Aniche

History

[Middle Ages]

• In the early 12th century, Marchiennes Abbey owned the altar and tithes which had previously been owned by Anselm le Barbu, Count of Ostrevant, and his successors
• On 27 April 1181, Philippe, Count of Flanders and Vermandois, was at the Saint-Martin of Aniche basilica in the presence of the relics of the Virgin Eusebia. He regulated the rights of the Abbey on tithing.
• In 1209, Bauduin of Obrechicourt, knight, waived his rights for tithes from Aniche.
• In 1219, Robert, sire of Aniche, made an award in favour of the Abbey for land that he contested with Jean le Mirail d'Aniche.
• In 1340, during the Hundred Years War, the people of Douai, France's allies, burned the village which was considered pro-British.

[Cartulary] of Duke [Charles de Croy]

• A road on the left with two figures. This road would be the way from Bouchain to Auberchicourt and Douai.
• In the centre bottom a shepherd on a hill with four sheep with a further ten sheep between the path and the plowed field.

• The village houses grouped around the church on the edge of the plowed field. Note that the artist has featured hooks on the church roof which trapped snow and also allowed the hanging of ladders for maintenance of the slates. Two turrets are visible on the side of the church with spires covered with slate.
• Seven buildings to the left of the church, eleven to the right all with 2 sided roofs.
• The church dominates the centre of the medallion with the bell tower on the left with a spire and four Fléchons covered with slate, angled and louvred, the choir on the right with four high bays whose roof is lower than the nave. The nave seems be made of four bays without an aisle. The choir appears to be of Roman style, narrower and lower and unusually elongated. This church differs from the present church which was rebuilt from 1857 to 1859 and the tower rebuilt in 1872.
• Another impressive building is located on the right.

• A dominant hill on the right.

From the 16th century to the Revolution

• In 1616, Peter Paul Rubens came to Cambrai from his Rubenshuis in Antwerp and, in passing Lille, stopped at Aniche and left three paintings including The Entombment and two smaller ones: a Saint Francis and a Saint Clare. For The Entombment, Rubens painted the Christ naked. According to Eugéne-Bouly de Lesdain it is no longer intact: "A foreign hand cast a veil of decency on the painting which he felt obliged to impose". An alien hand that may be attributed to Anonymous of Antwerp.

• Under Charles V Aniche became a possession of the King of Spain until the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 when the Chatellenie of Bouchain returned to Louis XIV, King of France.
• In 1686, Eugène de Sainte-Adelgonde, Baron of Bours and Rieulay held the right of high justice in the land of Aniche under letters patent of engagement.
• In 1778, on the night of 11 to 12 September, the discovery of coal in the Sainte Catherine pit caused the expansion and transformation of village society. The Marquis de Traisnel Company and Claude-Constant Juvénal d'Harville des Ursins, then the owner of the manor, became the Aniche Mining Company - the second largest coal company in France after the Anzin Mining Company.

18th century

• Location of the Saint Hyacinthe pit

From the 19th century to the present day

Geography

Geology and terrain

Communications and transport

Neighbouring communes and villages

Toponymy

Administration

Twin towns – sister cities

• Bobingen, Germany
• Nový Bor, Czech Republic

Demography

Distribution of age groups

Culture and heritage

Sites and monuments

• L'Idéal Cinéma Jacques Tati. Its first show was on 23 November 1905. Demolished and rebuilted in 1995.
• The Théodore Monod College is the largest college of the Academy of Lille
• The Church of Saint Martin built in 1855-1859 by the architect Charles Leroy
• The War Memorial 1914-1918 located in the Berrioz Square and opened on 9 November 1924.
• The College of Saint Joseph, a former hospital during the war.
• Saint Joseph School
• '''The pyramid'''

Notable people linked to the commune

• 1770: Auguste-Louis Lanvin
• 1780: Joseph-François Désiré born in Aniche on 19 September 1780, decorated with the Legion of Honour
• 1784: Joséphine Rostkowska, Polish heroine
• 1787: Napoléon Bonaparte, then a junior officer billeted in the Douai barracks. He passionated about the project of Lapérouse in his expedition around the world.
• 1810: Adolphe Patoux, native of Saint-Hilaire-lez-Cambrai, former glass blower, founded a glassworks at Aniche in 1864
• 1833: Robert Eugène des Rotours, Baron of Rotours, born at Aniche on 23 October 1833, died at Paris on 28 March 1895, a lawyer, counsellor for the préfecture, Mayor of Avelin, Member of the Legislative Chamber from 2 February 1868 to 28 March 1895, municipal councillor then Mayor of Mérignies, and general counsel for the Canton of Orchies; married in Paris on 10 May 1859 to Emma Joséphine Ghislaine van den Hecke de Lambeke; buried in the church of Avelin with his wife.
• 1835: Charles Patoux, born at Aniche on 2 February 1835. Former Mayor of Aniche, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour with Adolphe Patoux, both buried in the family vault in the central aisle of the cemetery in Aniche.
• 1885: Léon Lehuraux, Méhariste officer, writer, and ethnologist, born at Aniche on 29 December 1885, died on 8 June 1956.
• 1880: Vincent van Gogh beginning in March 1880 he took his suitcase under his arm with some drawings and 10 francs to meet the painter Jules Breton who practiced at Courrières in the Pas-de-Calais. He took the train from Mons to Valenciennes, arriving in heavy rain and hurricane winds. To avoid the Forest of Raismes-Saint-Amand-Wallers, he travelled via Denain possibly by the horse-drawn tram shown on the map of the Arrondissement of Valenciennes then by Escaudain, Auberchicourt, Lewarde, then Douai to arrive at Courrières. Jules Breton was not there. His house and his workshop seemed too plush. The return trip was completely on foot in difficult conditions with a pilgrimage to Borinage. He sold some drawings for subsistence. On 24 September 1880 he wrote to his brother Theo that on the way back he finally found his way: painting. "It is for me to learn to draw or to be master of my pencil, or my charcoal, or my brush and once I got that I can do good work almost anywhere. Borinage is as picturesque as old Venice, Arabia, Brittany, Normandy, Picardy, or Brie". He still had ten years of life to achieve some 2,000 works.
• 1888: Louis Pol born at Aniche on 9 September 1888 and died there on 24 June 1958. A Glass worker; glassblower at the Union glassworks. From 1921-1955 he was Director of L'Idéal Cinéma Jacques Tati; secretary of the rescue unit of glassworkers of Aniche from 1922 to reunification in 1935. As a member of the Communist Party, he was elected mayor in December 1932 but was revoked in February 1933 because of the virulence of his public actions at the head of the municipality. Elected deputy mayor in 1935, he was removed from office in 1939 under the Daladier Decree.
• 1909: Michel Leduc, born at Aniche on 12 March 1909, died at Six-Fours-les-Plages near Toulon on 15 November 1986. Artistic Director of the Opéra de Marseille for 12 years and Director of the Municipal theatre of Avignon for 17 years.
• 1922: Georges Hugot, artist and sculptor, professor at the School of Fine Arts of Douai. He was the creator of numerous sculptures installed in Aniche such as the Monument of Glass and of Coal. Deputy Mayor of Aniche from 1983 to 1995, he initiated and developed cultural policy in the commune. He was responsible for the reconstruction of the "Ideal" cinema which was named L'Idéal Cinéma Jacques Tati in 1995.
• 1925: Lazare Gianessi, born in Aniche on 9 November 1925 and died on 11 August 2009 in Concarneau, a former international footballer
• 1950: Roger Facon, born in Monchecourt on 20 January 1950; was a police investigator before publishing detective novels largely inspired by his professional experience
• 1957: Michel Sanchez, musician
• 1970: Valérie Bonneton, born at Somain, actress, ex-wife of François Cluzet

Folklore