|
|
|
Mons - History |
|
The
name of the city means 'mountains', which already clearly indicates
what the geographic situation of Mons is like. The town grew on one of the
five hills in the valley of the Haine river. Archaeological researches in
the flint stone quarries of the nearby village Spiennes, indicate that the
area must have been inhabited during the Palaeolithic, the Neolithic and
the Iron Age. During the Roman Age, Mons was a military camp alongside the
road from Bavay to Utrecht. A lot of European cities actually started as
settlements around a monastery in the early Middle-Ages. The same goes for
Mons. A noble woman, called Wautru (Waldetrudis) founded a
monastery here. Because such early settlements were vulnerable to outside
attacks, the dukes or counts of the area built castles to defend them. In
the case of Mons this happened when the count of Mons, and later the Duke
of Hainaut, had a fortified castle constructed on the top of the hill.
Finally, a 1 km long defence wall was added around The city grew, the people started to move down to the slopes of the hill and a new and larger city wall was built. It had six stone gates through which one could leave or enter Mons. This situation has continued until the 19th century, because the moors and densely wooded area around Mons, prohibited the creation of a larger conglomeration between the city and the surrounding villages. During the different foreign occupations (Burgundy, Spain, Austria, France) military fortifications were added to this wall. It was only in 1815 - 1820, during the Dutch era, that the medieval walls were demolished so that the city could expand. This expansion grew to momentum in the middle of the 20th century, when new avenues were constructed, new suburbs grew and Mons absorbed 18 neighbouring villages into its town territory. |
|
|
|
|
© Copyright 2000 - 2004 Eurotravelling.net POWERED BY wORLDTRAVELGATE.NET |
 |
the city in the 12th century.