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55-649: The University of Namur is located in Namur , Belgium. The main campus is located at the heart of the city of Namur, capital of Wallonia . The main university campus includes the university building, the six main faculties and the university libraries. In the spring of 1831, the Society of Jesus reopened a high school in what was earlier the Our-Lady of Peace Benedictine abbey, in Namur. The school immediately developed into

110-679: A casino located in its southern district on the left bank of the Meuse. The town's most prominent sight is the Citadel of Namur , now demilitarised and open to the public. Namur also has a distinctive 18th-century cathedral dedicated to Saint Aubain and a belfry classified by UNESCO as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France which are listed as a World Heritage Site . The Couvent des Soeurs de Notre-Dame used to contain masterpieces of Mosan art by Hugo d'Oignies , currently presented in

165-484: A dead language . Today it is scarcely spoken among younger people, with the vast majority of its native speakers being the elderly (aged 65 and over). In 2007, the number of people with knowledge of the language was estimated at 600,000. Numerous associations, especially theatre companies, are working to keep the language alive. Formally recognized as a langue régionale endogène (regional indigenous language) of Belgium since 1990, Walloon has also benefited from

220-437: A language . The phonological divisions of regional languages of southern Belgium were studied by the contemporary linguist E.B. Atwood. He defined the precise geographical repartition of the four chief dialects of Walloon. In addition, he defined them against the dialects of Picard , Lorrain and Champenois . Since then, most linguists (among them Louis Remacle ), and gradually also Walloon politicians, regard Walloon as

275-435: A college with the support of prominent Namurian families. They put some conditions in order to finance the new project, the most important is teaching other sciences such as philosophy with the liberty of education as proclaimed by the new Belgian Constitution . Many expansions took place in this period, the number of students increased gradually, new sciences and study programmes were introduced. A New Belgian law excluded

330-613: A continued corpus planning process. The "Feller system" (1900) regularized transcription of the different accents. Since the 1990s, a common orthography was established (the Rifondou walon  [ wa ; fr ] ), which allowed large-scale publications, such as the Walloon Misplaced Pages officially in 2003. In 2004, a Walloon translation of a Tintin comic was released under the name L'èmerôde d'al Castafiore ; in 2007 an album consisting of Gaston Lagaffe comic strips

385-513: A dozen Walloon magazines publish regularly. The Société de Langue et de Littérature Wallonne , founded in 1856, promotes Walloon literature and the study ( dialectology , etymology , etc.) of the regional Roman languages of Wallonia. There is a difference between the Walloon culture, according to the Manifesto for Walloon culture , and the Walloon language (even if the latter is a part of

440-440: A full merger were aborted by an insufficient vote by the general assembly of Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix ( FUNDP ). The " Academie Louvain " ceased to exist in 2014 due to the entry in force of the new law organising the universities. The university is included in some major world university rankings: the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking of 2021 lists University of Namur as 1436th in

495-479: A large collection of literary works in Walloon, quite possibly the largest outside Belgium, and its holdings are representative of the output. Out of nearly a thousand works, twenty-six were published before 1880. Thereafter the numbers rise gradually year by year, reaching a peak of sixty-nine in 1903. After that, publications in Walloon fell markedly, to eleven in 1913. Yves Quairiaux counted 4,800 plays for 1860–1914, published or not. In this period, plays were almost

550-556: A major garrison town under the new government. The citadel was rebuilt yet again in 1887. In World War I , Namur was a major target of the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, which sought to use the Meuse valley as a route into France. On August 21, 1914, the Germans bombarded the town of Namur without warning. Several people were killed. Despite being billed as virtually impregnable, the citadel fell after only three days' fighting and

605-650: A regional language, the first in importance in Wallonia . It is the only one to have originated from that part of Belgium. The eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica identified Walloon as the "northernmost Romance language". Walloon is spoken in the Wallonia Region in Belgium. In addition, it is spoken in: Although Walloon was widely spoken until the mid-20th century, today only

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660-747: A single university, and an agreement was reached to create a new university to be called Université catholique de Louvain (Académie Louvain Project). Campuses might be identified as UCL/Brussels (today UCLouvain Bruxelles), UCL/Namur (today UCLouvain Namur), UCL/Louvain-la-Neuve, UCL/Mons (today UCLouvain FUCaM Mons) and UCL/Charleroi (today UCLouvain Charleroi). However, in December 2010 negotiations for

715-409: A small proportion of the inhabitants of the region are fluent in the language. Those born since the 1970s usually know little more than a few idiomatic expressions , often profanities . The Walloon language is still part of the Walloon heritage; it is one component of Walloon identity. Four dialects of Walloon developed in four distinct zones of Wallonia: Despite local phonetic differences, there

770-482: Is a Romance language that is spoken in much of Wallonia and, to a very small extent, in Brussels , Belgium; some villages near Givet , northern France; and a clutch of communities in northeastern Wisconsin , United States. It belongs to the langues d'oïl dialect continuum , the most prominent member of which is French . The historical background of its formation was the territorial extension since 980 of

825-409: Is a regional movement towards the adoption of a common spelling, called the Rifondou walon . This orthography is diasystemic , reflecting different pronunciations for different readers, a concept inspired by the spelling of Breton . The written forms attempt to reconcile current phonetic uses with ancient traditions (notably the reintroduction of xh and oi that were used for writing Walloon until

880-460: Is also an important junction situated on the north–south line between Brussels and Luxembourg City , and the east–west line between Lille and Liège . River barge traffic passes through the middle of the city along the Meuse. Namur has taken on a new role as the capital of the federal region of Wallonia. Its location at the head of the Ardennes has also made it a popular tourist centre, with

935-618: Is named Union Royale Namur . The local baseball team is named Namur Angels. The annual Namur cyclo-cross race, part of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup , takes place on the hills around the citadel. From 1950 to 2007, the Belgian Motocross Grand Prix was held every first weekend in August on a challenging race circuit around the citadel. Between 20,000 and 50,000 spectators gathered to support

990-524: Is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia , hosting the Parliament of Wallonia , the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confluence of the rivers Sambre and Meuse and straddles three different regions – Hesbaye to the north, Condroz to the south-east, and Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse to the south-west. The city of Charleroi is located to

1045-514: The Ardennes . The Romans established a presence after Julius Caesar defeated the local Aduatuci tribe . Namur came to prominence during the early Middle Ages when the Merovingians built a castle or citadel on the rocky spur overlooking the town at the confluence of the two rivers. In the 10th century, it became a county in its own right. The town developed somewhat unevenly, as

1100-582: The Borinage dialect under the pen-name Bosquètia . In the 20th century, Joseph Houziaux (1946) published a selection of 50 fables in the Condroz dialect. The motive among Walloon speakers in both France and Belgium was to assert regional identity against the growing centralism and encroachment of the language of the capital, on what had until then been predominantly monoglot areas. There are links between French literature and Walloon literature. For instance,

1155-592: The Low Countries . One might say that the period which saw the establishment of the unifying supremacy of the Burgundians in the Walloon country was a turning-point in their linguistic history. The crystallization of a Walloon identity, as opposed to that of the thiois (i.e. Dutch-speaking) regions of the Low Countries, established "Walloon" as a word for designating its people. Somewhat later,

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1210-639: The Principality of Liège to the south and west. Walloon is classified as "definitely endangered" by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger . Despite its rich literature, beginning anonymously in the 16th century and with well-known authors since 1756, the use of Walloon has decreased markedly since France's annexation of Wallonia in 1794 . This period definitively established French as

1265-615: The Belgian motocross stars such as; Joël Robert , Roger De Coster , Eric Geboers & Stefan Everts . The Namur circuit achieved iconic status and was known as the Monaco of the Motocross World Championships in reference to the prestigious Formula One automobile race. Namur is twinned with: Walloon language Walloon ( / w ɒ ˈ l uː n / ; natively walon ; French : wallon )

1320-461: The Feller system ( sistinme Feller ) and Unified Walloon ( rifondou walon or rfondou walon ). Walloon is distinguished from other languages in the langue d'oïl family both by archaism coming from Latin and by its significant borrowing from Germanic languages, as expressed in its phonetics, its lexicon , and its grammar . At the same time, Walloon phonetics are singularly conservative:

1375-569: The Musée des Arts Anciens (Rue de Fer). Elsewhere there is an archeological museum and a museum dedicated to Félicien Rops . An odd Namurois custom is the joust on stilts (dating back to 1411) practiced by the stiltwalkers of Namur . The annual Combat de l'Échasse d'Or ( Fight for the Golden Stilt ), held on the third Sunday in September, is the most important joust of the year. Two teams,

1430-895: The Mélans and the Avresses, dress in medieval clothes while standing on stilts and do battle in one of the town's principal squares. Since 2021, Namur stilt jousts are registered on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Namur possesses a distinguished university , the University of Namur (previously known as the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix, FUNDP), founded in 1831. The University of Louvain (UCLouvain) also has several facilities in

1485-954: The University of Namur joined with three other French-speaking Catholic universities to form the Académie Louvain . These are the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), located in Louvain-La-Neuve ; Saint-Louis University, Brussels (now UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles), located in Brussels and Ixelles ; and the Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons , (FUCaM, now UCLouvain FUCaM Mons ) located in Mons and Charleroi (now UCLouvain Charleroi). Explorations developed in 2007 for combining all four institutions into

1540-513: The Walloon population speak their ancestral language. Breaking the statistics down by age, 70–80% of the population aged over 60 speak Walloon, while only about 10% of those under 30 do so. Passing knowledge of Walloon is much more widespread: claimed by some 36–58% of the younger age bracket. Laurent Hendschel estimates there are 1,300,000 bilingual people in Wallonia (Walloon-French, Picard-French...). Many French words that pertain to mining and to

1595-505: The academic language, French became the object of a political effort at normalization; La Pléiade posited the view that when two languages of the same language family coexist, each can be defined only in opposition to the other. Around the year 1600, the French writing system became dominant in the Wallonia. From this time, too, dates a tradition of texts written in a language marked by traces of spoken Walloon. The written language of

1650-680: The city surrendered on 1 December and its whole garrison of 3,000 men was taken prisoner. France invaded the region again in 1794, annexing Namur and imposing a repressive regime. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna incorporated what is now Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution , and Namur continued to be

1705-620: The city through its UCLouvain Namur University Hospital (CHU UCLouvain Namur), the provinces' largest employer. Since 1986 Namur has been home to the Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film . A jazz (Nam'in'Jazz) and a rock (Verdur Rock) festival both take place in Namur annually. Sights near Namur include Maredsous Abbey , Floreffe Abbey , and Annevoie Castle with its surrounding Jardins d'Annevoie . The local football team

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1760-500: The connection between Rommand to Vualon : Et ceux cy [les habitants de Nivelles] parlent le vieil langage Gallique que nous appellons Vualon ou Rommand (...). Et de ladite ancienne langue Vualonne, ou Rommande, nous usons en nostre Gaule Belgique: Cestadire en Haynau, Cambresis, Artois, Namur, Liège, Lorraine, Ardenne et le Rommanbrabant, et est beaucoup differente du François, lequel est plus moderne, et plus gaillart. And those people [the inhabitants of Nivelles] speak

1815-590: The counts of Namur could only build on the north bank of the Meuse - the south bank was owned by the bishops of Liège and developed more slowly into the town of Jambes (now effectively a suburb of Namur). In 1262, Namur fell into the hands of the Count of Flanders , and was purchased by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421. After Namur became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s, its citadel

1870-471: The culture). Walloon-language literature has been printed since the 16th century, or at least since the beginning of the 17th century. It had its "golden age" during the peak of the Flemish immigration to Wallonia in the 19th century: "That period saw an efflorescence of Walloon literature, plays and poems primarily, and the founding of many theaters and periodicals." The New York Public Library holds

1925-401: The institution from getting financial support from the government. This pushed the ambitious university to rely on its own sources and funds. Despite this, in 1934, many projects were launched: new building specific to physical and chemical studies, the expansion of Belles-Lettres library, modernization of some laboratories, many new titles were added to the seminars library. On 18 February 1948

1980-479: The institution, formerly a college, changed its status to that of a university. This new status resulted in having some (limited and irregular) financial aid from the government. Starting in 1960, after the introduction of new national financing laws, government aid increased and became regular. Many new projects and programmes came into being, improving the university's national and European visibility. The university launched many important projects: On 29 June 2003

2035-479: The language has stayed fairly close to the form it took during the High Middle Ages . From a linguistic point of view, Louis Remacle has shown that a good number of the developments that we now consider typical of Walloon appeared between the 8th and 12th centuries. Walloon "had a clearly defined identity from the beginning of the 13th century". In any case, linguistic texts from the time do not mention

2090-417: The language of social promotion, far more than it was before. After World War I , public schools provided French-speaking education to all children, inducing a denigration of Walloon, especially when accompanied by official orders in 1952 to punish its use in schools. Subsequently, since the middle of the 20th century, generational transmission of the language has decreased, resulting in Walloon almost becoming

2145-400: The language, although they mention others in the langue d'oïl family, such as Picard and Lorrain . During the 15th century, scribes in the region called the language "Roman" when they needed to distinguish it. It is not until the beginning of the 16th century that first occurrence of the word "Walloon" appeared in the current linguistic sense. In 1510 or 1511, Jean Lemaire de Belges made

2200-540: The late 19th century) and the language's own phonological logic. Other regional languages spoken in Wallonia, outside the Walloon domain, are: The Picard, Lorrain and Champenois dialects spoken in Wallonia are sometimes also referred to as "Walloon", which may lead to confusion. The Walloon alphabet generally consists of the basic ISO Latin Alphabet , and six types of diacritic . It also makes frequent use of digraphs. Various orthographies have been used, most notably

2255-515: The old Gallic language which we call Vualon or Rommand (...). And we use the said old Vualon or Rommand language in our Belgian Gaul: That is to say in Hainaut, Cambrai, Artois, Namur, Liège, Lorraine, Ardennes and Rommand Brabant, and it is very different from French, which is more fashionable and courtly. The word "Walloon" thus came closer to its current meaning: the vernacular of the Roman part of

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2310-509: The only popular entertainment in Wallonia. The Walloon-language theatre remains popular in the region; theatre is flourishing with more than 200 non-professional companies playing in the cities and villages of Wallonia for an audience of over 200,000 each year. During the 19th-century renaissance of Walloon-language literature, several authors adapted versions of Aesop's Fables to the racy speech (and subject matter) of Liège. They included Charles Duvivier (in 1842); Joseph Lamaye (1845); and

2365-405: The preceding centuries, scripta , was a composite language with some Walloon characteristics but it did not attempt to be a systematic reproduction of the spoken language. Walloon was the predominant language of the Walloon people until the beginning of the 20th century, although they had a passing knowledge of French. Since that time, the use of French has spread to the extent that now only 15% of

2420-474: The source. Jacques Ancion also wanted to develop a regular adult audience. "From the 19th century he included the Walloon play Tati l'Pèriquî by E. Remouchamps and the avant-garde Ubu roi by A. Jarry ." The scholar Jean-Marie Klinkenberg writes, "[T]he dialectal culture is no more a sign of attachment to the past but a way to participate to a new synthesis". Walloon is also being used in popular song. The best-known singer in Walloon in present-day Wallonia

2475-698: The subsequent Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 gave control of the formerly Spanish Netherlands to the Austrian House of Habsburg . Thus, although the Austrians ruled the town, the citadel was controlled by the Dutch. It was rebuilt again under their tenure. General Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Valence 's column laid siege to the city on 19 November 1792 during the War of the First Coalition and, after 12 days,

2530-405: The team of Jean-Joseph Dehin (1847, 1851–1852) and François Bailleux (1851–1866), who covered books I-VI. Adaptations into other dialects were made by Charles Letellier (Mons, 1842) and Charles Wérotte (Namur, 1844). Decades later, Léon Bernus published some hundred imitations of La Fontaine in the dialect of Charleroi (1872); he was followed during the 1880s by Joseph Dufrane , writing in

2585-645: The textile trade derive from the Walloon-Picard complex. Legally, Walloon has been recognized since 1990 by the French Community of Belgium , the cultural authority of Wallonia, as an "indigenous regional language" which must be studied in schools and encouraged. The Walloon cultural movement includes the Union Culturelle Wallonne , an organization of over 200 amateur theatre circles, writers' groups, and school councils. About

2640-744: The town was occupied by the Germans for the rest of the war. Namur fared little better in World War II ; it was in the front lines of both the Battle of the Ardennes in 1940 and the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. The town suffered heavy damage in both wars. Namur continued to host the Belgian Army 's paratroopers until their departure in 1977. After the creation of the Walloon Region , Namur

2695-568: The vernacular of these people became more clearly distinct from central French and other neighbouring langues d'oïl , prompting the abandonment of the vague term "Roman" as a linguistic, ethnic, and political designator for "Walloon". Also at this time, following the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539, the French language replaced Latin for all administrative purposes in France. Established as

2750-593: The west. The language spoken is French . The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities : Beez , Belgrade , Boninne , Bouge , Champion , Cognelée , Daussoulx , Dave , Erpent , Flawinne , Gelbressée , Jambes , Lives-sur-Meuse , Loyers , Malonne , Marche-les-Dames , Namur proper, Naninne , Saint-Servais , Saint-Marc , Suarlée , Temploux , Vedrin , Wépion , and Wierde . The town began as an important trading settlement in Celtic times, straddling east–west and north–south trade routes across

2805-503: The world, and the Center for World University Rankings of 2020-2021 lists the university as 1201st in the world. 50°27′58.80″N 4°51′37.36″E  /  50.4663333°N 4.8603778°E  / 50.4663333; 4.8603778 Namur (city) Namur ( French: [namyʁ] ; Walloon : Nameur ; Dutch : Namen [ˈnaːmə(n)] ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia , Belgium . It

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2860-407: The writer Raymond Queneau set the publication of a Walloon Poets' anthology for Editions Gallimard . Ubu roi was translated into Walloon by André Blavier , an important 'pataphysician of Verviers , and friend of Queneau, for the new and important Puppet theater of Liège of Jacques Ancion. The Al Botroûle theater operated "as the umbilical cord" in Walloon, indicating a desire to return to

2915-533: Was chosen as the seat of its executive and parliament . In 1986, Namur was officially declared capital of Wallonia. Its position as regional capital was confirmed by the Parliament of Wallonia in 2010. Namur is an important commercial and industrial centre, located on the Walloon industrial backbone, the Sambre and Meuse valley . It produces machinery, leather goods, metals and porcelain. Its railway station

2970-549: Was considerably strengthened. Louis XIV of France invaded in 1692, capturing the town and annexing it to France. His renowned military engineer Vauban rebuilt the citadel. French control was short-lived, as William III of Orange-Nassau captured Namur only three years later in 1695 during the War of the Grand Alliance . Under the Barrier Treaty of 1709, the Dutch gained the right to garrison Namur, although

3025-560: Was published in Walloon. Walloon is more distinct as a language than Belgian French , which differs from the French spoken in France only in some minor points of vocabulary and pronunciation . Linguists had long classified Walloon as a dialect of French, which in turn is a langue d'oïl . Like French, it descended from Vulgar Latin . Arguing that a French-speaking person could not understand Walloon easily, especially in its eastern forms, Jules Feller (1859–1940) insisted that Walloon had an original "superior unity", which made it

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