^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Huy (Municipality, Province of Liège, Belgium)

Hoei

by Ivan Sache

Presentation of Huy
- Former municipality of Ben-Ahin
Description of the flag of Huy
Coat of arms of Huy

See also:

Presentation of Huy

The municipality of Huy (14,100 inhabitants) is located between Namur and Liège. It is made of four parts: Ben-Ahin, Huy, Neuville-sous-Huy and Tihange. The city of Huy was built around a rocky spur dominating the confluency of the rivers Hoyoux and Meuse. A huge fortress built on the spur watched the valley of Meuse but was destroyed in 1715. A citadel was built on the same site in 1823, but was never used for offensive purpose.

Huy (Latin, Hoium) was mentioned for the first time in a testament dated 636. A village was probably built earlier near a Roman castrum (fortified camp) set up on the right bank of the Meuse. It is also said that saint Materne dedicated a shrine to the Blessed Virgin there in the IInd century.

In the VIIth century, the area was evangelized by saint Domitian, bishop of Tongeren and first patron saint of the city. Accordingly, two churches dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and saint Cosmo were built. A shrine dedicated to saint Materne is mentioned in a document dated 634. In the Merovingian times, Huy was a small but very active river port. Coins with the writing choe castro were minted in the city, showing that a castle already existed in Huy. The castle was explicitely mentioned for the first time in 890 in a bill of sale. Grapevine was grown on the slopes of the spur. Bronze foundry workers, bone and horn cutters and potters had workshops in the borough of Batta.

In 941, German emperor Otto I created the short-lived county of Huy, encompassing most of the regions of Condroz and Hesbaye. The last count, Ansfried, ceded it to the bishop of Liège in 985. Huy was then included as a "good city" in the principality-bishopric of Liege.
In the XIth century, Huy was an important industrial center. Blacksmiths formed the most powerful guild. Water wheels built on the Houyoux allowed the development of several ironworks and smelting furnaces. Copper beating was exported all over Europe thanks to two famous artists from Huy, Rénier de Huy (baptismal founts in St. Bartholomeuw's church of Liège) and Godefroid de Claire (reliquaries of St. Mengold and St. Domitian in the collegiate church of Huy).

In 1066, bishop Theoduin of Bayern needed funds to rebuild the cathedral Notre-Dame. The citizens of Huy ceded him half of their loose goods against a chart of rights, which was the first ever granted to a city in western Europe. Remains of the crypt of Theoduin's church, housing the relics of saints Domitian and Mengold, were discovered in 1906.

In the XIIIth and XIVth centuries, the fortune of Huy was due to cloth trade. Coins from Huy found in Russia and in Scandinavia are evidence of the inte