TheCondroz (French pronunciation:[kɔ̃dʁo]) is anatural region inWallonia, the French-speaking part ofBelgium, located between theArdennes and theMeuse. Its unofficial capital isCiney. The region preserves the name of theCondrusi, a Germanic tribe which inhabited the area during and before theRoman era.
Compared to other parts of Belgium, the Condroz is a sparsely populated, agricultural area. It consists of low hills of an average altitude of about 200 to 300 meters (660 to 980 ft). It is mainly situated in the provinces ofLiège andNamur and also in smaller parts of the Belgian provinces ofHainaut andLuxembourg. It is bordered in the north by theMeuse river, in the east by the Ardennes, in the south by theFamenne region.
Historically, the Condroz did not stretch west of the Meuse, but today there is a western section, south ofNamur and theSambre river stretching to theThiérache and southern Hainaut.
Very little is known of theRoman era Condrusi, after whom the region was originally named.Julius Caesar described them and theSegni as living between theEburones, to their north, and theTreviri, who lived to their south in the area of what is nowArlon,Luxembourg and theMoselle region in modernGermany andFrance.
From the fragmentary evidence it is known that citizens of thepagus or country of the Condrusi lived within the largercivitas of theTungri, theCivitas Tungrorum, which had its capital inTongeren. They fought in the Roman military and could earn Roman citizenship.[1]
In medieval records, thePagus Condrustis orCondrustensis started to appear again from 747, in an area consistent with the old country of the Condrusi mentioned by Caesar.[2] For the Christian church, Condroz was part of theBishopric of Liège, which managed a region corresponding to the old RomanCivitas Tungrorum, though the capital had now moved from Tongeren toLiège.
Unlike today, the medieval Condroz did not extend west over theMeuse river, into what is now the Belgian region Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse(fr), because this was part of the medievalLommegau(de) orPagus Lomacensis.[3]
To the south, theFamenne region, which is today considered distinct from the Condroz, was originally a part of the Condroz. South of the Famenne region is and was rougher and more wooded terrain of theArdennes, which today stretches into France and Luxembourg.[4] In 839, theCarolingian EmperorLouis the Pious granted the "county" of Condroz and the county of the Ardennes to his sonLouis the German, effectively making the Meuse the boundary between the eastern and western Frankish kingdoms.[5] (This is the only time the Condroz was described as a county like this.[6])
To the east, the medieval Condroz stretched over theOurthe.[7] In 870 this area was specifically described in theTreaty of Meerssen, when the Condroz was allocated for some decades to the kingdom of the western Franks (from which France evolved).[7][8]
As a church jurisdiction under Liège, already in about 800 thePagus Condrustinsus was mentioned as one of only four divisions of the bishopric, along with Lomme, the Ardennes, and theHesbaye. By 1497 the medieval jurisdictions, which were reformed in 1559, an archdeaconry of the Famenne had been created from the southern part (together with theChimay deanery from the Lommepagus west of the Meuse). In at least two significant ways, the late medieval archdeaconry did not correspond to the Condroz in any geographical sense.
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