SOUTH-EAST-FLANDERS ----- ZUID-OOST-VLAANDEREN
FLEMISH ARDENNES ----- VLAAMSE ARDENNEN
FLANDERS - BELGIUM ----- VLAANDEREN - BELGIE
Next Page Historical Overview Homepage Created 2001/03/17 |
1800 - 1918 The defeat of the Austrian army agains the French in Fleurus on June 26, 1794, lead to the end of the Habsburg rule over the Southern Netherlands. After the annexation by France on October 1, 1795, a massive number of new decrees tore down the old administrative and judicial institutions of the Ancien Regime. Nobility and church lost their privileges; guilds and ecclesiastical taxes (tienden) were abolished. A large number of abbeys, convents and monasteries were abolished, their properties confiscated and publicly sold. The simplified and uniform judicial system (Code Napoleon in 1804), the metric system, the reformed tax system and the conscription (compulsory military service) lead to a profound change of society. A republican calendar, civil marriage and the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages were introduced. The new administrative structure of departements, arrondissements, cantons and a policy of systematic frenchifying went hand in hand. As symbol of the newly acquired freedom, a freedom tree was planted in the centre of every village and town. Anger about the economic and financial disruption of the Southern Netherlands and resistance against the conscription system cumulated into a popular uprising in October 1798, called Boerenkrijg (litt. Framers' War), which was quickly oppressed by the French. The concordat between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on July 15, 1801, meant the end of the religious persecution organized by the French regime. THE DUTCH INTERMEZZO (1815-1830) After the defeat of Napoleon in Waterloo in 1815, the Southern Netherlands became part of the Dutch Kingdom. The achievements of the French Revolution remained, though sometimes under new names: departements became provinces ; Franc became Guilder. Under Dutch rule, central administration was strengthened, the number of schools increased, and the developing industry stimulated. Large public works improved roads and rivers, and to protect the Southern Netherlands against French invasions, the Wellington Barrier, a belt of 18 fortresses on the Rivers Scheldt and Meuse, was constructed. Source: Koenraad DE WOLF, Architectuurgids Zuid-Oost-Vlaanderen. Van Empire tot Art Nouveau, de 19de eeuwse neostijlen (1800-1918), Zottegem, 1999, p. 7. (English translation: Architectural Guide of South-East-Flanders. From Empire to Art Nouveau, the 19th Century Neo-Styles (1800 - 1918). |
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