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La Madeleine (Municipality, Nord, France)

Flag of La Madeleine, two versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 28 December 2020

Presentation of La Madeleine
Flag of La Madeleine

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Presentation of La Madeleine

The municipality of La Madeleine (21,968 inhabitants in 2018; 284 ha) is located in the northern suburbs of Lille.

Olivier Touzeau, 28 December 2020

Flag of La Madeleine

The flag of La Madelineis vertically divided, either red-blue (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo; room of the Municipal Council) or blue-red (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo) with the municipal coat of arms, "Sable an eagle argent beaked and membered or", in the center.
The arms were assigned by Th. Leuridan (Armorial des communes du département du Nord, 1909), as the arms of the Hangouart lineage, lord of La Madeleine since the middle 17th century. The Hangouart were also lords of Pont-à-Marcq, which was also assigned their arms.

The Hangouart were in the late 17th century one of the most affluent and renowned families in Lille. They presented themselves as "one of the oldest noble families" of the town, which they were not. Like most other noble families of the town, they were indeed "ennobled patricians" or "late nobles", who carefully managed their business in the Burgundian Low Countries and subsequently legitimized their social position by forging a mythical ancestry.
The Hangouart belonged to the second-rank provincial nobility, "ignoring the camp and court's life". They were, however, wise managers who kept on increasing their rural properties, then a main source of income. They also maintained a simple, family-oriented lifestyle, rather than wasting money in maintaining troops and parading at the court. Guillaume III de Hangouart (1529-1600) was ennobled in 1555 by Charles V. He was succeeded by Barthélemi XI (1568-1639), elevated Knight in 1611; Michel (1611-1680), Grand Bailiff of Wavrin, elevated Baron of Avelin in 1664; Barthélemi XII (1646-1710), elevated Count and Marquess in 1696; Charles-Philippe (1680-1749); Antoine-François (1706-1775), and François-Augustin (1747-1825), last representative of the senior branch. Since the lineage had a single junior branch of significance, its possessions were not divided with time.
The Hangouart owned several small domains scattered on a wide area belonging to different suzerains. Several of their villages were divided between France, sometimes between two or three provinces, and the Austrian Low Countries. For the sake of pragmatism, the Hangouart progressively increased their possession around the barony of Avelin. in 1780, this represented an area of approximately 400 hectares, that is, a capital of 800,000 guilders and a yearly income of 23,500 guilders, mostly represented by farming leases (20,000 guilders), and, additionally, of feudal tax (2,500 guilders), and sales of wood (1,000 guiders).
[Célia Fleury. 2004. Les Hangouart, une famille noble lilloise et ses propriétés rurales aux XVII^e et XVIII^e siècles. Revue du Nord 354, 59-97]

Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 29 December 2020