Heure-en-Famenne 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

Somme-Leuze Somme-Leuze (; wa, Some-Leuze) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 4,656 inhabitants. The total area is 95.09 km², giving a population density of 49 inhabitants per ...

, 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 ...

. The location appears to have been inhabited already by the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

, as a Frankish burial site has been discovered just outside the village. In 876,

Louis the German Louis the German (c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany and Louis II of East Francia, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the P ...

donated a royal estate here to one of his confidants. The village belonged to

Waulsort Abbey Waulsort Abbey (french: Abbaye de Waulsort) was a Benedictine monastery located at Waulsort, Wallonia, now in Hastière in the province of Namur, Belgium. The monastery was founded in 946 by Irish monks. Saint Maccallin and Saint Cathróe wer ...

until 1739. During the 19th century, there were

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...

and

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

mines operating in the village. They closed in 1939. The village church dates from the 17th century. In the village there is also a memorial commemorating four civilians shot by German troops in 1914, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Rape of Belgium The Rape of Belgium was a series of systematic war crimes, especially mass murder and deportation and enslavement, by German troops against Belgian civilians during the invasion and occupation of Belgium in World War I. The neutrality o ...

References

External links

* Former municipalities of Namur (province) {{Namur-geo-stub