Editing Soignies (section)

==History==

===Saint Vincent===
[[File:Soignies - Collégiale Saint-Vincent - 2021-09-12 - 01.jpg|thumb|left|Collegiate Church of St. Vincent]]

The known history of the region starts in the 7th century. The [[Franks|Frankish]] merchant [[Samo]], who founded an [[Samo's Empire|empire]] in Central Europe, may have come from Soignies (Latin: ''pagus Senonagus'').<ref>Chronicle of Fredegar, 4.48, edited and translated in J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, ''The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its continuations'' (London 1960). ''Pagus Senonago'' could also be the district of Sens in modern France.</ref> 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, Belgium|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 language|French]]: ''Forêt de Soignes'', [[Dutch language|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.

===The age of the canons===
At the end of the 9th century, a general decline in religious life led to a chapter of powerful [[Canon (priest)|canons]] &ndash; who did not take any vow of poverty &ndash; 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 St. Vincent (Madelgaire), which was to be completed during the following century in the prevalent [[Romanesque architecture|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 St. 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.

===1789–present===
[[File:Soignies - Garde Impériale 2.JPG|thumb|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 [[Netherlands|Dutch]] regime, and even more after the [[Belgian Revolution]] of 1830. 

Between 1831 and 1995, Soignies elected its own member of the [[Soignies (Chamber of Representatives constituency)|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.