county · France and the Low Countries

County of Namur

981 CE – 1795 CE (approx.) · capital Namur

A compact county at the meeting of the Sambre and Meuse, built around a rock fortress that later became one of the most fought-over strongholds in Europe.

Origins

Namur emerged in the 10th century from the old district of Lomme, when local counts built their power around the castle on the rock above the Sambre and Meuse confluence. Albert I, ruling around 981, is often treated as the first well-documented count, and his family held the county for two centuries.

Rule and society

Namur was a small Walloon county of river trade, forests and ironworks, an imperial fief squeezed between Liège, Hainaut, Brabant and Luxembourg. Count Henry the Blind also held Luxembourg in the 12th century. From 1263 the Dampierre counts of Flanders ruled it, and Namur's citadel grew into a major fortress.

Decline and legacy

The bankrupt John III sold Namur to Philip the Good in 1421, and it joined the Burgundian State, then the Habsburg Netherlands. Louis XIV took the citadel in 1692 and William III retook it in 1695. France annexed the county in 1795; it is now a Belgian province.

Connections (5)

More states of France and the Low Countries →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). County of Namur. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-namur
MLA
“County of Namur.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-namur. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “County of Namur.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-namur.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘County of Namur’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-namur (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻