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Last modified: 2022-06-16 by ivan sache
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Two flags used in Comines - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 16 July 2020
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The municipality of Comines (12,788 inhabitants in 2019; 1,602 ha) is located on the border with Belgium, 20 km north-west of Lille.
Comines, possibly named after the Latin word Comius or Cumma, a
deformation of the Celtic word cumba, "a valley", was founded in the
3rd century by St. Chrysole. In the Middle Ages, the town was divided
into a northern part belonging to Ieper and a southern part belonging to Lille. Comines was successively ran by the families of Wasiers, Clite, Halluin, Croÿ, Henin and Orléans. The castle of Comines was burnt in 1297, revamped and eventually destroyed in 1382 when King of France Charles VI burnt down the town; Colard de la Clyte rebuilt the castle, Vauban increased its defenses and the castle was destroyed again in 1674. In 1456, Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good granted to Comines a free fair beginning on St. Remigius' Day and lasting three days. Charles the Bold supported the industrialization of the town and granted a municipal administration with seven Councillors (échevins) submitted to a Bailiff.
There are today two neighbouring towns named Comines, one in Belgium
and one in France, separated by river Lys. In 1668, the territories
located south of the Lys were allocated to France (Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle). The northern territories were added in 1678 (Treaty
of Nijmegen). The Ryswick peace (1697) confirmed the borders but the
northern territories were reallocated to the Austrian Netherlands in 1713 (Treaty of Utrecht). The French Revolution definitively established the Lys as the border and separated the two towns of Comines.
In 1719, Philippe Hovyn, flax merchand and manufacturer in Ieper, set
up a binding workshop in Comines-France, to avoid the customs
tax. After the invention of the steam engine, the binding makers ceased
to work at home and the production was industrialized. Around 1900,
there were some 3,500 needle looms in Comines, producing each year some
400 million meters of binding. Comines was then the world capital
of utilitarian binding. The current production of binding in Comines is
600 million meters made by 250 high-speed looms. The young factory
workers, called marmousets du devant, are recalled by the Marmousets' Festival, celebrated on the third Sunday of July.
During the First World War, Comines was located close to the frontline
and was totally destroyed. Kaiser Wilhelm II, visiting the frontline,
stopped at Comines in 1915. Adolf Hitler, fighting in the 15th Bavarian
Regiment in the region, stayed several times in Comines. On 26, 27 and
28 May 1940, there were violent fightings, part of the Battle of the
Canal, in Comines.
Ivan Sache, 16 June 2022
The flag of Comines is white with the municipal coat of arms, "Argent, a key palewise sable orled by five cinqfoils gules 2, 2 and 1. Th. Leuridan (Armorial des communes du département du Nord, 1909) gives these arms as used at the time. In the past, the arms were mostly used with a field or, as featured in the Armorial Général (image).
Leuridan reports several variations in the design of the arms.
Joseph-Emmanuel Van Driesten (La Marche de Lille, 1556) shows the arms with eight cinquefoils in orle. Priest C.H. Derveaux (Annales religieuses de la ville de Comines, 1856) gives the arms are "Or a key sable surrounded by six roses gules in pale 3 and 3"; in La ville aux beaux clochers (1857), Derveaux uses bezants instead of roses. Statistique archéologique du département du Nord (1867) reports bezants on a field argent.
In his Histoire de Comines (1892), Priest L.J Messiaen writes that Comines was granted arms in the second half of the 12th century, as "Argent a key sable surrounded by bezants gules". The number of bezants was reportedly eight, representing the "orle of roses" of Baldwin de Comines, thus indicating that the arms of the town were granted by its first lords. Messiaen reports that in 1841 the Municipal Council of Comines-Nord [The Belgian part of the town] re-adopted the old arms "Or a key sable eight roses gules".
The oldest known seals of the town, however, feature only five roses; the arms carved on the bells of the pill, mostly dating back to the late 16th century, feature five roses. So do different documents of the same period kept in the archives of the hospital.
According to local historian André Schoonheere, the arms of Comines combine the roses of lord Baldwin with the key of the chapter of the collegiate church. This design emphasizes the power of the town, both civil and religious.
The arms of Baldwin de Comines were "Or an orle of eight roses gules"; his son married Margaret de Bailleul and added an escutcheon 'Gules a cross vair" (Bailleul) to his arms. The key probably comes from the arms of the chapter of the collegiate church dedicated to St. Peter, "Azure a St. Peter or on a base vert holding dexter a key or and sinister a book of the same surrounded by eight roses argent in pale 4 and 4", as featured in the Armorial Général (image).
L.J. Messiaen (see above), however, gives a more symbolic explanation of the key, which would mean that Comines was the key of Flanders, since the Flemish militias had to cross the bridge of Comines to enter the chastelleny of Lille.
[Sous le beffroi de Comines, 23 July 2018]
The town also uses a banner of arms, "Gules a chevron or cantonned by three scallops or a bordure or", which were the arms of the de la Clyte family, lords of Comines. Th. Leuridan assigned them to the municipality of Buysscheure, owned by the de la Clyte in the 15th century.
The most famous member of this lineage and bearer of the arms was the courtesan, diplomat and chronicler Philippe de Commines (c. 1447-1511).
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 16 June 2022
