Wijchmaal is a village in the province of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese 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 ...

, which since 1977 has been a subdivision of the municipality of Peer. It is located on the low Kempen plateau and has predominantly sandy soil. The village has medieval fishponds that once belonged to the Agnetendal convent in Peer, and an arboretum that originated in 1907 as an experimental plantation to grow wood that would make good pit props. Historically a relatively poor and sparsely populated agricultural settlement, in the later 20th century it became a commuter village for people employed in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...

Transport and communications

Wijchmaal lies about north-east of the junction of the national roads N73 (Kessenich – Tessenderlo) and N74 (Hasselt – Eindhoven), and is served by the bus route between

Hamont-Achel Hamont-Achel (; li, Haëmet-Achel) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. It was founded in 1977 by a fusion of the city Hamont and the village Achel. On January 1, 2020, Hamont-Achel had a total population of 14. ...

and

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

operated by

De Lijn Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn (English: Flemish transport company ''De Lijn''), usually known as De Lijn (, "The Line"), is a company run by the Flemish government in Belgium to provide public transportation with about 2240 buses and 399 tr ...

. Between 1890 and 1948 there was an important interchange on the rural tram system. Trains on the line between Hasselt and Eindhoven that opened in 1866 stopped in the village, but passenger trains stopped running to Wijchmaal in 1958, and goods trains in 1980.

History

Bronze Age and Iron Age burial mounds and Roman inhumations were excavated in the village in the years around 1900. The name Wijchmaal is first attested in 1007, under the form ''Vuicmale''. Other medieval spellings include ''Wimale'', ''Wichmale'' and ''Wyghmale''. In the 11th century the settlement's overlord was

Sint-Truiden Abbey Sint-Truiden Abbey or St Trudo's Abbey ( nl, Abdij van Sint-Truiden, Abdij van Sint-Trudo; french: Abbaye de Saint-Trond) is a former Benedictine monastery in Sint-Truiden (named after Saint Trudo) in the Limburg (Belgium), province of Limburg Be ...

, and the village church, dedicated to St Trudo, was built or renovated by Abbot Adelard II of Sint-Truiden (1055–82) as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

. Rights of presentment and

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

s continued to belong to the abbey until the end of the 18th century, but during the Middle Ages the

lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of econ ...

passed to the control of the

counts of Loon The County of Loon ( , , ) was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the Belgian province of Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloon. During the middle ag ...

and then the

prince-bishopric of Liège The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial State, Imperial Estate, so the List of ...

. The village had its own bench of

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. The church became a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in 1608, and the first

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

was appointed in 1611. The parish of Wijchmaal once included a number of

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s that are no longer distinct from the village itself. After the

Concordat of 1801 The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace-Lorraine, where it remains in force. It sought national reconciliation b ...

the church, which had been closed during the years of the revolution, again became a chapel of ease. It was demolished and rebuilt in 1878, and extended in 1939. A school is attested as early as 1616, but lessons took place in a room that the village rented from a tavern. A dedicated classroom was probably built in 1772. A village school for boys and girls was built in 1861 and demolished in 1976. A separate girls' school opened in 1913, run by

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul ( la, Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostoli ...

, who after the interruption of the First World War began work on a convent in 1922. In 1926 they also opened a school for neglected and retarded children that would become the

special needs school Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

Medisch Pedagogisch Instituut Sint-Elisabeth. An entirely new village school was built in 1983-84.

Notable people

Lucien Ceyssens Lucien or Lucianus Ceyssens OFM (1902–2001) was a twentieth-century ecclesiastical historian who specialised in the history of Jansenism. Life Ceyssens was born in Wijchmaal, Belgium, on 8 October 1902. In 1921 he entered the Order of St Franci ...

References

{{Commons category, position=left Populated places in Limburg (Belgium)