Old towns of the Benelux
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Old towns of the Benelux outlines an overview of notable old towns in the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands).
Prehistory
editWhilst towns and cities founded in prehistory don't exist in the Low Countries, many traces of prehistoric life exist, mostly in Luxembourg and Belgium. The oldest encampment that has been found back, is found mostly in quarries and mines. Most notably, the Belvédère Quarry and Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, both near Maastricht, have uncovered activity of Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis dating as far back as 250,000 BCE. Most traces of humanoid activity from before the last ice age, however, is sporadic and situational.
During the Saale Glaciation, the Benelux was largely uninhabitable, with the Low Countries switching between a tundra climate and ice climate. During the Eemian interglacial, beginning around 130,000 BCE, more and more traces of Neanderthals are found. It's only during the Holocene (11.700 BCE until today), that humans and their ancestors really started settling in the Low Countries. The oldest-dateable culture that has called any part of the Low Countries their home, was the Hamburgian culture (15,500 - 13,100 BP). Most of their traces have been found in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Drenthe. During this time, the Dogger bank still exists, connecting the low countries to Great Britain. It's only around 7000 BCE that the coastlines start resembling those of today.
Neolithic
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Around 5300 BCE, the neolithic starts in the region. With it, many new things start in the Low Countries, such as agriculture, small-scale animal husbandry, wooden longhouses and pottery. A divide remains however. Above the river Rhine, a hunter-gatherer society remains active, whilst a more sedimentary society settles below the river. The Linear Pottery culture settles in regions such as Limburg, making their settlements the first of the Low Countries. Around 4250 BCE, they become advanced enough to manage small towns, making their settlements some of the Benelux's oldest towns. After about 700 years, the culture disappears, presumably being driven out by hostile cultures. They, however, did interact with the hunter-gatherers in the lower-lying swamps, and these hunter-gatherers slowly took over some of their customs like the domestication of animals.
The region becomes important in neolithic Europe around 3800 BCE, when flint is mined in large amounts around Spiennes, Belgium. Spiennes thereby is the oldest-known flint mine of Europe, earning it a listing as UNESCO World Heritage. On the Dutch-Belgian border, in Rijckholt near Eijsden, one of the oldest mines of Europe comes into operation as well. Rijckholt, consisting of some 5000 small mines, produced about 40,000 tonnes of flint over its thousand-year tenure. Other notable remnants of this age are found in the Northern Netherlands and towards the border of France, where dolmen were erected as funerary structures. Similarly, menhirs were erected in much of Belgium, the largest of which is found near Tournai.
Metal Ages
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Around 2100 BCE, the Bronze Age begins, and mostly brings specialisation along. Trade becomes a lot more important to humans in this period, and with trade, so does purchasing power and status. This then gets expressed through the possession of high-quality goods, such as the Jutphaas Sword - One of five similar swords found in Britany, England, and elsewhere in the Low Countries. Around 1300 BCE, a notable shift in funerary traditions takes place, with the standard shifting from burial to cremation. Around the same time, natural landscapes such as peat swamps are known to have played a role in the rituals of humans. Temples have been found in these swamps, as well as bog bodies - presumed human sacrifices.
During the Iron Age, rituals shift towards thermal water sources, and temples get built around them. Health cults of the Celtic cultures are presumed remnants of those rituals. Similar to the Celts, priests and doctors ('Veleta') were highly regarded among the Gallic people living in parts of Belgium. Germanic and Celtic cultures in general dictate most of the day-to-day lives of people during this time. The Low Countries are mostly settled by the Hilversum culture (Belgium and the Netherlands below the Rhine), Hoogkarspel culture (Western Netherlands) and the Erp culture (Eastern and Northern Netherlands, as well as much of Northwest Germany).
The first fortified trading towns and hill forts are known to date from 700 BCE, and warriors become a distinct social class. In Friesland and Groningen, towns are founded on top of mounds (Terpen or Wierden), many of which still form the basis of towns in these provinces. Meanwhile, between the Rhine and Seine rivers, the Belgic people establish themselves. Coins get introduced into society around 450 BCE.
That the people inhabiting the Low Countries at this time were mighty and capable, is shown by the invasion of the Senones into Rome in either 390 or 387 BCE. Only after paying hefty sums of money, do the invaders from around the river Seine leave Rome. Several hundred years later, the expansion of the Roman Empire would mean the Celtic and Germanic tribes of the Low Country ended up displaced, with some Belgii settling in southeastern England.
Notable prehistoric destinations
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- 1 Spiennes — The largest and oldest neolithic flint mine of Europe, having been in use between 4300 and 2300 BCE. Spiennes flints were distributed throughout most of western Europe.
- 2 Drentse Hondsrug — Hill ridge in the north of the Netherlands, on which a substantial amount of dolmen (Hunebedden) remain standing. These were originally in use as iron age burial structures, in use between 3450 BCE and 2850 BCE. Their burial chambers are built out of Scandinavian rocks, deposited during the ice age.
- 3 Thuin — City in the southwest of Wallonia, which has been used as a settlement sporadically from the neolithic onwards. Around 100 BCE, Celtic tribes created a hillfort here, which became permanently inhabited around the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul. The hillfort has been under siege by the Romans, and was used as a settlement during Roman times. Presumably the settlement remained inhabited after the fall of Rome, as it was still a notable city in the eighth century, blossoming in the tenth century.
- 4 Le Cheslé — Located in a meander of the river Ourthe, this 14 hectares (0.054 sq mi)-large Celtic fortification has been a strategic and hard-to-reach stronghold located some 80 metres (87 yd) above the river. It is the largest Celtic settlement in Belgium known to date, and has been in use between the eighth and sixth century BCE. Large parts of the fortifications have been recreated in situ.
Roman Empire
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- Main article: Roman Empire
The Romans subjugate the Belgic people between 57 and 51 BCE by Julius Caesar. The area between the Rhine and Seine rivers becomes a part of the Roman Empire under the name of Gallia Belgica (Belgic Gaul). Roman presence, specifically that of Julius Caesar and his troops, kicks off the Gallic Wars during which Gallic, Germanic and Brittonic tribes in modern-day France, Belgium and Switzerland try to defend themselves from the Roman coloniser. Within the Low Countries, Caesar either nearly or entirely eradicates the Germanic Usipeti and Tencteri tribes, which would have lived in modern-day north Noord-Brabant. Caesar's own Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War) are, nonetheless the first written history of the region, and it is him who ends the prehistoric era in the Benelux.
Tribes that are more friendly with the Romans settled in the largely depopulated Gallia Belgica after the Gallic Wars. The Batavi settle in the Betuwe, the Cananefates between the mouths of the Meuse and Rhine rivers, and north of the Rhine, the Frisii settle. The Tungri are allowed to settle the former land of the Eburones (northeast Belgium). During the reign of Tiberius, Germania Inferior (Lower Germania), the land around the river Rhine, also gets settled. With this, the Cananefates, Batavi, Sigambri and Ubii become subjugated. Around the same time, most of the Belgic settlements form. Some of which where tribes once called home, others in completely new locations. The coastal settlements of the Menapii on the Belgian coast get modernised, and are mostly used by the Romans to harvest salt. Further inland, agriculture and weaving become the main industries. Logging and mining (of iron, zinc and calcium) also become respectable industries.
Gallia Belgica
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These are more or less the major Belgian settlements that were founded in Roman times. Most of its territory is found in Northern France. Belgium itself was rather sparsely populated with major Roman settlements.
- 5 Arlon (Orolaunum) (est. <57 BCE) — Whilst the area around Arlon has been inhabited since as early as the 15th century BCE, the first time history tells us of an actual settlement is in the Itinerarium Antonini, a third-century CE Roman travel guide. The town was originally a settlement of the Treveri, which became Roman after his conquest passed through this region in 57 BCE. Orolaunum was expanded and fortified, and became a well-off trading hub. The Roman roads from Reims to Trier and Metz to Tongeren met here, making the settlement a logical place for mercantilism. A temple in the town was dedicated to the Celtic and Roman gods of war, and the thermae built in the first century were used until after the Romans left. When Germanic tribes invade the region in the third century, the settlement gets moved to a better defensible hillside. Remnants of the Treveri-Roman settlement remain to be seen; two of the settlement's tower's ruins can be viewed, as well as the thermae ruins. A more complete version of this history though, can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Arlon.
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- 6 Tongeren (Atuaca Tungrorum) (est. ±51 BCE) — To ensure safety and peace in Gallia Belgica, the Romans founded many army encampments, of which Tongeren was one. The city is presumably established around 51 BCE, when the Tungri people are permitted to settle in the lands formerly occupied by the Eburones. The city was named after the Tungri tribe. With the start of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace), the city lost its military function and became inhabited by the Tongri tribe. The city was destroyed during the Batavian Uprising (69-70 CE), but was swiftly rebuilt. The rebuilt city grew rich again after the completion of a road connecting to Cassel in France, and an aquaduct supplying the city with drinking water. Under Trajan (98-117 CE), Tungrorum was promoted to be the capital of its civitas, and became a garrisoned city to feed the supply line for the Rhine border. The city became quite prestigious, featuring a multitude of temples, thermae, a forum, grain depot and amphitheatre. During the second century, the town was fortified with a 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi)-long wall, making the city larger than Cologne, the capital of Germania Inferior. During the fourth century, after years of political instability, the city wall was reduced to 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) to fend off the Franks and Vandals. The city kept growing despite this, and became the capital of the Diocese of Tongeren (later of Maastricht, then Liège) in 280 CE. Tongeren was conquered by the Franks under Clovis' reign. It kept its importance, but didn't exactly flourish again until the eleventh century when a fortified monastery was built, which allowed the city to regain its role as a trade hub.
- 7 Tournai (Turnacum) (est. <14 CE) — Found along the Via Belgica, Tournai came to be founded as a Roman city, following a checkerboard pattern layout, and would grow to a size of 40 hectares (0.15 sq mi), covering both banks of the river Scheldt. The city was equipped with paved roads, stone buildings, and a sewer. Turnacum grew into an important industrial centre, even though it was originally only a secondary settlement to Castellum Menapiorum (Cassel, France). Stone and textiles were the city's main produce, and were shipped from a small harbour on the right bank of the Scheldt. Political instability caused the city to shrink in the third and fourth centuries, and the city on the right bank of the Scheldt was abandoned. The city was fortified during this period as well, and around 320 CE, the capital of the civitas (region) shifted from Menapiorum to Turnacum, which would become the later Diocese of Tournai. The Roman city was conquered by the Franks, who used the city as their capital until 486 CE, housing the Frankish kings Childeric I and Clovis. The latter of which conquered Tongeren.
- 8 Wervik (Viroviacum)
— - 9 Waudrez (Vodgoriacum) —
Germania Inferior
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The part of Germania Inferior that lies within the Low Countries more or less corresponds to the modern-day Netherlands. As the river Rhine formed the frontier of the Roman Empire up until the Fall of Rome, the Netherlands are quite densely populated with Roman settlements. Many of these were just small fortified army camps, but the group below make up the main cities of the Dutch part of Lower Germania.
Romans in Luxembourg
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Whilst there are no cities in Luxembourg that are founded by the Romans, most of their legacy in the small country comes in the form of individual villas. Its most prominent sites are:
- Ricciacum (Dalheim, near Mondorf-les-Bains), a notable settlement on the Via Agrippa, connecting the Meuse with the Mediterranean. Nowadays, a well-preserved theatre from the second century is the main remnant. In its heyday, it could house some 3500 people. Ricciacum was founded in the first century, after Caesar's invasion, and became abandoned after being sacked and raided several times in the third and fourth century. In 407 CE, the settlement was abandoned altogether.
- Echternach, which is one of Luxembourg's oldest still-inhabited cities, has a preserved Roman villa near the Lac d'Echternach.
- Mamer, near Bertrange is home to a decent amount of Roman finds. Best-visited are the conserved foundations of a bathhouse on the banks of the Mamer.
The Francs
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400 CE - 925 CE
Rise of Cities
edit925 - 1384 CE
Burgundian and Habsburg age
edit1384 - 1562 CE
Age of Revolt
edit1562 - 1648 CE
