Kessenich is a village 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 Limburg

Limburg (Belgium)

Limburg is the easternmost province of modern Flanders, which is one of the three main political and cultural sub-divisions of modern Belgium. It is located west of the river Meuse . It borders on the Dutch provinces of North Brabant and Limburg and the Belgian provinces of Liège, Flemish Brabant...

. It's part of the municipality of Kinrooi

Kinrooi

Kinrooi is a village located in the Belgian province of Limburg, between Kessenich and Bree.-Municipality:Kinrooi is a municipality since September 18, 1971, when the four municipalities Kinrooi, Kessenich, Geistingen-Ophoven and Molenbeersel were fused. There have been three mayors. The current...

, what lies eastern.

Geography

Kessenich is the end of the Grensmaas, the part of the Meuse

Meuse

Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

 who forms a natural border with the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 province Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

. This river separates Kessenich from Stevensweert

Stevensweert

-Geography:Stevensweert is a village in the Dutch province Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Maasgouw. It lies on the right board of the river Meuse, which forms the limit with Belgium Kessenich. There was also a ferry to this village.-History:...

. In the nord are lying the Dutch villages of Thorn, Ittervoort

Ittervoort

Ittervoort is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Leudal.Ittervoort was a separate municipality until 1942, when it was merged with Hunsel.-External links: Map of the former municipality in 1868....

 and Neeritter

Neeritter

Neeritter is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Leudal.Neeritter was a separate municipality until 1942, when it was merged with Hunsel.-External links: Map of the former municipality, around 1868....

. In the south lies Maaseik

Maaseik

Maaseik is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. The city is located on the river Meuse , bordering the Netherlands. The Maaseik municipality includes the town of Maaseik and the villages of Neeroeteren and Opoeteren...

. The region of Kessenich is dissected by several rivers: the Abeek, the Itterbeek and Witbeek on their way to the Meuse.

East of Kessenich is an area with several ponds, the Maasplassen. They were created by large-scale exploitation of gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

 from 1949. The gravel layer with a thickness of up to 10 m, was deposited by the Meuse, which repeatedly moved to the east. In May 2008 ended the gravel mining and began the partial attenuation of the lakes. Now, some Maasplassen are equipped for recreation or nature.

Name

Its name is derived from the Gallo-Roman Cassiniacum. Kessenich is also named as Kesnic (1102), Kasnech (1132), Casselin or Cassenic (1155), Kessenich (1219) and Cessenic (1224). Later, it's also identified on maps as Kessingen (1573) and Kesnick (1754). In Limburgish it's still called 'Kesing'.

History

Kessenich is the oldest of the five villages of Kinrooi. It was founded as a Celtic settlement, then close to the Meuse. That has been shifted to the east and left north of the village a bogged arm behind. This marsh, the Vijverbroek, made in the Middle age

Middle age

Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....

 as redoubt

Redoubt

A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...

. According to a legend had between Kessenich and Thorn drowned the village Vijvere. Now it is a unique area overgrown with alder and other tree and plant species.

Remains of a prehistoric settlement have been found on the Boterakker, southern of the village. Other prehistoric finds have been made on the Hezerheide, western of the village. There were also found Roman catacombs

Catacombs

Catacombs, human-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place can be described as a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman empire...

 (Molenwegske) and a Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 (near the limit). This Roman road connected Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

 and Nijmegen and had here a width of 12 m.

After the destruction of the Western Roman Empire there has been formed a shire

Shire

A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...

, extending Kessnich, Thorn, Aldeneik

Aldeneik

Aldeneik, founded in 730, is a suburb of the Belgian town of Maaseik. It lies on the banks of the Meuse River, close to the border with the Netherlands, close to where the Bosbeek runs off it. According to legend it sprung up around a monastery set up by the Frankish sisters Herlindis and Relindis,...

 and some other villages. Ansfried of Utrecht

Ansfried of Utrecht

Saint Ansfried of Utrecht was Count of Huy and the sword-bearer for Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor....

 might have been the last count of this area, because in that period the shire suddenly fall apart. Finally, the area was divided into three parts; Thorn, Aldeneik and Kessenich. Thorn and Aldeneik became important abbeys, Kessenich was lying between both. So there was a major influence of those abbeys. Kessenich became an imperial free city, since the 14e century united with the county Bronshorn (Hunsel

Hunsel

Hunsel is a town in the south-eastern Netherlands.Until it became a part of Leudal on 1 January 2007, Hunsel was a separate municipality, covering also the villages of Ell, Haler, Ittervoort, and Neeritter-External links:*...

).

The county of Kessenich was governed out of a Motte-and-bailey

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

, built as protection against the pillaging Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s, who even Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

, Tongeren and Aachen

Aachen

Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

 have reached via the Meuse, and the many floods of the Meuse. From the tower on the 10 meters high artificial hill are ruins remaining. The new castle has been built in the 17e century, by the family Van Waes. The hamlet where the castle is, lies nearby Neeritter

Neeritter

Neeritter is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Leudal.Neeritter was a separate municipality until 1942, when it was merged with Hunsel.-External links: Map of the former municipality, around 1868....

, so it's called Borgitter.

In the 18th century was Kessenich like whole Limburg the battlefield of the various wars. When the Dutch-British troops withdrew from the region under the leadership of the Duke of Malborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...

 during the Spanish Succession War, Kessenich was plundered in 1714, besieged the castle and the countess captured. In the whole region is still the annually tradition to burn a straw doll, which the Duke of Marlborough should propose.

In 1795, the French annexed also Kessenich and divided it into the department Meuse-Inférieure

Meuse-Inférieure

Meuse-Inférieure is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. It is named after the river Meuse. Its capital was Maastricht....

. The estates of the counts Van Waes were sold by the Frenchmen to the family Michiels. One of there descendants was Willem Michiels of Kessenich, who was major of Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

 from 1937 till 1967. After Napoleon

Napoleon I of France

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...

's defeat with the Battle 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...

, all countries of the Benelux

Benelux

The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...

 were united into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands

United Kingdom of the Netherlands

United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...

 and the department became the Province of Limburg. The anthem of this province is written in Neeritter. In 1839, the province is divided with de Meuse as limit into a Belgian and a Dutch part.