Send Gift Baskets to Grimbergen, Belgium

Grimbergen was a stopover for several critical Roman roads in Roman times. At the strategic crossing of the Zenne, the 8th century saw the construction of a fort. The local lord soon acquired a large piece of territory in this area, extending to the rivers Scheldt, Rupel, and Dender.

In the 12th century, the hamlet was known as Grentberghis, which came from the Old Dutch Grientbergen, meaning coarse sand mounds. During the reign of Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine, Augustinian monks had already tried to settle here a century earlier. Still, their religious community flourished only in the early 12th century. Norbert of Xanten led the Norbertine monks to build Grimbergen Abbey in 1128, establishing a beer brewery. As a result of animosity between the powerful Grimbergen family and their infant overlord Godfrey III of Leuven, the Wars of Grimbergen ensued a few years later. In response to the unrest, the Duke of Brabant destroyed the local castle, moved the Grimbergen lord to Ninove, and parceled out his land. From that period, the city’s coat of arms is derived.

Half of the territory became part of the Nassau estate at the beginning of the 14th century. The Wars of Religion at the end of the 16th century caused widespread destruction throughout Flanders. Upon receiving the land from her consort, William IV, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, ceded it to the Prince of Berghaus, who owned the other half, reuniting Grimbergen as a single but short-lived princedom.