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45-505: The area around Loenhout used to contain two heerlijkheden under the same Lord, but one was a fief of Hoogstraten while the other belonged to the Duchy of Brabant . Loenhout became a parish in 13th century, and was awarded to the St. Bernard's Abbey of Hemiksen in 1277. The Dutch Revolt in the late 16th century resulted in the destruction of the castle and a near depopulation of the area. In

90-423: A count ( graaf ) or duke ( hertog )—thus exercised all or part of the sovereign's royal authority. In turn the crown vassal granted rights to the mesne lords of the heerlijkheden . Because a fief ( leen ) originated out of a bond between vassal and lord for military service, vassalage (Dutch manschap ) was personal not heritable. With the advent of professional armies, the vassalage bond fell into disuse or

135-461: A heerlijkheid did not result in loss of noble status. The nobility were recognised by all as having a special status not attached to wealth or ownership of a heerlijkheid . In the southern provinces (modern-day Belgium ) the financial character of a heerlijkheid was accentuated by the Royal Edict of 8 May 1664. From then on, a noble title was granted only if the following minimum payment

180-540: A "quasi-nobility". A heerlijkheid was also a source of income and an investment, but they were usually acquired for other reasons. In the Netherlands, acquiring the rights to heerlijkheden did not confer noble status. The regent families who purchased heerlijkheden were not a true nobility, but by the early 19th century the ranks of the nobility had become so depleted that the Dutch king elevated certain members of

225-618: A Renaissance summer mansion. As the negotiator for the States of Holland, he played an important role in the 1648 Peace of Munster that ended the Eighty Year War with Spain. As a memorial to this, he replaced the wooden access bridge with the Vredesbrug or Pons Pacis ('Peace Bridge'). By 1811, the house had become dilapidated again, at which time it was demolished with the exception of the 1640 'Nederhuys' ('Lower House'), consisting of

270-420: A castle or manor house. In noble fashion, they then added the name of their heerlijkheid to their own surname, resulting in surnames like Deutz van Assendelft, Six van Oterleek, Pompe van Meerdervoort and Beelaerts van Blokland). (The word " van " in the surname meant "of". However, very few Dutch surnames with "van" have their origins in the ownership of a heerlijkheid .) They became what J.L. Price refers to as

315-747: A flat area with a height of 13-22 meters. A number of streams run north from the south, of which the Kleine Aa (Small Aa river) is the most important. These streams come together at the Belgian-Dutch border to form the Aa of Weerijs . The A1 (E19) motorway and the high-speed train line (Thalys) Schiphol – Antwerp cut through the landscape southeast of Loenhout. The Belgian Fluxys company operates an Underground Gas Storage (UGS) facility of 680 millions cubic meters of natural gas in Loenhout. The gas

360-408: A kilometre or so. Taking 18th-century Wassenaar as an example of a large hoge heerlijkheid , it was 3,612 morgens in size and had 297 houses. Nearby Voorschoten was 1,538 morgens in size and had 201 houses. Nootdorp was an ambachtsheerlijkheid of 196 morgens and 58 houses. There were 517 heerlijkheden in the province of Holland in the 18th century. All fell into the last three categories in

405-415: A set of manorial rights. The word heerlijkheid denotes an estate in which these limited rights were held and could be exercised. The rights exercised varied widely, and were more extensive and survived longer in the eastern provinces. A manorial lord was able to function as a minor potentate within "his" heerlijkheid . However, his manorial rights were limited and subject to numerous restrictions. The lord

450-463: A small and exclusive political class known as the regents . In all the provinces the military obligations associated with a fief gradually died out so that by the 16th and 17th centuries the heerlijkheid was increasingly seen by non-nobles as a status symbol. Successful merchants and regents from the large towns saw the heerlijkheid as a country residence and a means of giving the appearance of noble status. It often came with large tracts of land and

495-405: A symbolic payment ( leenverhef ) to his lord. The same ceremony was held when a heerlijkheid manor was sold. If there was no direct descendant, other blood relatives could exercise their right of laudatio parentum (Du naderschap ), which grants them a right of first refusal and explains how heerlijkheden were able to be kept in the same families for centuries. The tenancy of a heerlijkheid

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540-456: Is seigneur . There were different kinds of lord and lady: Under the feudal system, a manorial lord typically was himself the vassal of a higher-ranking tenant-in-chief , usually a highborn noble, who was in turn the crown vassal of the king or emperor . However, sometimes there was no mesne tenancy ( tussenliggende heerschappij ), as was the case with knight's fees held in capite ( rijksonmiddellijke heerlijkheid ). The heerlijkheid

585-418: Is active in 40 countries and has around 850 employees with 43 different nationalities. VITO cooperates with companies, either directly or in partnership with industry networks such as the spearhead clusters and business organisation. In Flanders and by extension internationally. VITO also works closely with European scientific communities and international institutions such as: This article about

630-500: Is an annual cyclo-cross race held at the end of December in Loenhout. Heerlijkheid A heerlijkheid (a Dutch word; pl. heerlijkheden ; also called heerschap ; Latin: Dominium ) was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. It originated as a unit of lordship under the feudal system during

675-501: Is not to be confused with land ownership. It was an estate in land , not land per se . Although lords of the manor generally owned property within a heerlijkheid (often substantial amounts), it was possible for a lord not to own any property at all within his own heerlijkheid . Also, when agricultural land was held by a lord in the Low Countries, the amount held was smaller in comparison to other countries. Lordship conferred

720-571: Is stored in a fissured aquifer system in the top Dinantian karstic limestones ( Visean age) of the Heibaart structure. The Lower Carboniferous carbonates in the Campine-Brabant Basin are highly fractured, a prerequisite condition to store gas or to recover deep geothermal energy . The Heibaart structure was investigated by means of several deep exploration boreholes , the first performed for Petrofina in 1962. Petrofina,

765-472: Is the Erf- en Vrijheer van Ameland, Heer van Borculo, Bredevoort, Lichtenvoorde, Het Loo, Geertruidenberg, Clundert, Zevenbergen, Hooge en Lage Zwaluwe, Naaldwijk, Polanen, Sint-Maartensdijk, Soest, Baarn, Ter Eem, Willemstad, Steenbergen, Montfort, Sankt Vith, Burgenbach, Daasburg, Niervaart, Turnhout en Besançon. Starting around 1500, nobles began selling the rights to heerlijkheden to non-nobles; however, losing

810-493: The Middle Ages . The English equivalents are manor , seigniory and lordship . The German equivalent is Herrschaft . The heerlijkheid system was the Dutch version of manorialism that prevailed in the Low Countries and was the precursor to the modern municipality system in the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium . A typical heerlijkheid manor consisted of a village and the surrounding lands extending out for

855-456: The ridderschap (literally, the "knighthood"), the college of nobles that represented rural areas in the States of Holland. A seat in the ridderschap provided access to various financially interesting honorary positions and offices. It was not unusual for a noble to amass a number of heerlijkheden . King Willem-Alexander is a modern-day example of a nobleman who holds the titles to many heerlijkheden . In addition to his primary titles , he

900-463: The 18th century, during the rule of Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily , the wilderness was cultivated, and Loenhout became an agricultural community specialising in livestock. Loenhout was an independent municipality until 1977 when it was merged with Wuustwezel . Loenhout is located in the North Campine , a region with a poor sandy soil sparsely populated before the 20th century. It is

945-896: The Flemish government, so that government commissioners from the Department of Economy, science and Innovation (EWI) are also part of the Board of Directors. Civil Engineer Dirk Fransaer was Managing Director, starting in 2001. Since May 2023, Inge Neven is the CEO of VITO. Also part of the Board of Directors: The head office of VITO is located in Mol . VITO also has offices in Berchem , Genk , Ostend , Ghent and Kortrijk . The international offices are located in Qatar , Beijing and Dubai . VITO

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990-481: The Fluxys gas transport grid. The gas storage system consists of a geological dome structure (in fact looking more like an 'upside-down soup plate' than like a well-shaped dome) covered by a layer of low-permeable caprock. The impermeable caprock is water and gastight and allows to confine high-calorie gas in the underlying fissured limestone aquifer. From April to November, natural gas is injected under pressure in

1035-481: The Vlaardingen area. The ambachtsheerlijkheid of Heemstede was enfeoffed to him by Count Floris V. From then on Dirk van Hoylede and his descendants used the surname 'van Heemstede'. The house was destroyed a couple of times and then rebuilt. In 1620 Amsterdam merchant (and later Grand Pensionary) Adriaen Pauw purchased the heerlijkheid, including its dilapidated castle. After restoration and embellishment, it became

1080-412: The contract of the joint company NV Poederlee Gas Storage, Gasprom would have had the monopoly to operate the site during 25 years and without any regulation. The largest bloemencorso (flower parade) of Belgium is held in Loenhout. All the villages and hamlets in the area compete who has the most beautiful floats made out of flowers. The event is held on the second Sunday of September. The Azencross

1125-435: The countryside and villages were governed by lords, whereas boroughs were self-governing. The heerlijkheden came into being as a result of the feudal system, in particular the sovereign's delegated judicial prerogative. The crown, as lord paramount, granted the right to govern and to exercise judicial authority to a crown vassal, often a confidante or as a reward for military service or political support. The crown vassal—e.g.

1170-615: The current Old Mansion, the Peace Bridge and the Dove Gate. The form and measurements (40x25 meter) of the island on which you now stand are identical to the plan for the 1645 mansion. Flemish Institute for Technological Research The Flemish Institute for Technological Research ( Dutch : Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek or VITO ), is an independent Flemish research organisation that provides scientific advice and technological innovations that facilitate

1215-561: The former regent class to noble status.) In the southern provinces (modern-day Belgium ) heerlijkheden and the associated rights were abolished after the French invasion of 1795. In the northern provinces (modern-day Netherlands ) they were declared abolished around the same time as part of the inauguration of the Batavian Republic . This was formalised in the 1798 Batavian Constitution (Bataafsche Staatsregeling). A distinction

1260-661: The gas market. While being filled in the summer, it contributes to nearly 15% of the winter gas peak consumption in Belgium. In 2007, a second potential site for underground gas storage in the Campine-Brabant Basin was investigated by VITO , the Flemisch Institute for Technological Research, in Poederlee (municipality of Lille, Belgium ). Its estimated total gas storage capacity was lower (300 millions cubic meters) than that of Loenhout (680 millions cubic meters), but

1305-540: The gas storage site of Loenhout plays a strategical role in the safety of the gas supply of Belgium (4.74 % of the 190 TWh of natural gas annually consumed in Belgium in 2021), as emphasized by the Federal Belgian government in the frame of the energetic gas crisis in Europe resulting from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . The gas storage system plays a role of buffer to attenuate seasonal fluctuations in

1350-407: The hands of wealthy merchants and a political class known as the regents . In addition, many were bought by boroughs ( burghs ). In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, it was not unusual for a borough to purchase the heerlijkheden around it in order to gain control and ownership of the surrounding land and the resulting economic advantages. Boroughs were themselves not part of the manorial system:

1395-503: The last heerlijkheid was seen over 200 years ago, many of the manor houses and castles have been rebuilt, or have been fully or partially demolished. A sign erected at the remaining parts of the Slot Heemstede (now in a park) describes what happened to this particular manor. The history and fate of this manor are typical: On this spot stood Heemstede House or Castle. It was first built by Dirk van Hoylede in 1280, who came from

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1440-476: The list below (except for a few for which this information is unknown). Not all heerlijkheden were the same. They differed in size and composition. Also, a heerlijkheid should not be confused with a larger territory, like a county ( graafschap ) or viscounty ( burggraafschap ), nor with administrative regions on par with an English shire , Dutch gouw , German Gau , or Roman or Carolingian pagus . A Flemish castellany ( kasselrij or burggraafschap )

1485-489: The main petroleum company in Belgium at this time, was drilling in the North of Belgium in the hope of discovering a petroleum reservoir . The results of the exploration campaign were not successful, but it allowed to identify a promising trapping geological structure that could be used for gas storage. The gas storage project was developed two decades later. The Loenhout UGS is one of the two gas storage systems connected to

1530-504: The project was abandoned by Fluxys and Gasprom in 2008. There was two reasons for that: (1) the seismic survey showed that only 120 millions cubic meters of gas could be stored in the reservoir structure, and (2) GREG, the regulatory body of energy in Belgium, gave a negative advice to the government. GREG disagreed with the project because it was a joint venture between Fluxys and the Russian giant gas company Gasprom and that according to

1575-419: The remaining rights disappeared in Belgium on the introduction of the 1830 constitution and in the Netherlands with the 1848 constitutional amendments. Most of the administrative functions of a heerlijkheid were transferred to the municipality and fell under the new Municipality Act ( Gemeentewet ). Responsibility for the manor courts and judicial system were taken over by the national government. After this,

1620-418: The surnames of noble families were often derived from a heerlijkheid (e.g. "van Wassenaer "), it was important for the prestige of the family to maintain ownership over it. However, the economic benefits of a heerlijkheid were not always certain, finances were not always well arranged, and some nobles were poor. In the province of Holland , possession of a heerlijkheid was a prerequisite for admission to

1665-455: The system and draw down the water table . In the winter, when the gas consumption is high, gas is retrieved from the reservoir and the water table rises again. This unique infrastructure for Belgium was drilled at 1,000 – 1,500 m depth in the 1970's below the land of 5 municipalities (Loenhout, Wuustwezel , Hoogstraten , Rijkevorsel and Brecht ) but is relatively poorly known by the public in Belgium. With it 9 terrawatt hours (TWh),

1710-533: The transition to a sustainable society, and this in the areas of energy, chemistry, materials, health and land use. VITO is a public limited company incorporated under the decree of 23 January 1991. This decree was replaced by the decree of 30 April 2009. VITO is part of the policy domain of the Department of Economy, science & Innovation (EWI) of the Flemish government . VITO works partly with its own resources (contract research, patents), partly with grants from

1755-409: The use of the title "Lord of..." is based on the ownership of the remaining non-abolished rights. To this day there are people in the Netherlands who use the title "Lord of...". Unlike in the U.K., there is no trade today in 'lord of the manor' titles. What remains of the heerlijkheid system are many of the manors and castles . Most of them are now parts of estates, museums, parks, hotels, etc. Since

1800-451: Was larger and different from a heerlijkheid , but they were similar in some ways. There were different kinds of heerlijkheid : The central figure was the lord of the heerlijkheid and effectively its owner—the manorial lord or lady . In Dutch, the lord was called heer and the lady vrouw(e) . The lord was also referred to by the Latin word dominus . A rarer English alternative

1845-481: Was made between the feudal rights of appointment and patronage, which were completely abolished, and the income-related rights, which were more complicated. Some of these were feudal in nature and abolished. Others were similar to contractual or property rights and therefore their loss was compensable. Lordly claims for reparations flooded in. Some heerlijkheid rights were maintained or later restored as property rights and still exist today. The overwhelming majority of

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1890-416: Was obtained from the income of the feudal estate. In the southern provinces, this edict ensured the financial stability of the most prominent heerlijkheden and resulted in the rise of a new nobility based on wealth. Starting around the 16th century, lordship over a heerlijkheid was not synonymous with nobility. A heerlijkheid could be bought and sold. Many ended up in the hands of wealthy merchants and

1935-457: Was replaced by scutage ; however, vassalage remained personal. One of the consequences of this was that, on the death of the vassal ( leenman or vazal ), the fief escheated to the lord ( leenheer ). The vassal's heir was able to retain the heerlijkheid through the commendation ceremony ( leenhulde ), the process of paying homage and swearing fealty officiated at the head manor court ( souveraine leenhof or leenkammer ). The new vassal made

1980-481: Was required to conduct himself in accordance with local customary law. A lord was entitled to receive feudal incidents in the form of rents, levies, and other payments from various financial and property rights associated with a heerlijkheid : Originally heerlijkheden were in the hands of the nobility . Much of the wealth of a noble family came from their ownership. Many members of the nobility were heavily dependent on this source of power, income and status. Because

2025-461: Was ruled directly by a count ( graaf ), a viscount ( burggraaf ) or a baron ( baron ). Also, it was not uncommon for the lord to be ecclesiastical, e.g. a prince-bishop ( prins-bisschop ) or prince-abbot ( vorst-abt ). Originally, heerlijkheden were held exclusively by the nobility. However, starting around the 16th century, lordship over a heerlijkheid was not synonymous with nobility. A heerlijkheid could be bought and sold. Many ended up in

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