Sites & cities that bear the name of Wavre

Wavre

Today in : Belgium
First trace of activity : ca. 11th century C.E
Last trace of activity : today
Recorded names : Wauera, Waure, Wawera, Waver

Description : Wavre (Dutch: Waver) is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, of which it is the capital. The foundations of a wealthy Roman villa were found very close to Wavre, complete with a portico and many rooms. This part of Gaul, however, was ravaged by the Germanic invasions in the 3rd and 4th century, and it is only in the year 1050 that Wavre was mentioned for the first time, as a dependency of the County of Leuven, part of the Brabant pagus. The chapel built by the counts near the former Gallo-Roman villa was ceded to the Affligem Abbey a few years later. By the 13th century a market already existed in the budding town built at the crossroads of the Brussels-Namur and Nivelles-Leuven roads. In 1222, Duke Henry I of Brabant granted the town its city charter. At around the same time, the Affligem Abbey expanded its Wavre possessions into a priory, which attracted pilgrims from a wide region around the city.

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