Eglise Saint-Nicolas

The Saint Nicholas Church in the center of Ciney (on the Place Monseu) is the most imposing historic building of the Condroz. It was founded before the 9th century by canons under the Liège Saint Lambert chapter. Thanks to their presence (monastery, guest house, school) Ciney grew into a significant place. In the French period, the foundation was abolished (1796) and the Collégiale Notre-Dame (as it was called until then) got a new patron saint in the person of Nicholas of Myra.

The current building has been extended and rebuilt several times. The oldest parts are the Romanesque tower and the three-aisled crypt from the 11th century. The tower's mighty walls indicate a defensive function. The church was reduced to ashes during attacks on Ciney in 1149 and 1195. This also happened in the so-called cow war (1275-78). The inhabitants, who had taken refuge in the house of worship, then perished in the flames. A new nave was built a few years later against the tower that had survived. After the passage of a hurricane in 1613, it had to be replaced again (1618-20). The crypt was filled with the rubble.

The interior was uniformly plastered in 1791 by Domenico Perugini. A thorough renovation took place in 1843 and a polychrome in 1886. During a restoration in 1908 the west facade of the tower was rebuilt and in 1928 the crypt was cleared again, where a Merovingian sarcophagus was found. A major renovation took place in 1975-76.

A tornado caused extensive damage in 2010: the spire, still reconstructed in 1976, was torn off and fell through the ship's roof. Restoration and restoration were completed in 2018.

cow war

1275. A cow thief is unmasked during the annual fair of Andenne. What seems like a simple petty theft, however, quickly degenerates into a real war. For two years, the Condroz becomes the scene of a bloody battle. When the French king puts an end to the fighting, no fewer than 15,000 were killed and 60 villages were destroyed. How did it get this far?

On that beautiful day in 1275, the small town of Andenne is in a festive mood. Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders and Margrave of Namur, organizes an impressive tournament here. Farmers and citizens from the surrounding towns and cities flock to see the noble lords who - according to a 14th century chronicler - "enter into a fierce competition for the love of the ladies and for the prize pool". So many people is a commercial opportunity: Andenne is overrun by stalls, itinerant traders and acrobats. A cattle market is even organized further on. Pigs, sheep and cattle are bartered or sold, purses full of coins pass from hand to hand.

Among the customers, Rigaud de Corbion, a citizen of Ciney, watches the animals very carefully. Just a few days ago, one of his cows was stolen. At that time, cattle were still rare and worth a small fortune. Therefore, he suspects that the thief will use the tournament to collect a nice sum. Our citizen remains petrified at one of the fences: in front of him is his stolen cow, with the thief next to it! It concerns a poor small farmer from Goesnes, a modest lordship in the immediate vicinity. The owner does not hesitate for a moment and goes looking for help. In doing so, he collides with the mayor of Ciney, who is also bailiff of the Condroz and authorized to enforce the law in his region. The mayor is in Andenne to watch the tournament, but unfortunately has no authority here: the city is part of the Margraviate of Namur and that is outside his jurisdiction. He cannot and may not arrest the thief.

Rigaud de Corbion then approaches the noblemen who are feasting on the banquet a little further on, but there too he is blunt. "The gentlemen were busy celebrating and didn't want to interrupt their fun for a simple cow theft", says Dany Kohl, curator of the Musée de l'Héritage in Goesnes. But how do you bring the guilty to justice? The mayor of Ciney has an idea. He grabs the thief by the collar and threatens to have him assaulted. Unless he returns the cow to where it was stolen. Trembling with fear, the thief immediately sets off with his loot. But that turns out not to be such a good idea. Once he crosses the border into Ciney, the mayor asserts his judicial powers. The thief is arrested and tried without further ado. In less than no time the poor man is dangling high and dry from a tree. For many, the case is over, but in reality it will have a bloody sequel.

Shortly afterwards, Nicolas and Richard de Beaufort, lords of Goesnes, learn that one of their subjects, who has committed a theft, has been ambushed and executed by the inhabitants of Ciney. They believe that this is a serious infringement of their legal authority. The gentlemen gather a number of fighting jackets around them and start a punitive expedition. Perhaps the mayor of Ciney will be killed.

Coincidentally, during this period, the region caused ongoing tensions between the powerful Prince-Bishopric of Liège, which includes Dinant, Ciney and Huy, and the small Margraviate of Namur, which includes Andenne and, more recently, Goesnes. However, the feudal boundary between the two 'states' is vague and erratic. The territory of the Prince-Bishopric has a number of Namur enclaves and vice versa. Some lordships have already changed lords several times. Moreover, the Margrave of Namur is a vassal of the French king, while the Prince-Bishop of Liège has sworn allegiance to the Holy German Empire. Enough material for tensions. The region lives on a powder keg and a simple act of revenge is enough to light the fire (read also: A cow as a pretext ).

The king plays arbiter

The fence is now off the dam. In the winter of 1275, the Liège troops razed Goesnes to the ground. This obliges the Margrave of Namur, Guy of Dampierre, to react. In April 1276 there is a real war. Here no glorious battles with knights on horseback, but looting, rape and senseless massacres. Plumes of smoke rise from the villages and hamlets almost everywhere and can be seen for miles around. In the beginning, the people of Liège seem to have the upper hand. Until Guy of Dampierre calls on his loyal Flemish troops - he is count of Flanders for a reason - and also receives help from the counts of Brabant and Luxembourg. Violence is increasing and the number of looted towns and villages can no longer be counted: Ciney, Durbuy, Marche-en-Famenne, Malonne, Landen...

The conflict is deadlocked, but no one wants to capitulate. Tired of war, the Liège prince-bishop asks the liege lord of Guy of Dampierre, the French king Philip the Bold, to put an end to the fighting. In April 1278, the king brings all the belligerent parties in Andenne around the table and oversees the peace negotiations. The cow war thus ends where it - according to legend - started. The balance is heavy: 15,000 dead and many dozens of villages destroyed. Only history does not tell how many cows died in this conflict that is named after them.

Today, Cieny's livestock market is the second largest in Europe, after Sancois in France.

Willem Vandenameele