Biesme (; wa, Bieme) is a village of
Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
and a district of the municipality of
Mettet, located in the
province of Namur
Namur (; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French depart ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
.
History and heritage
There has been a settlement in the area at least since the time of the
Merovingians
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...
. During the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, the village belonged to the
counts of Namur
The County of Namur was not often an independent state, rather under the dominion of other entities like the counties of County of Hainaut, Hainaut and County of Flanders, Flanders or the Duchy of Burgundy.
Succession is from father to son, unl ...
. The village church, dedicated to Saint Martin, was built in the 11th century. The
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
and the tower are
Romanesque in style, while the larger
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
and
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
are
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
. Inside, the church is decorated with
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ed ceilings from 1760. In Biesme there is also a castle, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries and surrounded by a park. North of the village, towards Mettet, there is a chapel dedicated to
Saint Roch
Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79 (traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327, also called Rock in English, is a Catholic saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he is especially invoked a ...
, built in 1635 in attempt to ward of the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
.
Notable people
*
Cyriaque Gillain
Cyriaque Cyprien Victor Gillain (11 August 1857 – 17 August 1931) was a Belgian officer who served in World War I and was chief of the Belgian general staff between April 1918 and February 1920.
Youth and education
Gillain was born in Bie ...
, Belgian general (1857–1931), born in Biesme
References
External links
*
Former municipalities of Namur (province)
{{Namur-geo-stub