Meerdaal

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The Meerdaal Free Wood on a late sixteenth century map Miradal.jpg
The Meerdaal Free Wood on a late sixteenth century map

Meerdaal, also known as Meerdaalwoud and Meerdaalbos, is a woodland lying east of Brussels and south of Leuven, on the loess plateau of Brabant in central Belgium. The bigger part of it has most likely been continuously forested since the Middle Ages, but the archaeological record and geomorphology give evidence of a profound human influence, probably including agriculture, during the Roman era and the Iron Age. [1]

Brussels Capital region of Belgium

Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region. Brussels is the most densely populated and the richest region in Belgium in terms of GDP per capita. It covers 161 km2 (62 sq mi), a relatively small area compared to the two other regions, and has a population of 1.2 million. The metropolitan area of Brussels counts over 2.1 million people, which makes it the largest in Belgium. It is also part of a large conurbation extending towards Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven and Walloon Brabant, home to over 5 million people.

Leuven Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Leuven or Louvain is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in Belgium. It is located about 25 kilometres east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic city and the former neighbouring municipalities of Heverlee, Kessel-Lo, a part of Korbeek-Lo, Wilsele and Wijgmaal. It is the eighth largest city in Belgium and the fourth in Flanders with more than 100,244 inhabitants.

Loess A predominantly silt-sized clastic sediment of accumulated wind-blown dust

Loess is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of the Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.

Contents

Miradal

In 1146 Meerdaal was known as silva de miradal. Silva refers to a place dominated by trees; dal refers to a valley; the origin of mira is unclear. [2]

Free Wood

From 1406 until the end of the 18th century Meerdaal was endowed with the statute of Free Wood, which, for example, refers to its independent law court and rules. [3]

Oak, pannage and boars

Numerous documents give evidence of pannage in Ducal Free Woods Like Meerdaal during the dark and cold months of the 16th, 17th and 18th century. This pannage was obviously well-adjusted to forestry, as Meerdaal kept its age-long reputation for high-quality oak timber up to the present day. Pigs were restricted to well-appointed areas and evidently kept out of young stands by swine herders, who also built wooden cages for the animals. But the Free Wood of Meerdaal was not only a place for pannage, coppice or timber. It also had to keep up a reputation as a chase, housing wild boars, their hybrids with domestic pigs, and deer. [4]

Pannage

Pannage is the practice of releasing livestock-pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests.

Forestry economic sector

Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, using, conserving, and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. The science of forestry has elements that belong to the biological, physical, social, political and managerial sciences.

Oak genus of plants

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae (she-oaks). The genus Quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States, while Mexico has 160 species of which 109 are endemic. The second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species.

Modern forestry

Today, Meerdaal Forest is managed as a multifunctional forest. High quality timber production keeps to play an important role but is combined with the conservation of high quality nature, recreation and education.

Hiking

Today, Meerdaalwoud and the adjacent Heverleebos - together covering an area of almost 25 km² - are very popular for hiking.

Location

50°48′16.89″N4°41′45.71″E / 50.8046917°N 4.6960306°E / 50.8046917; 4.6960306 Coordinates: 50°48′16.89″N4°41′45.71″E / 50.8046917°N 4.6960306°E / 50.8046917; 4.6960306

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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References

  1. ↑ Vanwalleghem, Tom et alii. Prehistoric and Roman gullying in the European loess belt: a case study from central Belgium. The Holocene 16 (3), 2006
  2. ↑ Gysseling, Maurits. Toponymisch woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland (vóór 1226), Part I, p. 677. Belgisch Interuniversitair Centrum voor Neerlandistiek, 1960
  3. ↑ De Fraine, Piet. Het woudgerecht van het vrijwoud van Meerdaal - Inleidende archiefstudie. Nauwelaerts, Leuven, 1963
  4. ↑ Baeté, Hans et alii. Heerlijk Vrijwoud (chapter based on archives) in: Miradal. Erfgoed in Heverleebos en Meerdaalwoud. Davidsfonds Uitgeverij, 2009. ISBN   978-90-5826-624-8
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