Korbeek-Lo
| Korbeek-Lo | |
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| Municipality | |
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 Korbeek-Lo
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Location of Korbeek-Lo in Flemish Brabant
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| Coordinates: 50°51′N 04°45′E / 50.850°N 4.750°ECoordinates: 50°51′N 04°45′E / 50.850°N 4.750°E | |
| Country | Belgium |
| Community | Flemish Community |
| Region | Flemish Region |
| Province | Flemish Brabant |
| Arrondissement | Leuven |
| Area | |
| • Total | 39.73 km2 (15.34 sq mi) |
| Population (1 January 2016) | |
| • Total | 9,953 |
| • Density | 250/km2 (650/sq mi) |
| Postal codes | 3360 (eastern part) 3000 (western part) |
| Area codes | 016 |
Korbeek-Lo is a large village located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, a short distance to the east of Leuven. The total area is 39.75 km² which gives a population density, using 2006 values, of 829 inhabitants per km².
As a result of extensive local government boundary changes in 1977 Korbeek-Lo, as an administrative entity, was abolished. Since then the more built up western part of Korbeek-Lo has been subsumed into Leuven while the more rural eastern part of the former municipality is now part of Bierbeek.
The history of Korbeek-Lo starts a long way back. On the St.-Martinusberg plateau traces have been found of prehistoric homesteads. There is also evidence of Roman settlement, and there is evidence of human habitation during the subsequent Frankish period. One of the surviving farmsteads bears the name “Het Dalemhof”, of which the middle syllable is thought to derive from the Germanic word “heim”, endorsing the view that the name is of Frankish provenance.
There is little consensus on the origins of the name. One theory is that 'Korbeek' is an old term for a gentle murmuring brook, while ‘Lo’ is an old word for a copse. 'Korbeek' might simply mean ‘short brook’. 1107 finds a surviving record of the name, written as 'Corbeke’, while alternative early orthographies also include 'Cortbeke' en 'Cortebeke'. There was already a church here, in 1102, which was required to make annual payments to the at Sint-Truiden.
By the late medieval period Korbeek-Lo was an agricultural village, with a handful of substantial farmsteads owned by monasteries, charitable institutions or wealthy citizens from nearby Leuven/Louvain. By the end of the fifteenth century several breweries were present, and these were popular with visitors because they were subject to lower taxation rates than breweries in Leuven.
The end of the medieval period was a time of suffering, notably at the hands of Emperor Maximillian (1488-1489) and during the Siege of Louvain by Maarten van Rossum in 1542, and again during the religious wars of the late sixteenth century, the campaigning following the creation of the Franco-Dutch alliance of 1635 and again the French invasion of 1695.
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Wikipedia