Last modified: 2021-01-11 by ivan sache
Keywords: verquigneul |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-62-ve.gif)
Flag of Verquigneul - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 25 August 2002
See also:
The municiplaity of Verquigneul (2,056 inhabitants in 2009; 354 ha) is located south of Béthune. Incorporated in 1990 into the municipality of Béthune, Verquigneul regained municipal autonomy in 2008.
Verquigneul was mentioned for the first time, as Werkeniul,
in 1144 in a Bull signed by Pope Lucius II (1144-1145), who confirmed the
rights of the St. Bertinus Abbey on several churches in the north of
France. The first known lord of Verquigneul is Robert, son of Balswin and Adelize, who was allowed in 1147 to build church aimed at replacing the old village's chapel.
The Verquigneul family definitively left the village in the 14th
century, being succeeded by the Le Vasseur de Verquigneul
and Preud'homme d'Ailly families. Florence de Verquigneul (b. 1559), a reformer of the Benedictine abbeys in the north of France, founded
the Paix-Notre-Dame abbey in Douai in 1604, the Paix-de-Jésus Abbey in Arras in 1613, and the Paix-du-Saint-Esprit Abbey in Béthune in 1624.
A lady from the Verquigneul family once married her servant. To show
their reprobation, the villagers invented a card game called mariage de Verquigneul (Verquigneul Wedding), in which the Queen and
the Jack were associated. In French, the same word, valet, is
used both for "a servant" and "the jack".
Ivan Sache, 25 August 2002
The flag of Verquigneul is horizontally divided white-black with the municipal coat of arms in the center.
On 2 April 1980, the Municipal Council of Verquigneul adopted the arms of the old Verquigneul family as the new municipal arms. These arms symbolize the fight of a Christian knight, represented by the ermine spots, against the Muslims, represented by the dark crescent, during the Crusades.
Ivan Sache, 25 August 2002
![[Gonfanon]](../images/f/fr-62_ve.gif)
Gonfanon of Verquigneul - Imageby Ivan Sache & Arnaud Leroy
A gonfanon, horizontally divided white-black with three long tails and the Verquigneul coat of arms placed in the middle, "was also realized to represent the village during official ceremonies".
Ivan Sache, 25 August 2002