Azores were once known as ‘the Flemish Islands’ IMPRESSION OF A BRIT ‘Stick-in-the-mud’ or ‘go-as-I-please?’ An often-remarked aspect of the cultures of Belgium (of which there are hundreds) is the highly developed spirit of localism and, with it, a stubborn attachment to place of birth. But it would be a mistake for foreigners to run away with the idea that Belgians are stay-at-homes or stick-in-the-muds. There is plenty of evidence, historical and contemporary, to show that both Flemish and Walloons are fully prepared to uproot themselves if the circumstances demand it or the opportunity offers. Richard Hill T his wanderlust has been around for a long time. The Belgae, one of the tribes that gave its name to the present-day Belgian state, were already present in England in Caesar’s time. Well established in what would now be Hampshire and Avon, their towns included their capital, Venta Belgarum (today’s Winchester), Magnus Portus (today’s Portsmouth) and possibly also Bath. In the 12th century a substantial number of Walloon peasants emigrated to Hungary at the invitation of King Béla IV and, much later in the 1800s, Walloon entrepreneurs and workers helped develop the Hungarian iron and steel industry. Masters of the technology developed in the Meuse valley, the ‘Walloon Process’, established Sweden’s iron industry (known locally as vallonjärn) and Walloon glassmakers from Namur, Liege and Jumet developed Finland’s first glassworks in Nötsjö. The Flemish earned their reputation for being footloose even earlier. In 1105, at the invitation of King Henry I of England, Flemish farmers settled in Rhos in the Dyfed area of south Wales, cultivating the no-man’s-land behind a row of Norman forts built to hold back the unruly Welsh, one of whom appraised the Flemings as “a 48 BECI - Brussel metropool - februari 2016 brave and sturdy people”. The Flemish also participated in the capture of Lisbon from the Moors 40 years later, when they were characterised as “a fierce and untameable people” (another way of saying much the same thing). In the words of historian Robert Bartlett in his book The Making of Europe: ”In the High Middle Ages, Flemings spread throughout Europe. Many of them were peasant settlers – who were reputed for their skills in reclaiming swampland and rendering it fertile – but there were also Flemish knights, soldiers and artisans to be found in every corner of Latin Christen dom” (Bartlett’s term for the western Europe of the time). They also played an important role as mercenaries in the civil wars and rebellions of the English twelfth century. But the talents of the Flemings extended beyond warfare. Flemish settlers were recorded in Transylvania in the mid-1100s and Vienna in the early-1200s. Their historical presence is evident in such place-names as Flemmingen, Flemsdorf and Flemingsthal, all in today’s Germany. In 1331, Edward III invited Flemish weavers to settle in the eastern counties of England. Even today, some people speak of East Anglia as ‘Flemish England’. From the early-14th century, artisans from the Low Countries also emigrated in droves to the English counties of Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Linen weavers from Kortrijk and West Flanders settled in Canterbury and other Kentish towns, and brought the cultivation of hops and a taste for good beer with them. Flemish peasants were drafted in to settle on lands in central and eastern Europe, notably the Banat on the lower Danube and the area that is now known as Belarus. In more recent times Flemish missionaries have worked all over the world. Some Flemish also ventured south. The Portuguese discovered the Azores in the second half of the 15th century but, by 1490, the couple of thousand Flemings who settled in the Azores had such an impact on the local culture that, by the turn of the 16th century, these were known as ‘the Flemish islands’. I come from a country that has lost some of its former zest as a creator of empires – and still has problems in accepting that it is physically and historically an integral part of Europe. So I have reason to admire the ‘getup-and-go’ spirit of much of Belgium. Long may it last! ● Pagina 49

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