Editing Halle, Belgium (section)

=== Antiquity and Middle Ages ===
Borders have always played an important role in the history of Halle.  Already in the prehistoric era, before the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] conquests, a tribe of [[Nervii]] – either a Germanized [[Celt]]ic people or a Celticized [[Germanic people]] – lived in this region.  In the 7th century, Saint [[Waltrude]], the daughter of an important{{according to whom|date=May 2020}} [[Merovingian]] figure, gave some of her inherited land around Halle to the chapter of the abbey which she had just founded in [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]].  From that time on and until the French Revolution, the region around Halle would depend to various degrees on the [[County of Hainaut]].  In the 8th century, [[Hubertus]], archbishop of [[Tongeren]], founded a church dedicated to the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]]. This may have been the start of the regional devotion that continues today.
The town must{{why?|date=May 2020}} have grown quickly since [[Jeanne, Countess of Flanders]] and Hainaut granted its freedom charters in 1225.  The miraculous statue of the Virgin was sent to Halle in 1267 as a wedding gift to [[John II, Count of Holland]] and of Hainaut.  The cult of Mary attracted important visitors, such as [[Edward I of England]] and [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Ludwig the Bavarian]], making Halle an important frontier town between [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] and [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]. A larger church, dedicated to Mary, was completed in the 15th century.  The death of [[Philip II, Duke of Burgundy|Philipe Bold, Duke of Burgundy]] in Halle in 1404 benefitted the city. All subsequent ruling [[Dukes of Burgundy]] paid visits here to honor the duke's grave. In 1460 [[Louis XI of France]] decided to bury his stillborn son in the Halle church.