bouillon

Bouillon
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Bouillon in Luxembourg
Bouillon Location in Belgium
Sovereign state	Belgium
Region	Wallonia
Community	French Community
Province	Luxembourg
Arrondissement	Neufchâteau
Coordinates	49°47′0″N 05°04′0″E / 49.78333°N 5.06667°E / 49.78333; 5.06667Coordinates: 49°47′0″N 05°04′0″E / 49.78333°N 5.06667°E / 49.78333; 5.06667
Area	149.09 km²
Population – Males – Females – Density	5,455 (1 January 2006) 48.95% 51.05% 37 inhab./km²
Age distribution 0–19 years 20–64 years 65+ years	(01/01/2006) 22.20% 56.28% 21.52%
Foreigners	5.94% (01/07/2005)
Unemployment rate	15.14% (1 January 2006)
Mean annual income	€10,594/pers. (2003)
Mayor	André Defat (ACTION)
Governing parties	DEES, UNION, ACTION
Postal codes	6830, 6831, 6832, 6833, 6834, 6836, 6838
Area codes	061
Website	www.bouillon.be

Bouillon is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Luxembourg Province.

The municipality, which covers 149.09 km², had 5,477 inhabitants, giving a population density of 36.7 inhabitants per km².

History

In the Middle Ages Bouillon was a lordship within the Duchy of Lower Lorraine and the principal seat of the Ardennes-Bouillon dynasty in the 10th and 11th century. In the 11th century they dominated the area, and held the ducal title along with many other titles in the region. Bouillon was the location of the ducal mint and the dominant urban concentration in the dukes' possession.^[1]

Western part of the castle (13th/19th centuries).

There is a common misconception that Bouillon was a County. While the lords of Bouillon often were counts and dukes, Bouillon itself was not a county. The fortification of Bouillon was, along with the County of Verdun, the core of the possessions of the Ardennes-Bouillon dynasty, and their combined territory was a complex mixture of fiefs, allodial land and other hereditary rights throughout the area. An example of the latter is the Advocacy of the monastery of Saint-Hubert en Ardennes, which was granted to Godfrey II by the Bishop of Liège.^[2]

The Semois river and the castle.

The most famous of the Lords of Bouillon was Godfrey of Bouillon, who sold Bouillon Castle to the Bishopric of Liege. The bishops started to call themselves dukes of Bouillon, and the town emerged as the capital of a sovereign duchy by 1678, when it was captured from the bishopric by the French army and given to the La Tour d'Auvergne family. The duchy was prized for its strategic location as "the key to the Ardennes" (as Vauban called it) and hence to France itself. It remained a quasi-independent protectorate, like Orange and Monaco, until 1795, when the Republican Army finally annexed it to France.

Relief map displayed in the city.

Modern town

View over Bouillon

Bouillon has a few schools, a lyceum 'lycée (middle school) and a gymnasium (high school), banks and a square place.

The town sits in a sharp meander of the river Semois (German: Sesbach, Walloon: Simwès, in France : Semoy) whose total length is 210 km. The surrounding area is largely forested.

The Castle of Bouillon still sits above the town centre, and is a popular tourist attraction.

Villages

• Bellevaux
• Corbion
• Dohan
• La Cornette
• Les Hayons
• Muno
• Poupehan
• Rochehaut
• Noirefontaine
• Sensenruth
• Ucimont
• Vivy

Historical population

Notes

References

• Murray, Alan V. (2000). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. A Dynastic History 1099-1125.. Prosopographica et Genealogica. ISBN 1-900934-03-5. 

External links

• Official web site, in French
• Webpage about the fortifications
• Map of Luxembourg and Bouillon in 1789