The rural village of Lede has a long history, although the fact that names as Lede or Leida are not older than from the 9th century. The oldest written source dates from 967. The origin of the village's name is object of a controversy. One theory states "Lede" goes back to the High-German "Leita", what means "road", "course", "watercourse". Indeed, Lede three watercourses (Molenbeek, Wichelsebeek and Vondelbeek are found within the village. More convincing seems the theory that the name goes back to the Old-German "hlitta" witch means "hill". Indeed, the village of Lede is based upon a hill, 35 metres higher than the surrounding region. There exist clear indications that the hill was already a town area during the Roman Empire, even before our chronology. After the invasions by the Norsemen in 859 barbarian armies descended along the Scheldt in southern direction, plundering the whole region from Ghent to Lede. In those days the church of Lede was in hands of the  St. Baafs Abbey of Ghent. But the ecclesiastical leaders did nothing to free the inhabitants of Lede from the Norsemen. That was done by the county of Hainault (by count Rainier V of Hainault). At least since that time the county of Hainault considered the church of Lede and its dominions as its own property. It became the start of a long controversy between the count of Hainault and the St. Baafs Abbey of Ghent, being property of the counts of Flanders. A charter of 1025 stipulates that a Sir Othelbold, the abbot of the St. Baafs Abbey, complained near the count of Flanders that count Rainier V of Hainault occupied unlawfully "Leitha" and "Schoonaerde", being considered to belong to the county of Flanders. A new attack by the Norsemen between 879 and 881 was the start of the construction of at least four "mottes" in the region of Lede. A "motte" is a circular fortified wooden construction. Later one added one or more donjons with walls of stone. So it became castles. One of them  became the later Castle of Lede, later named "castle of Mesen".  A second castle - erected much later, around 1480 - survived and became the castle of Ronkenburg.

In 1230 the county of Hainault gave Lede as feudal estate to the seignior of Lede. So the village became a seignory in hands of seignior Jan van Lede. [That a village could be a seignory or a barony was no exception in that time. One remembers that the German Emperor decided in 1063 to give Tidebeche - the later Diepenbeek - as barony to one of his own barons.] The last seignior of Lede died chieldless and the seignory, including the Castle of Lede, was sold in 1420 to seignior Jan de Gruytere. When his daughter Isabella married Jaak Bette the seignory became the property of a new family of seigniors, the Bettes. They were hated by the local population, especially under the Spanish occupation of Flanders, since they collaborated with the occupying forces.  Earlier, in 1581, the Castle of Lede, where resided the Bettes, was destroyed during the anti-religious Revolt of the Beggars. It was a rectangular construction with four towers and galleries, surrounded by water and an artificial wood with forest timber. At the end of the 16th century seignior Jan Bette let rebuilt the castle with at least one donjon (as could be seen on a map of 1628. The prince of the Low Countries erected the former seignory into a barony in 1607.  The Bettes specialised in military functions in service of the Spanish crown, serving Spanish interests instead of interests of the local population. In 1635, under the Spanish occupation the new barony was even erected into a marquisate. One of the Bettes became even viceroy of Mallorca. Folkloristic legends tell that the triple T in the escutcheon of the Bettes stood for "tais-toi, traître", i.e. "shut up, traitor". After the death of the last marquis Bette, Emmanuel-Ferdinand François Bette, in 1792 the marquisate, including the Castle of Lede, returned in hands of far relatives of the de Gruyteres, who bought the former seignory in 1420.  Its last owner, Jean Charles baron of Joigny de Pamele, was the last seignior of Lede. Indeed, under the Napoleonic occupation after the French Revolution, all seigonries, baronies and marquisates were abolished. At once Lede became the simple rural village it stayed until today. The ruins of the old Castle of Lede - later named Castle of Mesen - are the latest witnesses of what romantic historians describe as a great past, but what was in reality nothing more than misery and distress for the oppressed local population.

THE BETTES AT LEDE (1420-1792)

After having been during three centuries the property of the seigniors of Lede, the seignory came in hands of the Bettes - a rich family from Ghent. First seignior of the new dynasty was Jaak (Jacob) Bette, earlier seignior of Schellebelle, who married Isabella de Gruytere, the daughter of the new owner of the seignory, who bought it from Jan van Lede. The Bettes were warlords making career during the Spanish occupation of Flanders. The high dignity of the Bettes becomes obvious when one knows that when Emperor Charles V received in 1529 the county of Flanders he was sworn by knight Bette. It was somewhat the definitive end of Flanders' independency, since the former county became officially a kreits of Burgundy, but in fact a colony of the Spanish Habsburgs. Under those Habsburgs there was a revolt of the citizens of Ghent against Charles V. In 1540 they were defeated and shortly later Jean Bette was nominated as alderman of the city. Under the terror (1566-1573) of the Spanish archduke Alva, the Bettes were his most faithful allies. In 1596 Adriaan Bette was nominated to governor of the Netherlands under Spanish rule. He was the chamberlain of the new archduke-cardinal. In 1607 he was erected into baron.  The new baron and his son Jacob Bette died both in 1616. So Willem Bette, son of the late Jean Bette, became the new baron of Lede. He was colonel in the Spanish army, and the most famous warlord of the dynasty. In 1632 he defended with success the Dutch city Maastricht against the Protestants and was erected in 1635 into marquis. He became also knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece. He died in 1658 at the Battle of Dunkerque. He was - just as the Spaniards he served - a "great Roman Catholic", and was famous for the by him created Devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lede. 

His son Augustinus Ambrosius François Bette, marquis of Lede, was also colonel in the Spanish army. He was chamberlain of governor Juan of Austria and died in 1677 in Holland. His son Jan François Nicolaas Bette was even general in the Spanish army and Knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece. As warlord he defeated the Muslims in Mallorca and was nominated viceroy of the island. He died in 1725 in Madrid where he has his own statue. His son Emmanuel Ferdinand François Bette, also member of the highest Spanish nobles, was the last marquis of Lede. He died childless in 1792 in the castle of Mesen.

SOCIAL LEDE UNDER THE BETTES (1420-1792)

Under the Bettes Lede remained during nearly four centuries a typical agricultural society where the peasants had nearly no rights and were considered to be property of the Seignior, the Baron or the Marquis. The number of farms increased no earlier than at the end of the 16th century. Even in 1690 only 56 inhabitants of the barony were owner of a horse. Of them 52 were able to write their own name.  Towards the end of the 17th century number of gentleman-farmers was under 50. More interested in warfare than in the wealth of the own population, the Bettes gave the administration of the barony and later marquisate in hands of the dynasty du Smet, later Smetius named. Most famous among them was Hendricus Smetius a Lede, born in 1537. He was an eminent Latinist who studied at the universities of Heidelberg and Bologna, where he became a doctor, just as his father.  Due to internal family quarrels he emigrated in 1567 to Westphalia and became the court-physician of elector Frederic III. In 1588 he was nominated to rector of the Heidelberg University. He died in 1614.

The Smetius (the du Smets, later De Smets) were living on the castle of Ronkenburg. They lost their local power in 1792 after the French, later Napoleonic, reorganisation, when Lede was no longer a marquisate, but became a simple community without nobiliary privileges.

HISTORY OF THE "CASTLE OF MESEN" (1582-1970)

The Castle of Mesen - officially the Castle of the Royal Institution of Mesen - is situated in the real centre of the village in a vast park of 7ha. Of the old castle, having originated as a simple "motte" in the days of the Norsemen, nothing is left. We know that between 881 and 1581, during 7 centuries, the original building was developed into a real military fort. However, during the Revolt of the Beggars, the castle - home of the seigniors of Lede was destroyed. The reconstruction of a total new castle started immediately after the Revolt. We know that in 1628 the castle had already a donjon. Shortly after the famine of the winter of 1740, marquis Emmanuel Ferdinand François Bette lets build the famous marquisate rooms following a draft of the Florentine architect Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni. An orangery with stables is added to the original castle. At the end of the marquisate of Lede in 1796, certainly under the later Napoleonic occupation, the castle was no longer used as a home. During the industrial revolution - started in the region of Ghent at the end of the 18th century with the take-off of the textile-industry - the very agricultural community Lede lost only slowly its rural aspect. First industries in the village were restricted to a gin distillery, a sugar refinery, a potash refinery and a tobacco factory. All those activities were located at the Castle of Lede, loosing its noble aspects during the whole 19th century. In 1897 the castle - called now simply the "marquisate" - is sold to for the modest sum of 97,000 francs to a religious order: the Canonesses of St-Augustine of Jupille. It becomes a nunnery. They added a school complex and a chapel in 1905, in neo-gothic style. It became a school for local children of Lede and maintained this status until the end of the Great War in 1918. Having seriously suffered from the German bombardments, and having not enough money to restore the castle, the Canonesses decided to return to Holland and to sell the complex to the Royal Institution of Mesen, a social order founded by Maria-Theresa of Austria in 1796, specialised in the education of children of fallen or injured soldiers. In 1921 they renovated the whole complex and added - with money from the Netherlands - the famous Dutch Pavilion to it. Also the park was renovated as a typical idealised landscape park.

Inhabitants of Lede spoke about "les Messines", since the school was an elitarian boarding school for French speaking children (exclusively girls). The situation of the school became difficult when in 1952 it came under guardianship of the Minister of Education. In 1963 the Royal Institution of Mesen received no longer the necessary subventions, after the government decided that unilateral French education was forbidden in Flanders.  In 1969 the Royal Institution of Mesen decided that the castle and the complete furniture could be sold under the exclusive condition that the income was used in the same sense as decided by the founder Maria-Theresa of Austria. That resulted in 1970 that the castle came under the guardianship of the Minister of Defence.

ACTUAL HISTORY OF THE "CASTLE OF MESEN" (1971-2003)

What happened after 1970 with the Castle of Lede - the village's whole history! - is a pure shame. In 1979 the national government decided to protect the castle and its park as a national monument. One year later this protection was made undone, due to procedure errors. Meantime the Ministry of Defence did absolutely nothing for the maintenance of the buildings and the park. The castle, in the real centre of the village, became an enwalled ruin which could even not be visited by the inhabitants or tourists. Costs for eventual repair were by now so high that a new demand for classification as national monument was refused. In 1996 a society 'S.O.S. Castle of Mesen', started a series of activities to sensibilize inhabitants and local politicians that the castle should be sold to someone who could restore it. In 1999 the castle was sold to the community of Lede, having plans to install apartments in the castle. Not convinced by its undoubtedly high historical value more and more voices of community members are heard that the complete neo-gothic complex of the Canonesses, including the chapel, may be abolished, and that only the façade of the marquisate should be maintained.

The whole problem is that a small community as Lede has not enough financial income to bear the high costs of a restoration. In the hyper complex Belgian state structure the castle should be resold or to the province of East-Flanders or to the Flemish Community.  But even if the Flemish Community should be the new owner, the castle should still not be sure to be saved. The problem in federal Belgium is that the Communities have no own possibilities to create tax incomes. Those incomes they obtain from the federal government, having in periods of economic crisis no open eye for cultural needs. If something is to be done it's now, before the castle is abolished and reduced to social flats, serving the commercial purposes of builder and contractors, not of the local population. The loss of the Castle of Lede corresponds with inhabitants being robbed of its own history. By organising the IMCA Worlds at Lede, with racers from 13 different countries and 4 continents in place, the international world may discover that a castle of great historical value can be bought for no money, if some investor has the courage to develop it to a tourist attraction.

THE ST-MARTINUS-CHURCH OF LEDE

The St-Martinus Church at the Lede Market Place dates from the 16th century, prior to the Iconoclasm of 1581. The impressive tower, in late-gothic style, dates from 1569. The interior is in baroque style. Famous is the polychrome wooden pieta, the image of the Holy Virgin. During centuries it was celebrated as the so-called "Saete Nood Gods" (i.e. Sweet Need of God). The history of the Lede pieta - rather a legend than true history - was noted by Frater Jan Gielemans, prior of the Red Convent at Auderghem, next to Brussels. During the second half of the 13th century a certain Mathias van de Neste, a young inhabitant of Lede, moved to the city of Cologne, where he found work at a gold-and silversmith. By his tutor he was accepted as his own son. When the master died Mathias could continue his craft. However, he never forgot his native village. In Cologne he bought a splendid statue of the Holy Virgin Mary and sent it in a packing-case to Brussels, where the Lede inhabitants could pick it up. On the way back from Brussels to Lede they were attacked by a gang of riders. When one of the horses slightly injured the leader of the riders he became furious and opened the case. When he saw the statue of the Holy Virgin Mary, he fell on his knees, begged Mary's pardon, and decided that his riders and him should accompany the case with the pieta to the St-Martinus church at Lede. There the statue was officially inaugurated in 1414.

The Devotion for Mary was until the mid-20th century very typical for the local population. The annual pilgrimage to the pieta of Lede continued until today, but the number of pilgrims diminished sharply during the last half century. The St-Martinus Church of Lede is famous for its rich ecclesiastical treasure.

At several  places at Lede one finds still today road chapels commemorating the devotion of the local population for the Holy Virgin. The legend of the Sweet Need of God, however, lives no longer among the population.

EVOLUTION OF LEDE AFTER ABOLISHMENT OF THE MARQUISATE (1796-2003)

As many towns and villages in Flanders, having been baronies before the French Revolution, Lede became a simple village in 1796, headed by a mayor. The industrialisation of the village was certainly slower than in Aalst or Ghent. One has to wait the mid-19th century - after their was a railway connection between Lede and Brussels, and between Lede and Ghent - to see the first signs of industrialisation. Initially it are small firms close to agricultural activities, such as a sugar refinery, a tobacco factory (specialised in snuff), a gin distillery and a potash refinery.  Later, towards the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, textile confection, a knitting factory and a factory in foods and allied products are founded at Lede. Of the active population in 1900 more than 60 percent is working abroad Lede, mostly in the textile industry in Ghent, but also in building industry and administration. Despite the concentration of capital, resulting in bigger firms abroad, Lede maintains its aspect of a rural village where no big firms are founded. There is only one exception. In 1953 André Brantegem started producing shoes with hid brother in - as tradition wills - a small factory at Lede. His father was a cobbler, from there his interest in shoes. The family Brantegem was specialised in ladies shoes which they sold to Belgian wholesalers. In the 1960s both brothers decided to go their own way. In 1962 André Brantegem started a small shop, 30m², as annex to the factory. Gradually the selling surface was expanded to about 100m² in 1965. Other shoe shops with a surface of 250m² to 350m² were created in Herzele (1968), Oudenaarde (1970) and Lebbeke (1975). One has to wait 1977 and the arrival of the children Philippe, Carlos and Joris, to see the business structured in a company, the PVBA Brantano. In 1980 André Brantegem decides to move the factory shop and to create a large self-service shop (500m²) of very low priced shoes. It's immediately a success and during the same decade no less than 16 other self-service shoe shops are created in the North and South of Belgium. At Erembodegem a 6,000m² warehouse is bought and the offices move from Lede to the new building.  Between 1990 and now Brantano developed to a giant corporation in the shoe industry, with business over whole Europe.

ENLARGEMENT OF THE COMMUNITY (1977)

In 1970 Lede counts an active population of 1,758 inhabitants of who 509 are non-resident labourers. Of this population only 7 percent is working in agricultare, 44 percent in industry and construction, 49 percent in the service sector. In 1977 the Belgian government decides that there has to be a fusion of the Belgian communities. Such communities as Impe, Oordegem, Smetlede, Wanzele and the district Papegem of Vlierzele are added to the original community of Lede, increasing the population to 17,100 inhabitants by end 1977.  For the inhabitants of the new fusion-community Lede this fusion seemed artificial. With Wanzele and Impe they had strong social contacts since several centuries, but Smetlede, Wanzele and Papegem were in their eyes rather linked with Wetteren. An official demand was made to join those three parts of the enlarged community with Wetteren, and to receive as compensation Wichelen and Schoonaarde. But the demand was rejected by the Ministery of Home Affairs.

to be continued