County of Namur

County of Namur
Comté de Namur (fr) Graafschap Namen (nl)
County of the Frankish and Holy Roman Empires
981–1795
Coat of arms
The counties of Namur and Hainaut in 1477
Capital		Namur
Languages		Walloon, French
Religion		Catholic Church
Government		Principality
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Established	ca 981
•	Acquired by Hainaut	1189 981
•	Sold to Burgundy, joins Burgundian Neth.	1421
•	Burgundian Neth. inherited by Habsburgs	1482
•	Spanish take control; joins Spanish Neth.	1556
•	Austrians take control; joins Austrian Neth.	1714
•	Annexed by France	1795
•	Assigned to Utd Kgdm     of the Netherlands	1815
Preceded by Succeeded by Lower Lorraine Burgundian Netherlands

Coat of arms

Namur (Dutch: Namen) was a county of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries. Its territories largely correspond with the present-day Belgian arrondissement Namur plus the northwestern part of the arrondissement Dinant.

The city of Namur most likely arose around 'the Champeau', a rocky hill between the Sambre and the Meuse. Numerous prehistoric flint weapons have been found in the area. During Roman times the region around Namur was first mentioned in Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico in the second half of the 1st century BC. To the west of Namur were the Nervii, and to the east the Germani cisrhenani, but it has been suggested that Namur itself may have been home to the Aduatuci who Caesar described as descendants of the Cimbri and Teutones. In Caesar's wars the Roman legions conquered numerous Belgic cities and settlements. After this defeat the Belgae and their territory were incorporated into the Roman Empire.

The county of Namur (Latin: in pago Namurcensis) was first listed as part of the Lommegau (pagus or comitatus Lommensis) in the year 832 in a document by Louis the Pious. In 992, Emperor Otto III titles Albert I count of Namur for the first time.