Lydéric and Phinaert were semi-legendary figures tied to the foundation of the French city of

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

Legend

Around 620 AD, the prince of Duchy of Dijon, Salvaert, made his way to the lands that would become the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, ...

with his pregnant wife, Ermengaert. While traveling through

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, they fell into a trap laid by the local lord, the

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

Phinaert. Phinaert had the prince and his men killed, but Ermengaert fled and found refuge at a hermit's home in the forest, where she bore a son. On her death bed, she entrusted the baby to the hermit. He fed the boy deer milk and baptized him with his own name, Lydéric. Lydéric soon learned the truth about his origins, and as a youth, he set out to search for Phinaert. Lydéric found him at the court of

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dyna ...

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...

. Lydéric killed Phinaert in a duel and so avenged his parents' deaths. Phinaert's lands were given to Lydéric, where the young man founded the city of

in 640 AD.

References

* ''Les chroniques et annales de Flandres''. Pierre d'OUDEGHERST, 1571 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyderic and Phinaert French mythology History of Lille