{{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) City status in

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 ...

is granted to a select group of

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

by a

royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

or by an act of law.

History

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 ...

, towns had defined privileges over surrounding villages. As the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

strengthened their power over regions in

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

Europe, they bestowed on towns the rights to organize annual fairs, levy tolls or build walls and other defense works. Under the French occupation of Belgian provinces, these privileges were abolished and replaced by an honorific title of ''city'' ( nl, stad, links=no, french: ville, links=no). This was imposed upon the Belgian provinces by order of the French

Convention Nationale The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

on 2

Brumaire Brumaire () was the second month in the French Republican calendar. The month was named after the French word for fog, ''brume'', fog occurring frequently in France at that time of the year. Brumaire was the second month of the autumn quarter ...

Year II (23 October 1793). A number of towns lost their title of city. At the time of Dutch rule and incorporation into the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...

(1815-1830), some towns recovered their city title. On 30 May 1825, a royal decree was published and included the list of the towns that were granted the title. Even with Belgian independence (1831-) this list was scarcely changed. After the merging of municipalities throughout Belgium in 1977, some towns had the opportunity to apply for the title of ''city''. The request had to be based on historical facts such as having the title before the French occupation or during the Middle Ages or had to be based on the development of a high population in their urban centres. 44 towns were granted the title of city between 1982 and 1999.

History

See also