Hainaut

Hainaut

Hainaut (ĕnōˈ), 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.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2022, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

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.

---

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.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005