Municipality in French Community, Belgium
Enghien
(
[???j??]
ⓘ
;
Dutch
:
Edingen
[?eːd?ŋ?(n)]
ⓘ
;
Picard
:
Ingui
;
West Flemish
:
Enge
) is a city and
municipality
of
Wallonia
located in the
province of Hainaut
,
Belgium
.
On 1
January 2006, Enghien had a total population of 11,980. The total area is 40.59 km
2
(15.67 sq mi), which gives a
population density
of 295 inhabitants per km
2
.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Enghien,
Marcq
, and
Petit-Enghien
. It is situated on the Flemish border, and restricted language rights are granted to the Dutch speaking minority (so-called
language facilities
).
History
[
edit
]
Enghien gave its name to a French
duchy
and to the
commune
of
Enghien-les-Bains
, a suburb of Paris, due to a complex series of family successions: in 1487,
Mary of Luxembourg
(d. 1547), the only heir of
Peter II of Luxembourg
(d. 1482),
Count
of
Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise
and member of one of the branches of the
House of Luxembourg
, married
Francois de Bourbon-Vendome
(d. 1495), the great-grandfather of King
Henry IV of France
. Mary of Luxembourg brought as her
dowry
the fief of
Conde-en-Brie
(
Aisne
departement
, France) and the
county
of Enghien, among others. These fiefs passed to her grandson
Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Conde
, uncle of King Henry IV of France, who started the line of the
Princes of Conde
, the famous cadet branch of the French royal family.
In 1566, the county of Enghien was elevated to a
duchy
-
peerage
. However, the necessary registration process was not completed, so the title became extinct at the death of Louis I de Bourbon in 1569. In 1633,
Henry II, Prince of Conde
, grandson of Louis I de Bourbon, inherited the
duchy of Montmorency
, near Paris, after the execution of
Henri II de Montmorency
, brother of his wife
Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency
. In 1689, King
Louis XIV
allowed
Henry III, Prince of Conde
, grandson of Henry II, Prince of Conde, to rename the duchy of Montmorency as "
duchy of Enghien
", in memory of the duchy of Enghien which the Princes of Conde had lost in 1569 at the death of Louis I de Bourbon.
The city of
Montmorency
, at the heart of the duchy, continued to be known as "Montmorency", despite the official name change, but the name "Enghien" stuck to the nearby lake and marshland that developed later as a
spa resort
and was incorporated as the
commune
of
Enghien-les-Bains
in the 19th century.
Image gallery
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Enghien
.
Places adjacent to Enghien
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