| Added by |
 Bart Perdieus
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| General Description : | The Marquessate of Franchimont was a lordship forming the western frontier of the Principality of Liège. Its base was the château de Franchimont. It was made up of the bans of Theux, Spa, Sart, Jalhay and later Verviers. The prince bishops of Liège first took the title of marquis of Franchimont at the start of the 16th century.[1] Before the Liege Revolution, the Marquessate of Franchimont formed a small province within the Principality. This small country, six leagues long by four leagues wide, was bounded in by the duchy of Limburg, the duchy of Luxembourg and the principality of Stavelot-Malmédy. The 600 Franchimontois were 600 men from Franchimont who, on the night of 29 October 1468 during the Siege of Liège, unsuccessfully attacked the besieging Burgundian army, with the aim of killing or capturing its leaders Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and King Louis XI of France. In 1468, the people from Liège were revolting a third time in 4 years time against Burgundian domination. As a reaction, Charles the Bold had led an army towards Liège to deal once and for all with the rebellious city. He was accompanied by King Louis XI of France. When the siege became desperate for the Liègois, they decided to make a night attack with 600 men, led by Vincent de Bueren and Gosuin de Streel, over the Saint Walburga stairs against the sleeping Burgundians. Their aim was to kill the Duke and the King, so that the army would be left leaderless and retreat. The plan failed, and all 600, including Vincent de Bueren and Gosuin de Streel, were killed. The Saint Walburga stairs were later renamed the "Bueren stairs". The next day Liège surrendered, and at the command of Charles the Bold, hundreds of Liègois were tied together and thrown into the Meuse river. The city was set alight and is said to have burned for seven weeks. The story of the 600 Franchimontois has come to us through the chronicler Philippe de Commines, who was present in the Burgundian camp at the Siege of Liège. It is difficult to know the true history behind the story of the 600 Franchimontois, because it has been used since 1831 by the newly independent Kingdom of Belgium as an example of self-sacrifice for the fatherland and of resistance against any invader, no matter how powerful he might be. The story of the 600 Franchimontois was told in every Belgian school. After the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, King Albert I of Belgium appealed to his soldiers to resist the powerful German war-machine using the phrase : "Flemings, remember the Battle of the Golden Spurs, Walloons, remember the 600 Franchimontois!". When the French Community of Belgium was created, the day of the battle, October 29 was seriously considered as a French Community Holiday. All of this makes it very difficult to distinguish truth from fiction. Recent historians have established that the attack did not go over the Bueren stairs, but through the Saint Margaret gate. The number of 600 men is probably also greatly exaggerated and there are even doubts that the men came from Franchimont. |
| Face value | 3 Francs |
| Catalog code (Michel) | BE 1504 |
| Catalog code | Stamp Number BE 701 Yvert et Tellier BE 1449 Stanley Gibbons BE 2071 AFA number BE 1525 Belgium BE 1449 Unificato BE 1449 |
| Stamp colour | multicolor |
| Stamp use | Commemorative stamp |
| Print run | 9.000.000 |
| Issue date | 13/04/1968 |
| Designer | Luc Verstraete |
| Print technique | photogravure |
| Perforation | 11 1/2 |
| Height | 39.00 mm |
| Width | 28.00 mm |
| Catalog prices | No catalog prices set yet |
