Hainaut (redirected from Henegouwen)

Hainaut (ĕnō`), Du. Henegouwen, province (1991 pop. 1,278,791), 1,437 sq mi (3,722 sq km), S Belgium, bordering on France in the south. The chief cities of the predominately French-speaking province are Mons, the capital; Charleroi; and Tournai. It is low-lying, except in the southeast, and has considerable productive farmland where wheat, grains, sugar beets, and dairy cattle are raised. Manufactures include chemicals and electrical equipment. The province is drained by the Scheldt, Dender, and Sambre rivers and is served by a dense rail network and the Charleroi-Brussels Canal. The county of Hainaut was created in the late 9th cent., and in the divisions of the Carolingian empire became a fief of Lotharingia. Count Reginar Long-Neck made himself master (late 9th–early 10th cent.) of the duchy of Lower Lorraine, which continued under his elder son (see Lotharingia), while his younger son inherited Hainaut. The widow of Reginar V, the last count of Hainaut, married (1036) Count Baldwin V of Flanders, but at his death (1070) Hainaut and Flanders were again separated. In 1191, Flanders again passed, through marriage, to the counts of Hainaut. Baldwin VI of Hainaut (as Baldwin IX, count of Flanders) took part in the Fourth Crusade and became (1204) emperor of Constantinople as Baldwin I. After Baldwin's death the two counties were united; in 1278 they were again separated. In 1433, Philip the Good of Burgundy added Hainaut and Holland to his dominions after overcoming the resistance of his cousin, Countess Jacqueline. Hainaut remained under the house of Burgundy until the death (1482) of Mary of Burgundy when its history became that of the Austrian Netherlands (see Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish). By the treaties of the Pyrenees (1659) and of Nijmegen (1678) parts of Hainaut, including the city of Valenciennes, were permanently annexed by France; they form part of the present Nord dept.

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Hainaut

 Flemish Henegouwen

Medieval county, now a province in southwestern Belgium. The area was once part of the county of Hainaut, which was larger than the modern province, and was bounded by Flanders on the north. United with Flanders several times from the 11th to the 13th century, it was later ruled by the house of Avesnes, the Wittelsbachs, the Burgundians, and finally the Habsburgs. Gradually annexed to France in the 17th and 18th centuries, part of the county stayed with France (now the Nord départment), and the rest passed to The Netherlands in 1814 and to Belgium in 1831. It is a well-farmed region with varied agriculture; animals, including Belgian draft horses, are raised. There are more than 100 castles in Hainaut.

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Hainaut, Hainault

a province of SW Belgium: stretches from the Flanders Plain in the north to the Ardennes in the south. Capital: Mons. Pop.: 1 283 200 (2004 est.). Area: 3797 sq. km (1466 sq. miles)

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Hainaut 

(French, Hainault; Flemish, Henegouwen), a province in Belgium, in the Schelde River basin. Area, 3,800 sq km. Population, 1,322,000 (1975), most of whom are Walloons. The capital is Mons.

Industries in the Mons-Charleroi region include coal mining, metallurgy, and heavy machine building. The region also has chemical, glass, and clothing industries. Agriculture plays an important role in the province’s economy; wheat, sugar beets, flax, and tobacco are cultivated, and livestock are raised.

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Hainaut 

(French, Hainault; Flemish, Henegouwen), a county formed in Lorraine in the ninth century. Hainaut became an independent feudal domain under the Holy Roman Empire during the 11th and 12th centuries. The counts of Henegouwen were also the counts of Flanders from 1191 to 1246 and the counts of Holland from 1299 to 1354. Between 1428 and 1433, Hainaut came under the rule of the Burgundian dukes. In 1477 (definitively in 1482), Hainaut passed to the Hapsburgs and, along with the other Belgian territories under Hapsburg rule, became one of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands. The southern part of Hainaut was annexed by France in the second half of the 17th century.