Fleurus
Encyclopedia
Fleurus is a Walloon municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 located in the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006 Fleurus had a total population of 22,221. The total area is 59.28 km² (22.89 sq mi) which gives a population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 375 inhabitants per km². The Postal code is 6220 for most places.

Villages

Fleurus has 7 villages:
  • Brye (wa: Briye) - Postal code: 6222
  • Heppignies (wa: Epniye)
  • Lambusart (wa: Lambussåt)
  • Saint-Amand
    Saint-Amand (Fleurus)
    Saint-Amand is a village that is part of the municipality of Fleurus, Belgium. Fleurus is located in the Arrondissement of Charleroi in Hainaut province. Saint-Amand's postal code is 6221. Saint-Amand was its own municipal entity before 1977 when it merged with Fleurus...

     (wa: Sint-Amand)
  • Wagnelée (wa: Wagnlêye)
  • Wanfercée-Baulet (wa: Wanfercêye-Bålet)
  • Wangenies (wa: Wanjniye)

History

Traces of agriculture dating back to the Neolithic Age were found in area known as Fleurjoux and Neuve Baraque. During the Roman times
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, construction of roads like the (chaussée Brunehaut between Bavay
Bavay
Bavay is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies 15 m. ESE of Valenciennes by railway.-History:Under the name of Bagacum or Bavacum, the town was the capital of the Nervii and, under the Roman Empire, an important center of roads, the meeting-place of which was marked by a...

 and Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

).

In October of 1155, Henry IV of Luxembourg
Henry IV of Luxembourg
Henry IV , called the Blind , was count of Luxembourg from 1136 and count of Namur from 1139 until his abdication in 1189. He was the son of Godfrey I of Namur and Ermesinda, daughter of Conrad I of Luxembourg.He inherited the counties of La Roche and Durbuy from his cousins Henry II of Durbuy and...

, also Count of Namur
Marquis of Namur
Namur was a county of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries. Its territories largely correspond with the present-day Belgian arrondissement Namur plus the northwestern part of the arrondissement Dinant....

 freed the commune which became the city of Fleurus. Henry IV had a castle in Heppignies.

There have been three battles fought near the town of Fleurus:
  • The Battle of Fleurus (1622)
    Battle of Fleurus (1622)
    The Battle of Fleurus of August 29, 1622 was fought between a Spanish army, and the Protestant Powers of the Holy Roman Empire in the Thirty Years' War. The bloody struggle left the Protestants mangled and the Spanish masters of the field.-Campaign:...

     in the Thirty Years' War
    Thirty Years' War
    The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

    .
  • The Battle of Fleurus (1690)
    Battle of Fleurus (1690)
    The Battle of Fleurus, fought on 1 July 1690, was a major engagement of the Nine Years' War. In a bold envelopment the Duc de Luxembourg, commanding Louis XIV’s army of some 35,000 men, soundly defeated Prince Waldeck’s Allied force of approximately 38,000 men comprising mainly Dutch, German, and...

     in the Nine Years' War.
  • The Battle of Fleurus (1794)
    Battle of Fleurus (1794)
    In the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, the army of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan faced the Coalition Army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg in the most decisive battle of the Flanders Campaign in the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary Wars...

     in the French Revolutionary Wars
    French Revolutionary Wars
    The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

    .


The last battle (of the French time) known as of Fleurus
Battle of Ligny
The Battle of Ligny was the last victory of the military career of Napoleon I. In this battle, French troops of the Armée du Nord under Napoleon's command, defeated a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher, near Ligny in present-day Belgium. The bulk of the Prussian army survived, however, and...

 took place in 1815 in Ligny
Ligny
Ligny is a village in the municipality of Sombreffe . It is known as the site of the Battle of Ligny, when Napoleon defeated Blücher two days before the battle of Waterloo while Wellington and Marshal Ney were engaged at Quatre Bras...

, it was indeed of Fleurus that Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 carried his last victory before the defeat of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

.

During the Two World Wars, Fleurus was the theatre of confrontations, but not of the battle with the Vieux Campinaire where tanks of the Allies took place in September 1944.

The municipality's area grew by .1 km² (0.386102158592535 sq mi).

Historical population

Year Population Density Area
January 2002 22,324 (10,626 males and 11,698 females) 377.22/km² 59.18 km²
January 2004 22,209 (10,619 males, 11,590 females) 374.64/km² 59.28 km²
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