Machelen

The village center of Machelen-aan-Leie arose on a loftiness on, the right outer bend of the Lys, called "Machelen pit". The typical triangular shape of the village square could indicate a Frankish settlement. The Salian Franks crossed the Rhine towards the end of antiquity and settled in these areas (Chlodovech-Chlodwig-Clovis was baptized in Reims in 504). First mentions of the village in 697, 820 and 830 in the annals of the Ghent St. Peter's Abbey as "Machlinio, Machlinum, or Mageleno, according to Professor Gysseling probably derived from the Old Germanic "magalium", which means powerful, strong.

Dirk Acx