Bosschaerts Persyn genealogical research: Bosschaerts - Persyn Genealogy

Bosschaerts - Persyn Genealogy - Historical notes

Lier in the past

According to tradition, the existence of Lier is closely connected with the figure of Saint Gummarus, a general and large landowner who lived in the first half of the 8th century. Later he became the Patron Saint from the City.
Saint Gummarus should have built a place to pray in honour of Saint Petrus, near Nivesdonck, somewhere in the neighbourhood of the present Saint-Pieters chapel. After Gummarus' death, a village should have grown around this oratorium, that later would evolved until an urban settlement.
However it is generally accepted that the oldest agglomeration of Lier is situated on the higher grounds outside the core of the city. This place has the toponym ‘Allier’, what means ‘Old Lier'. To the north and south of the present city core were found heights where former habitation was present. In between were lower areas with a very humid sore, named with the toponym as Lachenen (Laach means water plain) and Redingen or Ringen. In these lower areas, near the junction of the rivers of the Large and Small Nete arose swamps because of the slower flow of the Schelde. The first Frankish settlements had to settle on higher stakes. The improvement of the flow of the Schelde caused an abasement of the waterlevel in the subrivers and a decrease of the swamp formation. People moved gradually from the old core to Nivesdonck, a commercially much more interesting place near the junction of the two Netes.

Since the 12th century Lier belonged to the mark county of Antwerp as part of the Duchy of Brabant. After the separation from the Netherlands; Lier, Antwerp and the towns between both cities belonged to the Country of Rijen. The castle Anderstad (Other city) to the south of Lier, is part of the Country of Arkel. In 1194 Lier becomes, together with eight other Brabant settlements, an ‘oppidum’. An ‘Oppidium’ is a stronghold or better strengthened city. In 1212, after the granting of the city rights, the territory of Lier was divided in two separate juridical areas, with its own aldermen and jurisdiction: the territory of the Urban Freedom and the territory of the ‘Bijvang’.
The Urban Freedom was the heart of the juridical territory. It was geologically divided in the city itself (the territory within the ramparts and the gates) and the ‘Kuip’ (Tub) (a circular area around the city). The area outside the city and the Kuip, was named Bijvang. This vast territory counted three hamlets also named ‘tenten’: Hagenbroeck, Lachenen and the Mijl and four towns Bevel, Emblem, Kessel and Nijlen. In 1795 these towns of the ‘Lierse Bijvang’ became separated.

In the 13th century the Brabant cloth industry knew a quick rise and that is why many Brabant cities made a fast expansion. At the end of the 13th century Lier became an important center of the textile production, thanks to a thriving cloth guild. Lier obtained a number of privileges: the cattle market (in 1309), the High Hall (1326) and the Cloth Hall (1338). In 1338 cloth were exported to the English market. After 1375 reached the cloth industry its culminating-point: the main world markets sell the cloths of Lier: Paris, Dijon, Milan, Pisa, Ravensburg etc. At the end of the 14th century, because of the economic and demographic expansion, Lier is forced to built a second rampart. It can still be recognized in the present cities vests. Some monuments: the Outergat to Mechelen, Antwerp and Lisper, the Large and Small Spui (sluices). The prisoner Gate and the Corneliustower (the present Zimmertower) date from the first rampart in 1350. Around 1450 ended the bloom period of the cloth industry of Lier, with its lowest point around 1475-85, caused by unemployment and social revolt. The main cause was the rise of the lighter and cheaper English cloth or the so-called 'new drapperie'. The economy of Liers slowly recovered in about 1490. According to the ‘count of fireplaces’ (haardtelling) of 1496, Lier counted in total 1283 houses: 897 within the walls, 46 in the Kuip and 340 houses in the Bijvang.

In the 16th century Lier clamped itself at the enormous expansion of Antwerp: the most important trade and money market of Europe. Lier became a 'residence city', a place to take a rest near the feverish bustle of the business in Antwerp.
In 1582 Lier is reconquered by the Spanish troops, or the so called ‘Spanish Fury’ and on 14 October 1595 Lier is afflicted through the ‘Fury of Lier’. Many building were damaged, but mainly the monasteries and churches, because of these politic and religious riots, resulting from the Reformation. The period between the 17th and the early 18th century is characterized by an enormous ecclesiastic building activity: the amount of monasteries is almost doubled. Lier knew an economic revival. The annexation in 1795 of the Austrian Netherlands with France meant the definitive end for many monasteries and abbeys. Shortly after 1800, Lier was divided in 8 quarters: the first four fall within the ramparts, and others are called: de Kuip (the Tub), Hagenbroeck, Lachenen and the Mijl. Around 1850 Lier endured the Industrial Revolution, supported through the application of steam power: the embroidery machines partially made the traditional Lace of Lier disappear. Around 1870, Lier counted 129 shoe factories, a sugar refinery, 2 silk factories, 6 breweries, 3 Dutch gin commotions, 3 factories of brass musical instruments, a steam-distillery of cichorei, a factory to peal grains, factories to boil salt and make soap, 3 printing-factories, factories to make knives and brushes, etc. The employment and habitation rose fast.

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