Soignies

The known history of the region starts in the 7th century. The Frankish merchant Samo, who founded an empire in Central Europe, may have come from Soignies (Latin: pagus Senonagus).[2] In the 670s, Madelgaire, a wealthy former governor under King Dagobert I, and his wife Waltrude decided to separate and devote themselves to a religious life. Both of them founded an abbey, Madelgaire in Soignies and Waltrude in neighbouring Mons. Madelgaire took the religious name of Vincent. Like his wife, he was canonized after his death and later became the patron saint of the city that would eventually grow around the monastery. At that time, a large forest covered the whole area, the remnants of which near Brussels are still called the Sonian Forest (French: Forêt de Soignes, Dutch: Zoniënwoud) today. The existence of the abbey of Soignies is mentioned for the first time in the Treaty of Meersen, dated August 8, 870, as one of King Charles the Bald's possessions.

At the end of the 9th century, a general decline in religious life led to a chapter of powerful canons – who did not take any vow of poverty – taking the place of the monks. These canons would remain in power for eight centuries, until the French Revolution. By the 10th century, the canons started the construction of the church of Saint Vincent (Madelgaire), which was to be completed during the following century in the prevalent Romanesque style of the period. The first known charter by Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut was granted to Soignies in 1142. The fame of the church of Saint Vincent grew in the 13th century, when the bishop of Cambrai granted a 40-day indulgence to every visitor to the church. The settlement grew to urban proportions at around the same time, coinciding with the development of the textile industry and the building of a defensive wall. The first stone quarries mentioned in the archives date from around 1400, but several clues suggest that local stone was already quarried much earlier. The cut-stone industry, however, started only around 1700.

Folk group "The Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard".

On 1 September 1796, the revolutionary council disbanded the local administration by the canons, dealing a heavy blow to the local economy. In 1812, only 92 people worked in the quarries on a total population of about 4,000 people. The industry rebounded under the Dutch regime, and even more after the Belgian Revolution of 1830.

Between 1831 and 1995, Soignies elected its own member of the Chamber of Representatives. Several of the city streets are named after these past representatives.

Today, the cut-stone and glass industries are still active. Soignies is also the center of a vibrant service industry, especially in education and health.