Editing Dilbeek (section)

==History==

===Medieval origins===
The life of [[Saint Alena]], the 7th-century martyr daughter of a lord of Dilbeek, was set in Dilbeek and [[Forest, Belgium|Forest (Vorst)]]. The historical facts of her life, however, are disputed.<ref>{{cite web |title=The legend of Saint Alena |language=Dutch |url=http://www.dilbeek.be/Legende.46.0.html |publisher=Dilbeek.be |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227205406/http://www.dilbeek.be/Legende.46.0.html |archive-date=27 December 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In [[Carolingian]] times, Dilbeek and its neighbouring villages were part of the [[pagus]] ''Bracbatensis''. This territory, ruled by the Lords of Aa in [[Anderlecht]], was integrated into the [[Brabant (landgraviat)|Landgraviate of Brabant]] by the counts of [[Leuven]] around 1085. The first mention of the name ''Dedelbeccha'' dates from 1075, while the name ''Bigardis'', later transformed into ''Groot-Bijgaarden'' (in French ''Grand Bigard''), dates from 1110. ''Bigardis'' was originally a dependency of the Abbey of Saint Bavo in [[Ghent]], but by 1125, nuns under the leadership of [[:fr:Wivine de Grand-Bigard|Saint Wivina]] had founded a religious community there. Around 1183, the landgraviate became the [[Duchy of Brabant]], within which Dilbeek remained as an independent parish until the [[French Revolution]].

===16th century until now===
The area's parishes belonged to the [[see of Cambrai]] until 1559 when they were placed under the administration of the [[Archbishop of Mechelen]]. Also in the 16th century, Dilbeek, Itterbeek and Sint-Martens-Bodegem were placed under the local rule of the Lords of [[Lennik|Gaasbeek]]. The following decades were marked by the wars that opposed [[Catholics]] and [[Protestants]], which resulted in the ruin of the Abbey of Groot-Bijgaarden. The final dismantlement and sale of the buildings occurred during the French regime in the 1790s.