History

During the Gallo-Roman times, Leuze was known as Lutosa, the "muddy town.” It was located in a marshy valley of the Western Dender and its tributaries.

Leuze originated around a monastery dedicated to saints Pierre and Paul around the middle of the seventh century, during the times of Saint Amand. In 802, Charlemagne gave Leuze to Ludger, the first Bishop of Munster, as a royal estate (fisc). Leuze is mentioned in the treaty that shared the Kingdom of Lotharingia between Charles le Chauve, King of France, and Louis, King of Germany, in 870; the city was allocated to Charles. Leuze was surrounded by the Silva Carbonaria, and was part of the former Burbant.

Following material hardship, for the first time in 1024, the Benedictine abbey became a chapter of canons. During the French era, the Law of 5 Frimaire, year IV (November 25, 1797) put an end to this religious community.

During the ninth century, the ravages of the Normans showed the weakness of the royal power; the latter was so incapable of defending the country against the invading North that each local feudal lord - formerly the king's mere civil servant - seized the public authority.

Around 1000, Guéric le Sor, lord of Avesnes, set up a feudal domain between the rivers Scheldt and the Dender, with Leuze as its capital, passing it on to his descendants. Eventually, the women passed it on to the Chastillons. 

In 1071, Richilde, Countess of Hainaut, transferred Condé, Antoing and the Provostship of Leuze to the Bishop of Liège as fiefs. During this time, Leuze was a rural town owned by the feudal residence and the buildings belonging to the chapter.

In 1295, Jacques de Chastillon, Count of Saint-Pol and the son of Guy was the feudal lord of Leuze. Jeanne de Chastillon, heiress of Leuze and Condé, gave the lands to her husband, Jacques de Bourbon, Constable of France. Louis de Bourbon sold Leuze, Condé and other lands to Marie de Montmorency.

On Sunday, May 25, 1477, the castle and the fortifications of Leuze were destroyed by the troops of Louis XI who wanted to seize the domains owned by the Duchy of Burgundy. The castle and the city itself, also stricken by the disaster, were eventually rebuilt.

The farmers who took care of the domains belonging to the feudal lord - or to the religious community - took advantage of the marshlands to raise sheep and for wool work. Washing took place in ponds or fishponds dug near streams, while the women would knit bonnets with needles made of wood or bone.

The clothing industry in Leuze appeared at the beginning of the thirteenth century; it was so successful that the cloth manufacturers from Enghien came to Leuze to learn the local methods. In 1532, Charles V granted the city a free annual fair; it was the first fair of the year and took place every Monday after Candlemas and during the two following days.

In the second half of the sixteenth century the religious wars between the Catholics and the Calvinists compromised the city’s development; in 1558 and 1581, Leuze was pillaged and partially burned.

In 1606, fires and storm caused a panic and one third of the residents left the town. 

The second half of the seventeenth century saw the wars of Louis XIV; the Sun King wanted to occupy the Spanish Netherlands to conquer the Rhine and free all of France from defensible borders.

The Battle of Leuze (Combat de Leuze) or the Battle of Mont d’Or (Bataille du Mont d’Or) took place on September 19, 1691. Monsieur de Luxembourg, Duke and Marshal of France and his 28 squadrons defeated the 70 squadrons commanded by Prince of Waldeck. Local legend has it Louis XIV himself was at the battle; however, historical documents prove that at the time, he was in Fontainebleau. On the eve of the action, the Allies (British, Dutch and German cavalry) were stationed near Blicquy and Chapelle-à-Oie in a marshy area. The troop to their left stayed by a stream, while the other one followed behind. On the nineteenth, Waldeck ordered to leave the premises when around eleven o'clock, part of the French cavalry already crossed the bridges over the streams; the first French soon followed by the bulk of their forces. The military forces were coming from Tournai and had been traveling since dawn. Waldeck immediately called on his squadrons; they were already on their way and had barely crossed the bridges back when the French cavalry attacked... The majority of the allied cavalry’s elite was German; they took over six of the allied lines. Despite various obstacles - a ravine, thickets, ditches and swampy ground - the French successively crushed five of the six lines and the sixth quickly withdrew toward the parades of the Catoire and the hamlet of Andricourt along with the rest of the cavalry.

At the end of the day, the British infantry commanded by the famous Marlborough rushed to help the allied cavalry; but the latter was in a panic and it was too late. The French lost 400 men, either killed or wounded; the Allies lost 1,400 with 1,500 wounded and 400 taken as prisoners. Within two hours, 35 battle flags and two pairs of kettledrums were also taken from the Allies.

The mechanization of the clothing industry in Leuze appeared around 1700; the early knitting machines were heavy and could only be ran by men who worked from home and earned the nickname Balotils (bas à l'outil - stockings made with a tool). Small workshops of 3-4 workers opened up offering hundreds of trades and manufacturing close to 50,000 pairs of stockings a year; the knitting work from home stayed around as well. In 1744, the industry development led the Austrian authorities to build a road connecting Leuze to Tournai and Péruwelz. In the middle of the eighteenth century, two thirds of the population was completely devoted to making stockings. This period also saw a woolen cloth factory, two tanneries, an oil mill and a pottery factory. The late eighteenth century, during the annexation of France, and the Napoleonic period in particular was a prosperous time for the city: the hosiery production doubled. 

On July 2, 1741, in a matter of three hours, a fire burned down the Collegiate along with over 300 houses. The canons would be rebuilding their church from 1742 to 1745, and the city wouldn't be completely restored until 1755.

1815 saw the Fall of Napoleon and the union of Holland and Belgium. In 1817 Guillaume, King of the Netherlands brought Leuze to the rank of the city.

During the nineteenth century, Leuze was involved in further industrial activities; 1830 saw the workshops for the manufacturing of clothing, ten flour mills, eight breweries, two distilleries, two tile and pane factories, seven salt refineries, an animal charcoal factory and a tannery. 

In 1896, the hosiery industry included close to 250 people, not to mention textile mills, dye-works (375 employees) and clothing workshops (around 200 employees). 

After the First World War, 69 hosiers employed over 2,000 people. Despite the crisis in 1937, it still offered employment to over 1,500 people. In 1972, the hosiery employed over 1,000 people, while the dye-works - over 400. Unfortunately, there aren’t any hosieries left in Leuze, while the only dye-works was shut down after a fire.

Leuze became Leuze-en-Hainaut when the communes were merged in January of 1977.