to designate a territory by the locutions provinces wallonnes or Walloon country (Pays wallon), from the 16th century to the Belgian revolution and only after Wallonia. The locution Walloon country was also used in Dutch e.g. Walsch land. The locution existed also in German, perhaps Wulland in the Hans Heyst'sbook (1571) where Wulland is translated by Wallonia in English (1814) . In German it is however generally Wallonenland : Le païs de Valons,Belgolalia, Wallonenland, in "Le Grand Dictionnaire Royal" Augsbourg, 1767 ; The name of the churches' consecration is in Touraine assemblées, in Bretagne pardons, in the North Departments sometimes kermesses, sometimes as in the Walloon country, ducasses (from dedicatio) In English, it is Walloon country (see further James Shaw). In French (and France (Wand)), it is le Pays wallon: The Walloon country included the greatest part of the to-day Belgium, the Province of Flandre orientale, the Province of Flandre occidentale both named Flandre wallonne , the Province of Namur, the Hainaut, the Limbourg, the pays de Liège and even the Luxembourg For Félix Rousseau Wallooon country is, after le Roman pays the old name of the country of the Walloons
Institutional aspects
Conceptual and emotional aspects
Wallonia
As in any part of the world where languages are spoken in areas that have no physical barrier between them, the extent of Wallonia has shifted through the ages; the more so in that through history the low-lying area of Flanders and the hilly region of the Ardennes have been under the control of many city-states and external powers, all of which have brought variations to the borders, culture, and language. The Walloon language itself, widespread up till the Second World War, has been dying out of common use owing to growing internationalisation, official education that does not include it as a language, and the efforts of the French government to support the use of French within the "Francophonie" commonwealth. This is complicated by the federal structure of Belgium, which splits Belgium into three language groups - French community (though not Walloon but generally named Wallonia-Brussels), especially on the international plan and from 1 January 2009 , Flemish community and German community - with the privilege of using their own tongues in official correspondence, but into three autonomous regions, known as "Vlaanderen" (Flanders) and "la région wallonne" (Walloon region, including the German community but generally called Wallonia) and the bilingual (French-Dutch) Brussels region, also the federal capital of Belgium.
Brussels - not Walloon but French-speaking
Many non-French-speaking observers (over)generalize Walloons as a term of convenience for all Belgian French-speakers (even those born and living in the Brussels Region). While the mixing of the population for economic and practical reasons over the centuries means that most families can trace ancestors on both sides of the linguistic divide, the fact that the Brussels region is around ¾ French-speaking but lying geographically in Flanders has led to friction between the regions and communities. The local dialect in Brussels, "Brussels Vloms", is a Brabantic dialect, reflecting the Dutch heritage of the city.
Walloons are historically credited with pioneering the industrial revolution in Continental Europe in early 19th century. In relatively modern history, Brussels has been the major town or the capital of the region. Because of long Spanish and French rule, French became the sole official language; after a brief period with Dutch as the official language while the region was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, French was reinstated after independence in 1830, and the Walloon region, being a major coal and steel producing area, developed very quickly into the economic powerhouse of the country. Walloons (or in fact French-speaking elites,but who were calledWalloons), were therefore politically dominant, and many Flemish immigrants came to work in Wallonia. Between the 1930s and the 1970s, the gradual decline of steel and more especially coal, coupled with the imbalance in investment in service industries and light industry which came to predominate in Flanders, started to tip the balance in the other direction, and Flanders became gradually politically dominant; and in their turn Walloon families have moved to Flanders in search of jobs. This evolution has not been without political repercussions.
Walloon identity
The heartland of Walloon culture is the Meuse Valley and the Sambre Valley, Charleroi Dinant, Namur (the regional capital), Huy and Liège.
Regional languages statistics
Its Walloon language could be considered as an element of Walloon identity. However, the entire French-speaking population of Wallonia cannot be culturally considered Walloon, since a significant portion in the west (around Tournai and Mons) and smaller portions in the extreme south (around Arlon) possess other languages (namely Picard, Champenois, Luxembourgish, and Lorrain) as mother tongues. All of them can speak French as well or better. A survey of the Centre liégeois d'étude de l'opinion pointed out in 1989 71,8% of the younger people of Wallonia understand and speak only a little or absolutely not the Walloon language, 17,4% rather well, 10,4% almost totally or totally . On the base of other surveys and figures, Laurent Hendschel wrote in 1999 that between 30 and 40% people are bilingual in Wallonia (Walloon, Picard), among them 10% of the younger population (18-30 years old). According to Hendschel there are 36 to 58% of young people having a passive knowledge of the regional languagesOn the other hand, Givet commune, several villages in Ardennes département in France with a journal Causon wallon (Let us speak Walloon), and two villages in Luxembourg are historically Walloon-speaking.
Walloons in the Middle-Age
Since the 11th century the great towns alon the river Meuse dealt with Germany as forinstance Dinant, Huy,Liège,Wallengassen (Walloons' neighbourhoods) are founded. . In Cologne,the Walloons wre the most important foreign community and there were three Walloonstreet in this city .They were lacking cooper they found in Germany, especially to Goslar.
In the 13th century, the medieval German colonisation of Transylvania (central and North-Western Romania) comprised also numbers of Wallons. Place names like "Wallendorf" (Wallon Village) and family names as "Valendorfean" ("Wallon peasant") can be found among the Romanian citizens of Transylvania.
Walloons in the Renaissance
In 1572 Jean Bodin made a funny play on words which is until now very famous in Wallonia
Translation: We are called Walloons by the Belgians because when the ancient people of Gallia were travelling the length and breadth of the earth it happened that they asked questions one another, each other: Où allons-nous? [Where are you going? : the pronunciation of these French words is the same as the French word Wallons (plus us)], i.e. To which goal are we walking?. It is probable they took from it the name Ouallons (Wallons), which the Latin speaking are not able to pronounce without changing the word by the use of the letter G. One of the best translation oft his (humorous) idiom daily used in Wallonia is These are strange times we are living in.
Shakespeare used the word Walloon A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace/Thrust Talbot with a spea rin the back. There is a note in this issue of Henry VI, Part 1 saying at this time, the Walloons [were] the inhabitants of the area, now in south Belgium, still known as the Pays wallon. That is also the opinion of Albert Henry (quoting Maurice Piron) , )also quoted by A.J. Hoenselaars : Walloon meaning Walloon country in Henry VI's Shakespeare...
Walloons in Sweden
Starting from 1620s, a considerable number of Walloon miners and their families had settled in Sweden.
A large and important group of Walloons were brought to Sweden to make iron for their Dutch masters, and they did so by using their familiar iron making technologies. From the second quarter of the century the Walloon forging method was spread in Sweden as a complement to the already familiar German method. The Dutch and Walloon influences were concentrated to the iron making region of Uppland, around the very rich mine of Dannemora, north of Stockholm. There, Dutch entrepreneurs owned ironworks populated with skilled Walloon ironworkers making iron with the Walloon method. The iron that was made, named Öregrund iron after an exporting port, made up about 15 percent of the total Swedish iron production, with the remaining volumes made according to the German method.
They were originally led by the entrepreneur Louis de Geer who commissioned them to work in the iron mines of Uppland and Östergötland. The wave of migration continued substantially into 18th century. Walloons became gradually integrated into Swedish society. However, Walloon ancestry is still traceable through Walloon surnames and people of Walloon descent are organised in Sällskapet Vallonättlingar (Society of Walloon Descendants).
Walloons and the Enlightenment
James Shaw wrote in 1786 Haynault and Namur, with Artois, now no longer an Austrian Province, compose the Walloon country. The Walloon name and language are also extended into the adjacent districts of the neighbouring Provinces. A large part of Brabant, where that Province borders on Haynault and Namur, is named Walloon Brabant. The affinity of language seems also on some occasions to have wrought a nearer relation.
The Belgian revolution
The Belgian revolution was recently described as firstly a conflict between the Brussels municipality which was secondly disseminated in the rest of the country, particularly in the Walloon provinces . We read the nearly same opinion in Edmundson's book: The royal forces, on the morning of September 23, entered the city at three gates and advanced as far as the Park. But beyond that point they were unable to proceed, so desperate was the resistance, and such the hail of bullets that met them from barricades and from the windows and roofs of the houses. For three days almost without cessation the fierce contest went on, the troops losing ground rather than gaining it. On the evening of the 26th the prince gave orders to retreat, his troops having suffered severely. The effect of this withdrawal was to convert a street insurrection into a national revolt. The moderates now united with the liberals, and a Provisional Government was formed, having amongst its members Rogier, Van de Weyer, Gendebien, Emmanuel d'Hooghvorst, Félix de Mérode and Louis de Potter, who a few days later returned triumphantly from banishment. The Provisional Government issued a series of decrees declaring Belgium independent, releasing the Belgian soldiers from their allegiance, and calling upon them to abandon the Dutch standard. They were obeyed. The revolt, which had been confined mainly to the Walloon districts, now spread rapidly over Flanders. . Jacques Logie wrote: On the 6th October, the whole Wallonia was under the Provisional Government's control. In the Flemish part of the country the collapse of the Royal Government was as total and quick as in Wallonia, except Ghent and Antwerp.Robert Demoulin who was Professor at the Université de Liège wrote : Liège is in the forefront of the battle for liberty , more than Brussels but with Brussels. He wrote the same thing for Leuven. According to Demoulin, these three cities are the républiques municipales at the head of the Belgian revolution. In this chapter VI of his book, Le soulèvement national (pp. 93-117), before writing On 6th October, the whole Wallonia is free , he quotes the following municipalities from which volunteers were going to Brussels, the centre of the commotion, in order to take part in the battle against the Dutch troops : Tournai, Namur, Wavre (p.105) Braine-l'Alleud, Genappe, Jodoigne, Perwez, Rebecq, Grez-Doiceau, Limelette, Nivelles (p.106), Charleroi (and its region), Gosselies, Lodelinsart (p.107), Soignies, Leuze, Thuin, Jemappes (p.108), Dour, Saint-Ghislain, Pâturages (p.109) and he concluded: So, from the Walloon little towns and countryside, people came to the capital.. The Dutch fortresses were liberated in Ath ( 27th September), Mons (29th September), Tournai (2nd October), Namur (4th October) (with the help of people coming from Andenne, Fosses, Gembloux) , Charleroi (5th October) (with peoplewho came in their thousands).The same day that was also the case for Philippeville, Mariembourg, Dinant, Bouillon. In Flanders, the Dutch troops capitulated at the same time in Brugge, Ieper, Oostende, Menen,Oudenaarde, Gerardsbergen (pp. 113-114), but nor in Ghent nor in Antwerp (only liberated on 17th October and 27th October).
Against these interpretation,in any case for the troubles in Brussels, John W.Rooney Jr wrote : It is clear from the quantitative analysis that an overwhelming majority of revolutionaries were domiciled in Brussels or in the nearby suburbs and that the aid came from outside was minimal. For example, for the day of 23 September, 88% of dead and wounded lived in Brussels identified and if we add those residing in Brabant, it reached 95%. It is true that if you look at the birthplace of revolutionary given by the census, the number of Brussels falls to less than 60%, which could suggest that there was support "national" (to different provinces Belgian), or outside the city, more than 40%.But it is nothing, we know that between 1800 and 1830 the population of the capital grew by 75,000 to 103,000, this growth is due to the designation in 1815 in Brussels as a second capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the rural exodus that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. It is therefore normal that a large part of the population of Brussels be originating provinces. These migrants came mainly from Flanders, which was hit hard by the crisis in the textile 1826-1830. This interpretation is also nationalist against the statements of witnesses: Charles Rogier said that there were neither in 1830 nor nation Belgian national sentiment within the population. The revolutionary Jean-Baptiste Nothomb ensures that "the feeling of national unity is born today." As for Joseph Lebeau, he said that "patriotism Belgian is the son of the revolution of 1830.." Only in the following years as bourgeois revolutionary will "legitimize ideological state power.
In the Belgian State
A few years after the Belgian revolution in 1830, the historian Louis Dewez underlined that Belgium is shared into two people, Walloons and Flemings. The former are speaking French, the latter are speaking Flemish. The border is clear (...) The provinces which are back the Walloon line , i.e.: the Province of Liège, the Brabant wallon, the Province of Namur, the Province of Hainaut are Walloon [...] And the other provinces throughout the line [...] are Flemish. It is not an arbitrarian division or an imagined combination in order to support an opinion or create a system: it is a fact... Jules Michelet traveled in Wallonia in 1840 and we can read many times in his History of France his interest for Wallonia and the Walloons pp 35,120,139,172, 287, 297,300, 347,401, 439, 455, 468 (this page on the Culture of Wallonia, 476 (1851 edition published on line)
Relationship with the German speaking community
The Walloon Region institutionally comprises also the German-speaking community of Belgium around Eupen, in the east of the region, next to Germany which ceded the area to Belgium after the First World War. Many of the 60,000 or so inhabitants of this very small community reject being considered as Walloon and – with their community executive leader Karl-Heinz Lambertz want to remain a federating unit, and to have all the powers of the Belgian Regions and Communities. Even if they don't want them absolutely and immediately (10 July 2008, official speech for the Flanders' national holiday).
Walloons diaspora
Walloon Culture
The Manifesto for Walloon culture in 1983 was a major event of the History of Wallonia quoted in the important books about the Region's History
External Links
Famous Walloons
Including people from the region before it became known as Wallonia.
- Baldwin I of Constantinople, Count of Flanders and Hainaut, first Emperor of the Latin Empire
- Gilles Binchois, Franco-Flemish composer
- Godfroid de Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade and first European King of Jerusalem
- Robert Campin, Flemish painter
- Jacques Daret, Flemish painter
- Jessé de Forest, Walloon settler, first colonizer of New Netherland and what would become New York City. Monument dedicated and located in Battery Park, Lower Manhattan.
- Nicolas Defrecheux, poet in the Walloon language
- Léon Degrelle, Belgian Rexist politician and leader of Waffen SS Walloon contingent
- Paul Delvaux, surrealist painter
- Louis Dewis, Post-Impressionist painter
- Guillaume Dufay, Franco-Flemish composer
- César Franck, Belgian composer
- Louis De Geer, merchant and industrialist
- Zénobe Gramme, inventor of the Gramme machine
- Justine Henin, tennis champion
- Orlande de Lassus, Franco-Flemish composer
- Jean Lemaire de Belges, late Medieval, early Renaissance poet and historian
- Georges Lemaître, originator of the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe
- Rene Magritte the surrealist artist
- Pierre Minuit, who purchased the island of Manhattan from the Native Americans and founded what would become New York City
- Edouard Remouchamps, playwright in the Walloon language
- Pierre de la Rue, Franco-Flemish composer
- Jean-Michel Saive, table tennis champion
- Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone
- Georges Simenon, author of Maigret and other novels
- Rennequin Sualem Hydraulics engineer
- Ernest Solvay, inventor of the Solvay process and founder of the Solvay Business School.
- Rogier van der Weyden (Rogier de le Pasture), Flemish painter
Footnotes
See also
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