“Belle Liégeoise”

It was not only weapons that did the talking—ambassadors did as well. Daniel Droixhe, lecturer at the University, paints the portrait of one of them, the Knight of Heusy, representative of the Prince-Bishop of Liège at the court of Versailles. However, he is not featured here for his diplomatic acts, but for his “enlightened” attitude toward the poorest classes of the Prince-Bishopric. In an essay published in 1773 on the establishment of a general hospital, he points out that a good many of the poor had no wish to continue begging, but preferred to work if it provided a good means of subsistence for them and their families. To combat this poverty, he suggests separating the unemployed from the rest of the population, educating them (unequally however—for example, young girls would be trained as spinsters) and above all, depriving them of everything he felt might corrupt: rest, leisure activities, religion and money. Aid would be given, but only in kind, in the form of bread or housing, for example.

Professor Philippe Raxhon tells us the story of the “Liégoise Amazon”, Anne Josèphe Terwagne, known as Théroigne de Méricourt. He notes the role that historiography attibutes to her in the march on Versailles in October 1789. A disproportionate role, stresses Prof. Raxhon, one that contributed to the birth of the myth of the “Belle Liégoise”. The historical event at its source was the women’s march of October 5,1789 which left Les Halles in Paris for Versailles in order to demand bread from the King. It was the prelude to the King’s return to the French capital. But the beautiful Théroigne was not part of the march contrary to certain impassioned accounts, but rather in Paris, where she was attending the meetings of the National Constituent Assembly. On the other hand, she did participate in the storming of the Tuileries Palace on August 10,1792, which effectively ended the monarchy. Accused of being too close to the Girondists, she was publicly flogged the following year. She then sank into madness. After all was said and done, hers was a very modest contribution to the Revolution, despite the legend built up around her, at least in France. Prof. Raxhon notes that Belgian historiography is much more discreet, and up to the bicentennial of the Revolution, Liège and Wallonia were far from worshipping the “Belle Liégeoise”.

The second part of the volume is devoted to technology. It begins with a summary by Professor Robert Halleux which revolves around the scientific and technological exchanges between France and the region of Liège in the 17th century. From the beginning, we are informed that there is an important difference between science and technology. On the science side, the scholarly court of the Prince-Bishop Ernest of Bavaria, one of the most brilliant in Europe, dissolved at his death in 1612. Moreover, notes Prof. Halleux, the intellectual elite of the Prince-Bishopric was muzzled by Galileo’s condemnation in 1634. Only François-René de Sluse from Visé, a jurist and mathematician who corresponded with Pascal, is somewhat notable.

On the other hand, metallurgy technology underwent considerable expansion, was regarded as an international model and spread throughout Europe.