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Lubbeek (Municipality, Province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium)

Municipal flag of Lubbeek - Image by Ivan Sache, 29 August 2007

Presentation of Lubbeek
Municipal flag of Lubbeek

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Presentation of Lubbeek

The municipality of Lubbeek (13,740 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 4,613 ha) is located in the region of Hageland, between Leuven and Tienen. The municipality of Lubbeek is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Lubbeek (5,303 inh.; 2,428 ha), Binkom (1,459 inh.; 777 ha), Linden (4,627 inh.; 599 ha) and Pellenberg (2,196 inh.; 809 ha). The Molenberg hill in Pellenberg is the higest point in Flemish Brabant, 106 m asl.

The region of Hageland was settled by the Roman in the Ist century BC. Some of the funerary tumuli erected by the Romans have remained there until the XIXth century and were the sources of several legends, the most famous of them saying they were inhabited by Alvermannekens, small guys very fond of white and black magic, and also fond of good food: when the villagers served them good food, they helped them, while they used black magic when the food was not good enough. There are nearly no Frankish remains in Lubbeek but the area was christened for sure in the VIIth-VIIIth centuries.
The name of the villages appeared after year 1000. Lubbeek might mean "a brook (beek) with steep banks"; Linden probably refers to a linde planted to mark the border between two domains; Binkom was probably Benno or Bajo's estate; Pellenberg, named only in the XVIIth century, is either the short form of Kappellenberg, "the chapel's hill" or a bastardization of Galgenberg, "the gallows' hill". In the Middle Ages, Lubbeek belonged to the Duchy of Brabant; the Mayor of Lubbeek ran some 10 villages, including Linden and Pellenberg. Binkom depended on Kumtich. Linden formed a separate domain, which never happened to Lubbeek, Binkom or Pellenberg, the latter being directly ruled by the Duke of Brabant. Because of transfers made by the Duke of Brabant to several lords and abbeys, the administrative situation of Lubbeek was extremely complicated.
During the Spanish rule, Pellenberg became a Royal domain, erected a Barony in the XVIIth century. Linden was completely destroyed by a Spanish garrison in the XVIth century, while the other villages experienced several damages from the unrest. The inauguration of the paved road between Leuven and Tienen in 1781 boosted the development of Lubbeek, which was even increased by the opening of a steam tramway line at the end of the XIXth century, later replaced by an electric tramway suppressed in 1960.
The castle of Pellenberg was the place of the peace discussions between Belgium and the Netherlands in 1831.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 29 August 2007

Municipal flag of Lubbeek

The municipal flag of Lubbeek is quartered black and yellow.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 22 October 1980, confirmed by Royal Decree on 11 February 1981 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 13 March 1981. The Council's original application was lost and the process resumed in 1993: the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 31 August 1993, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 8 February 1994 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 29 June 1994.
The colours of the flag are taken from the municipal arms, which are the arms of the Dukes of Brabant, "Sable a lion or armed and langued gules". The quartering of the flag must stand for the four former municipalities merged into the new municipality of Lubbeek.

According to Servais, the arms of Lubbeek were granted by Royal Decree on 23 July 1858. The municipal seals consistently show the arms of Brabant form the XIVth century onwards.

Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 29 August 2007