Haspres

History

In 57 BC, Julius Caesar defeated the Nervii in the Haspres area during the Battle of the Sabis. During the Gallo-Roman period, the village lay on the road linking Bavay (Bagacum) and Amiens (Samarobriva). The Franks invaded the region from the 3rd century, and again during the 5th century. Around the eighth century Haspres Abbey was founded, and in 841 it hosted refugees from Jumièges Abbey who were fleeing the Vikings bringing the relics of Saint Hugh of Rouen and Saint Acarius who remain the patron saints of the village church. A charter granted in 1176 by Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut conferred feudal authority upon the provost of the abbey. The village passed to Philip the Good in 1433, and became part of the Spanish Netherlands in 1502 when his great-grandson Philip I became King of Castile. Situated on the southern border with France, the village was fortified, with some traces of these defences surviving today. During the two centuries of Spanish rule, the region was repeatedly affected by warfare as Francis I of France, Henry II of France, Louis XIII and Louis XIV successively attempted to recover the County of Hainaut. Haspres finally became French under the terms of the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1678. During the French Revolution the abbey was dissolved and the parish priest was guillotined during the Reign of Terror. In 1793, the French lost the Battle of Haspres against Austrian forces. After the First French Empire, Russian troops occupied Haspres for two years. The village experienced industrial growth during the 19th century through its textile spinning mills, which employed a large proportion of the local population. The city was a pivotal center of mulquinerie. During the First World War, Haspres was occupied by German forces on the morning of 25…