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Kortrijk (Municipality, Province of West Flanders, Belgium)

Courtrai

Last modified: 2022-02-27 by ivan sache
Keywords: kortrijk | courtrai |
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Flag of Kortrijk - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 4 September 2005

• Presentation of Kortrijk
• Flag of Kortrijk

See also:

• Belgium
• Province of West Flanders: Municipal flags
• Belgium: Municipal flags

Presentation of Kortrijk

The municipality of Kortrijk (in French, Courtrai; 73,777 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 8,002 ha; municipal website) is located 20 km north-east of the French Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing conurbation, 35 km south-west of Ghent and 25 km north-west of Tournai. The municipality of Kortrijk was established in 1976 as the merger of the former municipalities of Kortrijk, Aalbeke, Bellegem, Bissegem, Heule, Kooigem, Marke, and Rollegem.

Kortrijk is located on the river Leie (in French, Lys); archeological remains prove that the place was already settled 1500 years BC, although there was no permanent settlement there. The early village (vicus) developed later in the alluvial plain of the Leie around two main Roman ways (Tongeren-Cassel and Tournai-Oudenburg).
In the Frankish times, the village grew up to a small town. In the 9th century, Kortrijk was threatened by the Northmen. A first wooden fort was built to protect the town, soon replaced in the Xth century by a stone castle with towers. In the beginning of the County of Flanders, Kortrijk controlled a district stretching over the modern territories of Kortrijk and Harelbeke. It was also the seat of a lordship (kasselrij). The burghers of Kortrijk were granted their first municipal chart by Duke Philip of Alsace in 1190. City walls were built in the 13th century and increased in the 14th-15th centuries.

On 11 July 1302, the militia of the Flemish towns defeated the French knights, commanded by Robert d'Artois. The battle, aka the Golden Spurs battle, was the first victory of infantry against knights and is a founding event of the Flemish identity; it is described in more detail below. The same year, the French took their revenge in Westrozebeke and burned down the castle of Kortrijk as well as the municipal archives. The town was revamped and a new castle was built near the Leie. The two Broel towers were also built in that period.
During the next centuries, Kortrijk was often besieged and occupied by the French, the Spaniards and the Austrians. In the peaceful periods, linen and damask production significantly contributed to the developemnt of the town and its region. In the 17th century, damask from Kortrijk was used in all the courts of Europa. Linen industry was the most important industry in Kortrijk and all the south-west of Flanders. Retting was done with the water from the Leie, nicknamed the Golden River.

The Newfoundland Courtrai Memorial, located just outside Kortrijk on the road to Ghent, commemorates the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's crossing of the Leie under British divisional command.
During the battle of Kortrijk, which started on 14 October 1918, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's objective was the railway running north from Kortrijk, eight kilometres from the starting line. The attack went in at 5:35 a.m.. As they moved forward, the Newfoundlanders had to deal with a number of German pillboxes that were threatening to stall the advance. A serious situation developed when leading companies were held up by German field gun shelling in some houses a few hundred metres away on the right flank. As a Newfoundland platoon moved out to try to outflank the German battery, Private Thomas Ricketts, a member of the Lewis Gun detachment, displayed great initiative and daring in engaging the enemy with his accurate fire. At one stage he had to double back across 90 metres of bullet-swept ground to replenish his ammunition. The fire from Ricketts' gun put the enemy to flight and the platoon was able to capture the four field guns, four machine-guns and eight prisoners without themselves sustaining any casualties. For his bravery, Private Ricketts, who was only 17 at the time, became the youngest winner of the Victoria Cross in the British Army.
When the Royal Newfoundland Regiment dug in at dusk on the 14th, it had taken 500 prisoners and 94 machine-guns, eight field guns and large quantities of ammunition. But this had not been accomplished without suffering heavy casualties. At dawn next day, the Battalion could muster only 300 rifles.
Separate attempts by three divisions to establish bridgeheads over the canalized Leie on October 16 and 17 for an advance to the river Scheldt failed in the face of determined German resistance. Finally, on the night of October 19-20, a major assault by three divisions abreast succeeded, the Newfoundlanders rafting across in the pre-dawn hours of the 20th.
[Veterans Affairs Canada