Editing Mons, Belgium (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
[[File:Mons Col1JPG.jpg|left|thumb|[[Saint Waltrude Collegiate Church]] and the [[Belfry of Mons]]]]

In the 7th century, [[Saint Ghislain]] and two of his disciples built an [[Oratory (worship)|oratory]] or chapel dedicated to Saints [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]] near the Mons hill, at a place called Ursidongus, now known as [[Saint-Ghislain]]. Soon after, [[Waltrude|Saint Waltrude]] (in French ''Sainte Waudru''), daughter of one of [[Chlothar II]]’s intendants, came to the oratory and was proclaimed a saint upon her death in 688. She was [[canonization|canonized]] in 1039.

Like [[Ath]], its neighbour to the north-west, Mons was made a fortified city by Count [[Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut|Baldwin IV]] of [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] in the 12th century. The population grew quickly, trade flourished, and several commercial buildings were erected near the Grand-Place. The 12th century also saw the appearance of the first town halls. The city had 4,700 inhabitants by the end of the 13th century. Mons succeeded [[Valenciennes]] as the capital of the county of Hainaut in 1295 and grew to 8,900 inhabitants by the end of the 15th century. In the 1450s, [[Matheus de Layens]] took over the construction of the Saint Waltrude church from Jan Spijkens and restored the Town Hall.