Diest

Diest was a county of the Carolingian Empire. The city owed its rise to its favorable location: Diest was located along the Bruges-Cologne trade route and on the river Demer.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the inhabitants lived in great prosperity due to a busy agricultural market, grain and cattle markets, but especially through the cloth industry and trade. The Diestse cloth was for sale in almost all major Western European markets.
Due to its location near the Demer, on the border of Brabant and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the connections with Orange-Nassau, the city was often besieged, looted and destroyed. Between 1701 and 1705 she had to deal with French, Dutch and Spanish occupation.
The peasant army occupied the city for four days, which the French kept surrounded. Most of the peasant army was able to escape via an emergency bridge over the Demer and the undefended town was once again sacked, this time by the Sansculotten.

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