Western Europe

The origins of discontent

Both in the kingdom of France and the principality of Liège, the old political regime of absolute monarchy (the 'Ancien Régime') was in crisis at the end of the eighteenth century.

In both countries the clergy - the largest landowner - and the aristocracy did not pay any taxes and were supporting the old regime. Taxes were paid by their subjects who were living on their lands.

People in general were exhausted by the disastrous economic situation in which both countries found themselves so, in the end and with nothing left to lose, they revolted.

The bourgeoisie and the working classes both in town and country demanded that clergy and aristocracy should pay their share. They were prepared to take action to obtain political democracy and to end despotism and the many forms of injustice they faced.

Since the regulation of 1684 had been agreed in the prince-bishopric of Liège, power had been shared between the prince-bishop, the canons of Saint-Lambert Cathedral (the high clergy), and the aristocracy.

The lower clergy, the petty nobility - although they had the privilege of being exonerated from tax - the industrial bourgeoisie, the workers, and the peasants all opposed the prince-bishop and the canons because they were practically excluded from power and did not participate in the management of public affairs.

The bourgeois revolutionaries then entered into negotiations with the 'Noble Estate' (also known as 'The Second Estate') to fight against the prince-bishop and the canons ('The First Estate'), and the 'Third Estate' (the so-called 'good towns') who were subject to the authority of the prince-bishop.

The working classes in the cities and the peasant communities from the countryside were discontented. They prosecuted the clergy for not fulfilling their duties, such as maintaining churches and their schools, even though taxes were being paid. Peasants also took nobles to court for continuing to demand service from them, and the bourgeoisie for appropriating common goods.

Additionally, the situation for the common people was hardly enviable, with unemployment and begging rampant. The entire population was disgusted by landowners exporting wheat, thereby exacerbating food scarcity in the principality.

Voices were raised to demand political change and more social justice.

The palace of the prince-bishops is often presented as being one of the biggest Gothic civil buildings in the world, and today it plays host to the law courts and headquarters of the provincial government

Certain leaders of the revolt in Liège began to emerge from the 'Free Society of Emulation', which had been founded by the emancipated Prince-Bishop Francis-Charles of Velbrück in 1779.

The authoritarian Hoensbroeck - who was hostile to any reform - became prince-bishop in 1784. His election stirred up the smouldering rebellion. In 1787 the shutdown by Hoensbroeck, followed by a long trial, of a gambling house in the city of Spa, served as the pretext for renewed protest, and the French Revolution which erupted in Paris in July 1789 triggered true change.

In 1787, one of the leaders of the revolution in Liège, a jurist by the name of Jacques-Joseph of Fabry, proposed the abolition of the indirect taxation which so burdened the bourgeoisie and the poor, both craftsmen and manual labourers alike. In their political programme the bourgeois revolutionaries, such as Jean-Nicolas Bassenge, proposed the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.

A determining factor in the revolution was an increase of about sixty percent in the principality's population between 1700 and 1785, most of whom were still young  during this period of unrest.

Events and news of the revolution in France convinced the bourgeoisie to organise a popular uprising in order to force the prince-bishop to make far-reaching reforms. Even so, all the elements of a social explosion were already present in the principality of Liège.

Count Ludovico di Barbiano di Belgiojoso, minister plenipotentiary in the southern Netherlands for Emperor Joseph II and a lieutenant field marshal of the Holy Roman empire

The revolution

In the wake of the French revolution which broke out in Paris on 14 July 1789, resulting in the Bastille being seized, the Liège revolution began less than one month later when the people of Liège took the town hall and the citadel.

While the town hall was invaded by a mass of proletarians and semi-proletarians who were led by radical members of the bourgeoisie such as the jurist, Jacques-Joseph of Fabry, along with Jean-Nicolas Bassenge, Gossuin the gunsmith, and several noblemen such as Baron Jean-Remy de Chestret, the citadel was seized by Colonel Jean-Pierre Ransonnet with a group of armed rebels who sacked the military barracks inside the citadel without any bloodshed.

Under pressure from the masses, de Chestret brought the prince-bishop back to Liège from his summer residence of nearby Seraing. The prince-bishop was forced to ratify the revolutionary decisions and to sign an act of recognition of the new municipal authorities.

The much-contested regulation of 1684, by which Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, prince-bishop at the time, had abolished the democratic universal right to vote, was abolished in its turn and the old administration collapsed. The mayors and their councillors who were under the orders of the conservative prince-bishop were thrown out, and Fabry and de Chestret were acclaimed mayor-regents, with Mathias de Lassence and Gilles-Joseph de Cologne as co-regent mayors, assistants to thirty-two councillors. Gossuin became mambour of the city.

In the following days, the prince-bishop's army was dismissed by the 'Three Estates'. The twenty-two good towns in the prince-bishopric united and replaced the main magistracy of the 'Ancien Régime', starting with Verviers and Spa. The good towns and communities in the country were reinstated in terms of their rights to choose their magistrates and representatives. The 'First Estate', the cathedral chapter, was dissolved. A few days later, the prince fled to Trier.

Fabry and de Chestret were constantly attempting conciliation, first with the prince-bishop himself and then with the king of Prussia.

Wetzlar's imperial chamber condemned the revolution and ordered the governing princes of the circle of Westphalia (including the king of Prussia) to re-establish the old regime and help the prince-bishop. Between November 1789 and April 1790, the Prussians occupied Liège and other large cities of the principality, mediating between the revolutionaries and the circle of Westphalia to which the prince-bishopric belonged (see sidebar feature links for more on imperial circles).

Shown here is a map of the imperial German territories around 1560, with each of the imperial circles, some of which showed reduced traces of the former stem duchies (click or tap on map to view full sized)

Prince-Bishop Hoensbroeck belonged to the Austrian faction, and the principality of Liège was actually part of the circle of Westphalia, along with other small states such as the principality of Münster, the duchies of Jülich and Cleves, and the imperial cities of Cologne, Aachen, and Dortmund.

But it was impossible to reconcile the liberal aspirations of the people of Liège with the authoritarian stubbornness of Prince-Bishop Hoensbroeck in exile. Hoensbroeck's negative attitude blocked any chances of the clinical transition which was desired by the new mayors. The latter were therefore obliged to instigate a revolutionary break. Their objective remained the establishment of a constitutional monarchy based on an assembly of the 'Three Estates'. Nevertheless, under pressure from the masses and certain plebeian leaders such as Colonel Ransonnet, they carried out a revolutionary mission.

The Liège revolution led to the creation of a republic, two years before France achieved the same break. The new republic was named 'Le Pays Mosan' (the 'Land of the Meuse').

The 'Bishops Palace' in Liège, or episcopal palace, is the third such building, the first - built by bishop Notger - being destroyed by fire in 1185 and the second suffering the same fate in 1505

At the Congress of Polleur from September 1789, the 'Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen' was adopted in the Liège region, asserting the same civil rights. However, it contained some notable differences from the one from Paris. It was also more transparent than the Paris version.

The various estates in Liège prepared a constitution which promised equal taxes for everyone, the election of deputies by the people, and the freedom of work. Every citizen was free in his thoughts and opinions, without any restriction. The civil and individual rights of the people of Liège, including those which related to property and which had been established since 1196 by the charter of Prince-Bishop Albert of Cuyck, were still valid.

In January 1791, the Holy Roman empire's Leopold II of Austria intervened to restore episcopal power in its integrity, taking possession of the Southern Netherlands. Soon after, the revolution in Liège was crushed by an Austrian invasion, and the new republic reverted back to a prince-bishopric.

Protected by Austrian troops, Prince-Bishop Hoensbroeck returned to Liège and was restored to his episcopal throne. Mayor Fabry, other revolutionary leaders, and a large part of Liège's patriots went into exile to Paris.

In November 1792, however, the French revolutionary army defeated the Austrians at Jemappes (in today's Belgium), subsequently entering Brussels and, within a few days, had seized the entirety of the Austrian Netherlands, followed by an invasion of the city of Liège. Revolutionary momentum was instantly revitalised. The exiled revolutionary leaders followed their French liberators and returned to Liège.

About six months later, however, Liège was occupied by the Austrians once again and the old magistracy was restored for a second time. The French again invaded the Austrian Netherlands and the prince-bishopric of Liège, resulting in the final, irrevocable end of the prince-bishopric in 1794.

The strategic geopolitical importance of the Liège revolution

The principality of Liège was part of the Germanic Holy Roman empire, close to the border with France, and holding a strategic geopolitical position in the revolutionary process in France.

As a consequence, the Liège revolution was of high strategic significance for the European powers, mainly France, Prussia, and Austria (the latter two of which were both part of the Germanic Holy Roman empire).

The monarchies in Prussia and Austria wanted at all costs to prevent the revolution from extending into their territories and therefore wanted to put an end to the revolutionary process in France, restoring the 'Ancien Régime' and the monarchy.

Between 1789 and 1795 Liège's revolutionary leaders constantly requested the support of revolutionary France to confront the monarchical powers which were threatening them with vast armies, mainly Austria, Prussia, and the Westphalian circle.

Austria, as it owned the southern Low Countries, had several common borders with the principality of Liège. But Austria, with its immense interest in retaining the armed support of Prussia, was considering dismembering the prince-bishopric. Instead the Prussians were offered the opportunity of increasing their territory on their side of the Meuse. Additionally, several parts of the principality were at the convenience of the emperor and archduke, Joseph of Austria, who was convinced that means could be found to make exchanges.

There were also disagreements and power struggles between Austria and Prussia. The king of Prussia's main focus was to prevent Austria from crushing the Liège revolution too easily, for this would have strengthened Austria's position within the Holy Roman empire.

Instead he implemented a delaying tactic in the conflict between the Liège revolutionaries and Austria and tried to play the part of mediator between Austria and the Liège revolutionaries, who sent delegates to Berlin on several occasions.

Main Sources

Bijsterveld, Arnoud-Jan - Bisdommen, kapittels, kloosters en kerken in de Volle Middeleeuwen (2015, in Dutch)

Biographie nationale, Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des Beaux-arts de Belgique (Bruxelles, 1897, in French)

Daris, Joseph - Histoire du diocèse et de la principauté de Liége (1890-1899, in French)

Demarteau, J E - Liège et les principautés ecclésiastiques de l'Allemagne occidentale. Les relations de Liège avec Aix, Cologne et l'Empire - La fin (Tome XXVIII, 1899, in French)

Kurth, Godefroid - Notger de Liége et la civilisation au Xe siècle (Tome I et II, 1905, in French)

Magnette, Félix - Précis d'histoire liégeoise (1924, in French)

Marchandisse, Alain; Kupper, Jean-Louis; Vrancken-Pirson, Irène - La destruction de la ville de Liège et sa reconstruction (1996, in French)

Wahle, Eugène - Liège et ses bonnes villes (Ed, 1980, in French)

Online Sources

Catholic Encyclopaedia

Dupuis, Henry - Notger and his time (Université Liège, in French)

Grandjean, Joseph - Histoire de la Principauté de Liège (in French)

Les Belges, leur histoire (in French)

Liège Révolution (in French)

Schooyans, Michel - Archives de l'Université Catholique de Louvain (in French)

Williot, Germaine - Le Prince Evêque de Liège - Origine du pouvoir princier dans la principauté de Liège (in French)

Images and text copyright © P L Kessler & William Willems. An original feature for the History Files.