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Municipal flag of Jurbise - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 4 August 2007
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The municipality of Jurbise (in Dutch, Jurbeke; 9,695 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 5,786 ha) is located 10 km north of Mons-. The municipality of Jurbise iwas established in 1976 as the merger of the former municipalities of Jurbise, Erbaut, Erbisœul, Herchies, Masnuy-Saint-Jean and Masnuy-Saint-Pierre.
Jurbise was mentioned for the first time in 1057, as Yorbisa, on a charter by which the bishop of Cambrai and Arras transferred the church of Jurbise to the chapter of Cambrai. In 1541, the village had c. 285 inhabitants, a number that increased to 750 in 1826 and 1,558 in 1973. The village developed after the building of the Mons-Ath road in 1736 and of railway lines in the 19th century. The Lens-Baudour line, via Herchies, was operated from 1901 to the 1950s. The Brussels-Mons-Quiévrain "dorsal" line allowed the villagers of Jurbise to go to Tubize in 1831 and to Tournai in 1848. The Saint-Ghislain-Erbisœul line was inaugurated in 1876; its increase to Jurbise allowed the set up of several factories, such as a glass factory, a sugar mill, grain warehouses and the Walref (refractory products) factories in Masnuy-Saint-Pierre, the Gantois brewery, distillery and maltery, and the Ceresia brewery in Erbisœul. In 1876, the Utzschneider-Jaunel company built in Jurbise a famous tile factory.
Herchies was mentioned for the first time, as
Helchies, on a Bull dated 1162, by which Bishop of Cambrai Nicolas I
transferred the church of Herchies to the abbey of Gislenghien. Later
documents (1246 and 1267) mention Hercia and Hercies, respectively,
while the modern written form appears in 1270. Chotin believes that
Herchies means "the warriors' domain", from her, the short form of the
Germanic herman, ariman, "a warrior", and -chies, a suffix meaning
"a domain", from Lower Latin caia, chio, "an enclosed domain". Carnoy
claims that Herchies was Hilliciacum, that is Hilico's estate. Anyway,
Herchies has been a local political and military center all over the
Celtic and Frankish periods. Finally, Jacques de Guyse, a
not-to-be-believed "historian" of the Middle Ages, claims that Herchies
was founded by a lord named Hericinus, in Latin, "hedgehog".
In 1901, Canon Puissant found Prehistoric artifacts on the site of the
former fortress, which was therefore, most probably, settled by Celtic
tribes before the Roman occupation. In the Middle Ages, Herchies was
located on the border of Brabant and Hainaut; in 1015, Count of Hainaut
Régnier V eventually incorporated the Decanate of Chièvres, including Herchies, to Hainaut.
Ivan Sache, 5 August 2007
The flag of Jurbise is red with three white lions with yellow tongue,
claws and crowns, surrounding a stylized, white "J" letter.
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones [w2v03], the flag, adopted on 28 January 1999 by the Municipal Council, was confirmed on 30 April 1999 by the Executive of the French Community.
The flag is a banner of the non-official municipal arms.
Herchies used very similar arms, granted by Royal Decree on 30 January 1913, with a "H" instead of a "J". Masnuy-Saint-Jean used very similar arms, granted by Royal Decree on 24 April 1912, with no letter at all.
The municipality of Lens uses a banner of arms as its municipal flag, "Gules three lions rampant argent armed langued and crowned or". Herchies was part of the Peerage of Lens, one of the 12 peerages of
Hainaut created by Countess Richilde of Egisheim around 1076. The
oldest known lord of Lens is Gauthier / Wautier, lord of Lens and
Herchies, listed on a charter of the King of France in 1065 and said to
have joined the Crusade with Godefroid de Bouillon in 1099. He bore arms with the three lions. The arms were used by Jean of Lens, lord of Lens and Herchies in 1294.
[Cercle Héraldus de Mons]
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 5 August 2007
