![[Asse]](../images/b/be-vbras.gif)
Last modified: 2007-11-03 by ivan sache
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Municipal flag of Asse - Image by Filip van Laenen, 24 October 2001
See also:
The municipality of Asse (29,180 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 4,964 ha) borders Brussels in the north-west. The municipality of Asse is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Asse, Bekkerzeel, Kobbegem, Mollem, Rellegem and Zellik.
Asse was mentioned for the first time as villa Asca nomine, sita in
pago Bracbatenis in 1015, when Count of Leuven Lambrecht I swapped with his brother Renier, Count of Hainaut, the village of Buvrinnes for Asse. However, archeological findings show that Asse was settled much
earlier.
A few flint artifacts from the middle Age of Stone (3500-2300 BC) have
been found on the territory of Asse. The Celtic toponyms (Asse, meaning
"a settlement near a source", and Yzenbeek, from *isana, "a murmuring
brook") are the other remains of those early ages. Due to its strategic
location in central Brabant, Asse might have been chosen by the Romans
as the seat of the northernmost pagus of the civitas Nerviorum
(named after the Nervians). A Roman treasure has been found in
Kalkhoven, probably on the site of a vicus, made of 150 coins
portraying emperors from the period 97-192 AD. Twenty terracota
figurines representing horses, also found in Kalkhoven, are related to
the cult of the goddess Epona. Asse was linked to Bavay (Bagacum), the
capital of the civitas Nerviorum, by a main way, and to other places
(Neer-Zellik, Rumst, Utrecht and Dendermonde) by secondary ways
(diverticula). Several estates were set up near Asse, which are the
origin of some modern toponyms (Casa petrea, "the stone house", gave
Kespier, whereas Setiliacum gave Zellik via Sethleca and Selleca.
The Frankish settlement started in the Vth-VIIth century; the estates
(haim) were often built near a brook and are recalled by several
toponyms; Krokegem, Huinegem, Walfergem and Bettegem (Zellik), Ichelgem
and Vrijlegem (Mollem), Kobbegem and Rellegem (Radelengem,
Radelingahaim, that is Radilo / Radolf / Radbold's estate. Bekkerzeel
is of later, Merovingian (VII-VIIIth century) origin, like toponyms
ending with -sale, -sal and -zel. The bishops of Cambrai Gorik,
Amebert, Amand and Ursmaar evangelized west Brabant in the VIth-VIIIth
century and founded parishes, some of them being later granted to
abbeys (Bollebeek to the St. Gertrude abbey in Nivelles, Zellik to the St. Peter abbey in Ghent).
In the Middle Ages, Asse and Mollem belonged to the lords of Asse, who
were hereditary standard bearers of the Duke of Brabant. The other
villages were divided into smaller domains. In 1662, Willem de Cottereau
was made Marquis of Asse and hereditary owner of Mollem, Kobbegem and
Relegem, as well as lord of Bekkerseel and Zellik, so that the six
components of the current municipality of Asse were united. In the
XIIth century, the parish churches were allocated to the newly formed
abbeys; Asse and Mollem to Affligem, Relegem to Grimbergen, Zellik and
Kobbelgem to St. Bavo in Ghent, Bekkerzeel to Groot-Bijgaarden and
Bollebeek to Vorst. Until the XVIIIth century, the abbey of Affligem,
that owned the bigger domains, extracted sandstone from more than 50
places in Asse, Mollem, Kobbegem and Zellik.
Due to their strategic locations, Asse and its villages were sacked and
burned several times, for instance by the Flemings revolted against
Emperor Maximilian in 1485, the Gueuze from Brussels in 1575 and the
French in 1684 and 1691. The XVIIIth century was a period of peace
during which agriculture and a few industries contributed to the wealth
of Asse; in 1796, Asse had 5,677 inhabitants, 60% of them being
farmers. From 1796 to 1800, Asse, Zellik, Bekkerzeel and other villages
formed a municipality, whereas Kobbegem and Mollem were incorporated to
Merchtem and Relegem to Grimbergen. The population grew steadily during the XIXth century, up to 11,127 inhabitants in 1900. The
industrialization of Asse started only after the Second World War.
Source: Municipal website, including a detailed history of Asse by Jaak Ockeley
Ivan Sache, 19 May 2007
The municipal flag of Asse is black with a plain white lion.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag of Asse was adopted by the Municipal Council on 19 September 1984, confirmed by the Executive of
Flanders on 5 March 1985 and published in the Belgian official gazette
on 8 July 1986.
The flag is a banner of the old arms of Asse.
The lion shown on the above image follows the official model for the Flemish lion. However, the image of the flag shown on the municipal website shows a less stylized lion, The situation might be similar to what happens in Edegem, where the flag in use shows a "non-official" lion.
According to Servais, the old arms of Asse, Van sabel met een zilveren
leeuw (Sable a lion argent), were granted by Royal Decree on 31
December 1912. The seals of Asse known since 1335 all show a lion,
whose origin and meaning are unknown. The Municipal Council applied for
these arms based on a proclamation by Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good
(XVth century), in which the arms of Asse are described as a silver lion
on a black field.
The current arms of Asse, as shown and described on the municipal
website, were adopted by the Municipal Council on 23 April 1980 and
confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 19 September 1984 as In
sabel een toren van zilver (Sable a tower argent). The tower is
depicted on a municipal seal of Asse dated 1248 whereas the colours
were taken from the old arms of Asse. The tower was the symbol of the
municipal liberties.
Until the 1970s, Asse was the main area of hop growing in Belgium, together with Poperinge in West Flanders. This is recalled every two years by the Hopduvelfeesten, the Hop's Devil Festival. The hop growers called Hop's Duvel the thunderstorms that could destroy the crop in late August (hop is traditionally grown on big racks and is therefore prone to lodging). The festival has a vertical, forked banner, which can be seen on a photography available on the festival website.
Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 19 May 2007
