Trivières (; ) 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

La Louvière La Louvière (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pie ...

, located in the province of Hainaut,

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 ...

. It is located between

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

and

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, about south of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. It was a fully fledged

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

before the

fusion of the Belgian municipalities The fusion of the Belgian municipalities (French: ''fusion des communes'', Dutch: ''fusie van Belgische gemeenten'') was a Belgian political process that rationalized and reduced the number of municipalities in Belgium between 1964 and 1983. In 1 ...

. It is in size.

Etymology

The origin of the name Trivières probably derives from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word trivium, meaning three paths. Three roads intersect at the centre of Trivières, one leading east to , one north to Strépy, and one southwest to Estinnes. Three rivers, the

Haine The Haine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a river in southern Belgium ( Hainaut) and northern France ( Nord), right tributary of the river Scheldt. The Haine gave its name to the County of Hainaut, and the present province of Hainaut. Its source is in Anderlu ...

, the Princess of Rieu, and the Estinnes, also cross the village. Another, probably legendary, suggested origin of the name is that it derives from the Belgic tribe

Treveri The Treveri (Gaulish language, Gaulish: *''Treweroi'') were a Germanic peoples, Germanic or Celts, Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle (river), Moselle in modern day Germany from around 150 BCE, if not ea ...

, said to have been massacred in the area by the Roman legions of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

and

Nero Claudius Drusus Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), commonly known in English as Drusus the Elder, was a Roman general and politician. He was a patrician Claudian but his mother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the s ...

History

Trivières dates to at least the Roman era, and has a rich archaeological history. Excavations have uncovered an artificial harbour that was dug out by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

to facilitate the trade of lime, as well as a lime kiln. The village is also the site of the most important known

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

in Belgium, dating from 480 to 610 AD. A hectare in size, the cemetery contains 385 graves split between two sections, one reserved for women and one reserved for men. The former section has yielded skeletons buried with gold jewelry. The latter, containing larger tombs than those for the women, has been found to contain axes,

fibulae The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

, arrows, and spears. A

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

iron helmet was also found there, similar in design to the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

Shorwell helmet found on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The helmet is particularly rare in that it is made of iron, rather than bronze. From 1400 to 1754 the main

seigneury A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal system, feudal title in Ancien Régime, France before the French Revolution, Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owne ...

of Trivières was held by several prominent families, including some who traced their descent to the kings of Ireland. In the 18th century the ground began to be exploited for coal; the village also contained several breweries and a small construction store. Today, Trivières is in size, and is part of the municipality of

. Trivières was itself a municipality until the

. Before it was restructured in the 1970s, it had a population of 3,635 people. Afterwards, in 1996, it had a population of 3,704 people. In the centre of the town is the church of Saint Martin. It replaced a 12th century church demolished around 1870 to 1875.

References

Bibliography

* {{coord, 50, 27, 04, N, 04, 08, 52, E, display=title, region:BE_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Former municipalities of Hainaut (province) La Louvière