Nivelles

Nivelles grew around the abbey founded by Itta in the seventh century, whose first abbess was her daughter Gertrude. Pilgrimage to the saint helped the settlement develop, and the great Romanesque church was dedicated in 1046. The town became part of the Duchy of Brabant in the thirteenth century. Its artisans and guilds contested the authority of the abbesses and dukes, winning rights from Duchess Joanna in the fourteenth century. In 1647 unrest among thread manufacturers was followed by the departure of many entrepreneurs for France. Sieges and occupations during the wars between France and the Spanish Netherlands added to the town's difficulties. In the eighteenth century Austrian and French administrations introduced religious and administrative reforms, while the church of St Gertrude remained the centre of local devotion.