Hombourg (; ; ; ; ) is a village of
Wallonia
Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
and a district of the municipality of
Plombières
Plombières (; or ''Bleiberg'', ; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On 1 January 2006, Plombières had a total population of 10,401. The total area is 53.17 km2 which gives a population density ...
, located in the
province of Liège,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
.
History
Origins
The existence of Hombourg is first recorded in 1070, as the settlement of "Hunborc". As early as 1124, the chapter of
St. Peter's Collegiate Church in
Liège
Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
owned property in Homburg ("Homborgh") and established a court of justice.
Duchy of Limburg
Homburg was part of the
Duchy of Limburg
The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire. Much of the area of the duchy is today located within Liège Province of Belgium, with a small portion in the municipality of Voeren, an Enclave and exclave, excla ...
. In 1286, the castle of Vilhenru (now Vieljaeren) was destroyed by
Duke John I of
Brabant as part of the
war of succession
A war of succession is a war prompted by a succession crisis in which two or more individuals claim to be the Order of succession, rightful successor to a demise of the Crown, deceased or deposition (politics), deposed monarch. The rivals are ...
of the Duchy of Limburg which he seized after the
Battle of Worringen
The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen (also spelled Woeringen), which is now part of Chorweiler, the northernmost borough (Stadtbezirk) of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succe ...
in 1288.
The
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Homburg was created from the earlier parish of
Teuven
Voeren (; ) is a Flemish Dutch-speaking municipality with facilities for the French-speaking minority, located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Wallonia region's Liège Province () to the so ...
; the
church building
A church, church building, church house, or chapel is a building used for Christian worship services and Christian activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 AD and 256 AD.
''Church'' is also ...
at Homburg dates from the
13th century, but records demonstrate the existence of the parish before that time.
The ''seigneurie hautaine'' of the towns of Homburg and Rémersdael was first granted by the
King of Spain
The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country.
The Spanish ...
between 1560 and 1615 to Henri de Ghoer, Lord of
Vieljaeren, and in 1648 to Winand and Jean-Henri d'Eynatten
d'Obsinnich. Count Frederick of
Eynatten
Eynatten is a village in the Belgian municipality of Raeren, part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Eynatten is on the border to Germany, south from Aachen. Around half of the population are non-Belgians, most of them Germans.
Eynatte ...
sold it in 1721 to the Baroness of Hochsteden, wife of
Baron Christian of Furstenberg.
From 1794 to the present day
After the second
invasion of French troops in 1794, although the former Hombourg administration was suppressed, the region did not submit to the new regime and awaited the return of the
Austrians
Austrians (, ) are the citizens and Nationality, nationals of Austria. The English term ''Austrians'' was applied to the population of Archduchy of Austria, Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, ...
. An
uprising
Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...
broke out and led to the ''conjuration du Bois-Rouge'' at
Rémersdael on 8 February 1799, which was betrayed and led to the execution of several conspirators, including a Hombourgeois.
In 1850, 85 inhabitants of Rémersdael requested the foundation of their submunicipality, and the
Monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...
of 12 December 1852 published a
decree
A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...
separating Rémersdael from Homburg.
In the second half of the
19th century and until the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the
road network
A street network is a system of interconnecting lines and points (called ''edges'' and ''nodes'' in network science) that represent a system of streets or roads for a given area. A street network provides the foundation for network analysis; for e ...
, municipal and school buildings were the subject of new developments and, in 1895, the Liège-Plombières
railway line
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...
with a railway station in Hombourg was inaugurated. On the night of
3-4 August 1914, the
army
An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
blew up the head of the Laschet
tunnel
A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...
in Homburg. This was the first tangible sign of the
First World War in Belgium.
During the interwar period, the Homburg barracks and the Homburg Dairy, built near the station, allowed the area to develop.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Homburg was annexed by the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
, but most young men from the town went into hiding to avoid being conscripted to the
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
.
Languages
Since the time of the
French invasions the
Meuse-Rhenish
In linguistics, Meuse-Rhenish () is a term with several meanings, used both in literary criticism and dialectology.
As a dialectological term, it was introduced by the German linguist Arend Mihm in 1992 to denote a group of Low Franconian di ...
dialect has been widely spoken in Hombourg.
The local dialect was used in administrative documents until the
16th century, when it was supplanted by "
Bromesch", the language of government of the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
and
Austrian Netherlands
The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...
. In
religious matters,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
has been in common use from the
18th century onwards.
In
the 19th century until 1910, linguistic censuses record a great number of different languages spoken by the residents of Hombourg, although some languages may have been recorded incorrectly due to the ignorance of local dialects by those carrying out the survey. The censuses of 1920 and 1930 show an increasing dominance of the
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
language. From 1919 the area's schools taught in French instead of German, and French also became the primary ecclesiastical language after the Second World War.
Administratively, the commune has been
French since 1794 (
except from 1940 to 1944). At the establishment of the
language areas and facilities in
1962
The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War.
Events January
* January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
, Hombourg adopted French is its official language for administrative purposes, in common with its 8 neighbouring municipalities. In
schools
A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...
, the language of instruction is French, with study of German and Dutch from the third year of
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
.
Currently, about 85% of the population is
French-speaking
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...
, 7%
German-speaking
German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is a ...
, and 8%
Dutch-speaking. About half of the French-speaking population (but mainly the age groups over 40) also know the local dialect.
Traditions
Following a procession in which a
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...
of the
Virgin
Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
was abandoned at the roadside by the bearers of the secular (1591) Society of
Saint-Brice, the parish priest founded a "Society of
St. Joseph" especially to carry this statue. The village was then divided between supporters of the Society of Saint-Brice ("Brices") and the Society of St. Joseph ("Joupes").
These rivalries were reflected both at the corporate level (shooting and amenity society, youth, harmony society, theatre society) and at the level of political parties in the local council.
Attempts at conciliation took place in 1914 and from 1964 to 1970 each time at the instigation of the mayor, but the rivalries continued for over a century. Today, the tension has fallen and only a friendly spirit of competition remains between the level two groups. The Hombourgeois now toast to the health of their tradition with their local
craft beers
A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pro ...
, the "Joup" (brown) and the "Brice" (blonde).
Demography
In 1856, shortly after its separation from Rémersdael, the population of Homburg was 1,127. It rose to 1,476 in 1910, falling back to 1,402 in 1920 and rising again to 1,602 in 1947. The population gradually declined to 1,279 in 1987, then rose to 1,405 in 1992 and stabilized at that figure since then.
Monuments and Curiosities
The American Cemetery of Henri-Chapelle
The 23 hectare
American Cemetery of Henri-Chapelle, has nearly 8,000 graves of
American soldiers and allies who fell mainly during the
Battle of Aachen
The Battle of Aachen was a battle of World War II, fought by American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany, between 12 September and 21 October 1944. The city had been incorporated into the Siegfried Line, the main defensive network ...
and the
von Rundstedt offensive in
the Ardennes.
This cemetery initially counted two cemeteries, one American with 16,000 graves and another, a German with 9,000 graves, before being remodelled in 1960 after the repatriation of many bodies and the transfer of the German cemetery to
Lommel
Lommel () is a municipality and city in the Belgian province of Limburg. Lying in the Kempen, it has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the arrondissement of Maaseik.
Besides the residential town, Lommel also has a number of nature reserv ...
. The new flowered and tree-lined cemetery, a mausoleum with a map museum tracing the Allied advance, were inaugurated in 1960 by
General Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
. The
American Battle Monuments Commission
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government that administers, operates, and maintains permanent U.S. military cemeteries, memoria ...
maintains the entire site.
The name of the cemetery "
Henri-Chapelle
Henri-Chapelle (; , , , ) is a village of Wallonia and a section de commune, district of the Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Welkenraedt, located in the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium.
It is located 17 kilometers south-w ...
" is related to the geographical proximity of this village but it is entirely located on the territory of the former municipality of Homburg.
The castles of Vieljaeren and Berlieren
Berlieren Castle is first mentioned in 1124. Used as a castle farm until 2007, its porch dates back to the
17th century. Since 2008, Berlieren Castle has been fully renovated, with the provision of housing, cottages, guest rooms, banqueting hall and seminar centre for conferences, weddings or other events.
Vieljaeren Castle is first mentioned in 1286 (when it was destroyed by
John I of Brabant). It has retained its medieval character and is surrounded by
moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...
s.
References
{{commons category, position=left
Plombières
Former municipalities of Liège Province
Populated places in Liège Province