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Last modified: 2019-01-06 by ivan sache
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Municipal flag of Sint-Truiden - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 28 August 2005
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The municipality of Sint-Truiden (in French, Saint-Trond; 38,427 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 10,690 ha, therefore the biggest municipality in Limburg by its area; municipal website) is located in Haspengouw / Hesbaye, 15 km south-west of Hasselt, 30 km west of Maastricht and 30 km north-west of Liège. The municipality of Sint-Truiden was established in 1976 as the merger of the former municipalities of Sint-Truiden (including Halmaal since 1970), Brustem (including Aalst and Ordingen since 1970), Duras (including Gorsem, Runkelen and Wilderen since 1970), Gelmen (including Engelmanshoven, Gelinden and Groot-Gelmen since 1970), Velm and Zepperen.
In the Roman times, a settlement existed along the
Bavay-Tongeren-Cologne road. Around 650-660, St. Truiden (in Frankish, Trudo; in French, Trond or Trudon; d. 690 and celebrated on 23 November) founded an abbey on his parents' estate, who were wealthy farmers. The abbey and its domain were later ceded to the Bishop of Metz and placed under the Benedictine rule c. 850. The abbey
was then very rich and St. Truiden's tomb was a very popular place of
pilgrimage. Plundered by the Northmen at the end of the 9th century, the
abbey was rebuilt in the 10th century and placed under the joint
rule of the Bishop of Metz and the Abbot of St. Truiden. Abbot
Adelardus II (1055-1082) built a 100 x 27 m abbey church in the middle
of the 11th century, one of the biggest at the time; the three towers
and the remains of the crypt still give an idea of this huge church,
which was destroyed after the French Revolution.
The St. Agnes Beguine convent, built in 1258 by Abbot Willem van Rijkel along the Cincidria brook, was also suppressed in 1798. The Beguine convent's church was transformed into the Provincial Museum of Religious Art in 1970.
The mystic St. Christine the Admirable, whose miracles have been reported by Jacques de Vitry, died in the Sint-Truiden convent
in 1224. During her ecstasy, she looked death and was once buried; during the Requiem,
she raised from her open coffin and flew up to the vaults of the
church.
In 1227, the Bishop of Metz ceded all his goods and rights to the
Prince-Bishop of Liège, therefore appointed one of the two lords of the town, which became one of the Good Towns of the Principality of Liège.
Fortified in the 12th century, Sint-Truiden was seized and looted in
1347 by the Duke of Brabant, in 1467 by Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold, in 1568 by the Prince of Orange and in 1672 by the French. The Brustem Gate is the only remaining part of the town fortifications, which were suppressed in 1675.
On 22 December 1465, the burghers of the Good Towns of the
Principality of Liège (presentation) signed with Charles the Bold the Peace of
Sint-Truiden, which definitively established the Burgundian
protectorate on the country. The treaty appointed the duke and his
successors "guardians and lords of the churches and towns of the
countries of Liège and Loon", with an annuity of 2.000 Rhine guilders.
Facilitated by the divisions among the burghers, the treaty
remained known as "the vile and pathetic Sint-Truiden peace".
In the Middle Ages, Sint-Truiden was a wealthy cloth-making town, exporting its products to the English, French and German markets. In the 14th century, a cattle market was set up, which is today one of the biggest in Belgium. Sint-Truiden has today the biggest fruit market in Belgium. The municipal rights granted to the town are symbolized by a perron surmounted by a golden eagle. The Town Hall of Sint-Truiden is built on the former limit of the jurisdiction of the Prince-Bishop and the Abbot.
The Festraet's studio shows the main works by Kamiel Festraets (1904-1974), including his masterpiece, a 6.16 m high compensation astronomical clock (the biggest of that kind in the world) and a Foucault pendulum.
The Flèche Hesbignonne cyclist race was run from 1951 to 1955 between Niel and Sint-Truiden. The five races were won by Belgians, the most famous winner being Rik Van Steenbergen in 1951. The Flèche Hesbignonne was resurrected in 1965 with a different route.
Ivan Sache, 28 August 2005
The flag of Sint-Truiden, in odd proportions 4:5, is divided yellow-blue by the descending diagonal, with a red lion wearing a yellow crown all over.
The flag, adopted on 9 September 1985 by the Municipal Council,
is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 7 October 1985 by the Executive of Flanders and published on 8 July 1986 in the Belgian official gazette.
The flag shows the alleged personal arms of St. Truiden, represented on a
drawing from c. 1700 kept in the Catholic secondary school of
Sint-Truiden.
[Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel [w2v02a]]
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 28 August 2005
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Unofficial flag of Zepperen (reconstitution) - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 1 October 2005
The former municipality of Zepperen (3,009 inhabitants on 1 January 2001; website) was incorporated in 1976 into the municipality of Sint-Truiden.In 1998, a group of local associations formed the "Municipal Council"
(Gemeenschapsraad), which unveiled in 1998 the "flag of Zepperen".
Therefore, it is clear that this flag has no official status. The flag
is based on the logotype of Zepperen, designed by Ivo Walschots, from
the village of Halle-Booienhoven, located west of Sint-Truiden. The
logotype is placed on a violet flag with white paintbrush marks, with
the name of the village written in white (font Brush 455) below the
logotype. Violet and white are the colours of the local football-club.
There is no image of the flag available, and the reconstruction shown above is based on written description only. The paintbrush marks are not represented on the image.
Ivan Sache, 1 0ctober 2005
