Norbertine walk in Groot-Vorst

In 2021, it will be 900 years since Norbert of Gennep founded his Order. Through the abbeys of Averbode and Tongerlo, so-called “Withers” or Norbertines came to serve as parish priests in our parishes. To shed light on the work of the Norbertines here, the Laakdal Working Group for History and Local History (LWGH) mapped out a historical walking tour.

Vorst was an independent municipality until 1977. Curiously, along with Meerhout, it belonged to the Land of Zichem, initially under the lords of Diest. Vorst belonged to the Leuven quarter, while the rest of Laakdal belonged to the Antwerp quarter within the Duchy of Brabant. We are old Brabanters here.

Vorst is first mentioned in the Viking era, in 877 as ‘Vorst in Taxandria’. Charlemagne then granted lands in this municipality to the Abbey of St. Gertrude in Nivelles. The Van der Galen family acquired the guardianship and administered the domain rights here for centuries, until the fourteenth century. They built the Borcht or Hof Vander Galen on what is now Borgtstraat, where only a section of the rampart remains visible today.

That family also had the right to appoint the parish priest in Vorst. In 1320, they granted that so-called “patronage right” to the Abbey of Averbode, after Tongerlo had also attempted to secure those rights. From then on, seven hundred years ago, the parish priests of Vorst have been abbots of Averbode.

The estates not ceded to Nivelles came under the House of Diest and thus the House of Orange in the Netherlands. Vorst has the same coat of arms as Diest and was an Orange municipality, just as Diest is one of the four Orange cities.

Unlike other villages, the ancient history here has been very well preserved and dates back to 1380 for the Court of der Galen and 1527 for the alderman’s registers of Vorst. We have a wealth of information on the old place names, even before they were recorded in the land registry, and we will cover those as well.

But we’ll focus on the main theme—religion—centered on the Norbertines.

📏 2.5 km
📍 Old Rectory of Groot-Vorst, Kerkstraat 2, 2430 Laakdal
🏁 Old Rectory of Groot-Vorst, Kerkstraat 2, 2430 Laakdal