Norbertine walk Groot-Vorst
In 2021 it is/was 900 years ago that Norbert of Gennep founded his Order. Through the abbeys of Averbode and Tongerlo, so-called "witheren" or norbertines came to our parishes as pastors. To explain the work of the Premonstratensians here, the Laakdal Working Group for History and Local History (LWGH) dotted a historical walk.
Forest was an independent municipality until 1977. It curiously belonged with Meerhout to the Land of Zichem, initially under the lords of Diest. Vorst belonged to the Leuven quarter, the rest of Laakdal to Antwerp quarter within the Duchy of Brabant. We are old Brabanters here.
Forest is first mentioned in the time of the Vikings, in 877 as "Forest in Taxandria. Charles the Bald then donated lands in this municipality to the Gertrudis Abbey of Nivelles. The Van der Galen family was able to acquire the guardianship and manage domain rights here for centuries, until the fourteenth century. They built the Borcht or Hof Vander Galen in today's Borgtstraat, where only a piece of the fortress can still be seen.
That family was also allowed to designate who could become pastor in Forest. In 1320 they gave that so-called "patronage right" to the abbey of Averbode, after Tongerlo had also tried to gain those rights. From then on, seven hundred years ago, the pastors of Vorst were lords of Averbode.
The goods that were not issued to Nivelles came under the House of Diest and thus the lords of Orange in the Netherlands. Vorst has the same coat of arms as Diest and was an Orange town, just as Diest is one of the four Orange towns.
Unlike other villages, the ancient history here is very well preserved, going back to 1380 for the Court van der Galen and 1527 for the registers of aldermen of Vorst. We have a mass of info on the old place names, even before they ended up on the land register and we will cover those as well.
But we fixate on the main theme, the religious, in the character of the Premonstratensians.
📏 2.5 km
📍 Old parsonage Groot-Vorst, Kerkstraat 2, 2430 Laakdal
🏁 Old parsonage Groot-Vorst, Kerkstraat 2, 2430 Laakdal
