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![[Flag of Koekelare]](../images/b/be-vwvkl.gif)
Municipal flag of Koekelare - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 13 January 2007
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The municipality of Koekelare (8,325 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 3,918 ha) is located in the region of Westhoek, 18 km from the North Sea and in the middle of the triangle Diksmuide-Torhout-Gistel. The municipality of Koekelare is made since 1971 of the former municipalities of Koekelare, Bovekerke and Zande.
The region of Koekelare was already settled on the Age of Bronze (2000
BC); cemetaries with funerary urns placed in a circular pattern have
been excavated. The settlement was still there in the Age of Iron;
ceramics and iron artifacts have been found. In the Gallo-Roman times,
the old road to Bruges was revamped and became a Roman way; it forms
today a part of the southern border of the municipality. The way
crossed an important settlement.
The Franks renamed the settlement Coclars, after the Germanic words
coc or kook, "a hill" or "an elevated place", and lars or lare, "an
open place in a woody and marshy area". The elevated place is today
topped by the parish church and still surrounded by ponds and marshy
lands. Coclars was first mentioned in 847 when King of Francia
Occidentalis Charles le Chauve granted the big domain known as "villa
Koekelare" to the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Amand (today in the north
of France). The monks evangelized the area and placed it under the
patronage of the soldier monk St. Martin, who was particularly
venerated by the Franks. Old Germanic traditions, "borrowed" by the
church, are still vivid on the eve of St. Martin's Day, the 11
November. Children sing all around, lit by a candle placed in a
hollowed out beet; for this first light festival of the winter, they
chase away with ruusbuusbuus the evil spirits and beseech for apples
and pears, the symbols of winter fertility.
Koekelare was plundered by the Northmen at the end of the IXth century.
The villagers built a water castle in the curve of the St.-Martensbeek
(St. Martin's brook), where later the Oosthof (the residence of the
lords of Koekelare) was built. In 1106, the Count of Flanders decided
the development of the desert area known as Utfanc, located in the
north of the municipality, and transferred Koekelare to the Benedictine
St. Bertinus abbey in Saint-Omer (today in the north of France). The
monks built a priory, which is the origin of the modern urban
settlement.
Koekelare became in the XIVth century the seat of a lordship
encompassing Koekelare, Ichtegem, Eernegem and Aartrijke. The
administration of the Bruges Freeland (Brugse Vrije) built in Koekelare
a regional leper-house, which was sacked along with the parish church
during the religious wars in the XVIth century; the village was nearly
deserted. In 1759, the population of the village had grown again to
3,500.
The Christiaen brewery-malthouse dates back to c. 1790. It became an industrial complex in 1878 and worked until 1968, being the main source of employment in Koekelare. The brewery was purchased and restored by the municipality of Koekelare in 1985; the municipal administration was awarded the "Flemish Monument" prize in 1993 for this restoration.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 13 January 2007
The municipal flag of Koekelare is blue with three white disks placed 2
and 1.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag and arms of Koekelare were
adopted by the Municipal Council on 22 May 1987, confirmed by the
Executive of Flanders on 7 July 1987 and published in the Belgian
official gazette on 3 December 1987.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.
The municipal website explains that municipal arms, "Azure three plates (in Dutch, drie zilveren bezanten, in French trois besants d'argent, lit. "three bezants argents") 2 and 1", belonged to Walter IV van Koekelare who went on the
Crusade in 1252, therefore the bezants, who are said to represent coins
minted by the Byzantine Emperor.
According to Servais, the arms of Koekelare were granted by (Dutch) Royal Decree in 1818
and confirmed by (Belgian) Royal Decree on 11 May 1840. They are similar to the
today's arms but with the bezants or and a letter K (for Koekelare) or
in canton. Since there was no colours mentioned in the first grant
application, the (then) national Dutch colours were granted "by
default", and not changed after the independence of Belgium, as it was
the case for several Belgian municipal arms azure and or.
The Gelre Armorial shows "Gules three plates" for Koekelare (Kokelar, #972, folio 81v).
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 13 January 2007