Aniche (; ) is a commune in the Nord département in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France.Commune d'Aniche (59008), INSEE
The commune, located in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining area, long lived on the mining of coal with fourteen pits on its territory. Eleven pits were owned by the Aniche Mining Company and three by the Compagnie des mines d'Azincourt (Agincourt Mining Company).
History
Middle Ages In the early 12th century, Marchiennes Abbey owned the altar and tithes which had previously been owned by Anselm le Barbu, Count of Ostrevant, and his successorsPage 610 Archaeological Statistics of Nord Department. Second part 1867 - archived at Harvard College Library numbered in Google Books. On 27 April 1181, Philippe, Count of Flanders and Vermandois, was at the Saint-Martin of Aniche basilica in the presence of the relics of the Virgin Eusebia. He regulated the rights of the Abbey on tithing. In 1209, Bauduin of Obrechicourt, knight, waived his rights for tithes from Aniche. In 1219, Robert, sire of Aniche, made an award in favour of the Abbey for land that he contested with Jean le Mirail d'Aniche. In 1340, during the Hundred Years War, the people of Douai, France's allies, burned the village which was considered pro-British.
Aniche and Auberchicourt long had the same lords.
Cartulary of Duke Charles de Croy
The Gouache painting (opposite) was probably painted in 1603 and appears in the Albums de Croÿ. It is part of a wide range of topographical paintings made at the request of the Duke of Croy: an oval with a bird's-eye view of the landscape is framed in the four corners by four naked male figures with those at the top facing and the lower ones facing to the rear. The oval medallion contains a cartouche with the name of the village over a representation of the landscape seen from the south in late summer (see the plowed field and leaves on the trees).
In the foreground A road on the left with two figures. This road would be the way from Bouchain to Auberchicourt and Douai. In the centre bottom a shepherd on a hill with four sheep with a further ten sheep between the path and the plowed field.
In the background The village houses grouped around the church on the edge of the plowed field. Note that the artist has featured hooks on the church roof which trapped snow and also allowed the hanging of ladders for maintenance of the slates. Two turrets are visible on the side of the church with spires covered with slate. Seven buildings to the left of the church, eleven to the right all with 2 sided roofs. The church dominates the centre of the medallion with the bell tower on the left with a spire and four Fléchons covered with slate, angled and louvred, the choir on the right with four high bays whose roof is lower than the nave. The nave seems be made of four bays without an aisle. The choir appears to be of Roman style, narrower and lower and unusually elongated (with three spans). This church differs from the present church which was rebuilt from 1857 to 1859 and the tower rebuilt in 1872. Another impressive building is located on the right.
In the far background A dominant hill on the right.
From the 16th century to the Revolution
In 1616, Peter Paul Rubens came to Cambrai from his Rubenshuis in AntwerpAndré-Joseph-Ghislain Le Glay Researches on the metropolitan church of Cambrai, L. Didot, 1825, 235 pages, Tables on what was ordered by the Chapter of Cambrai who were pleased with his work. He came to the town but the Chapter found his demands exorbitant. He was not accustomed to be haggled with. Read online, consulted on 22 May 2013 . and, in passing Lille, stopped at AnicheMichel Dusart, The Rubens of Cambrai, Société d'Emulation de Cambrai, Cambrai, 2009, 79 pages, and left three paintings including The Entombment and two smaller ones: a Saint Francis and a Saint Clare.André-Joseph-Ghislain Le Glay, Cameracum christianum or Ecclesiastical History of the Diocese of Cambrai, L. Lefort, Cambrai, 1849, 542 pages, Read online, consulted on 22 May 2013 For The Entombment (also called the Descent from the Cross), Rubens painted the Christ naked. According to Eugéne-Bouly de Lesdain it is no longer intact: "A foreign hand cast a veil of decency on the painting which he felt obliged to impose".Eugéne-Bouly de Lesdain, Letters on Cambrai: Historic outlines, Hivert, Cambrai, 1835, 140 pages, Rubens did the Christ naked and later a foreign hand cast a veil of decency on the painting which he felt obliged to impose, Read online, consulted on 21 May 2013 An alien hand that may be attributed to Anonymous of Antwerp.
The Entombment by Rubens is always visible in the Church of Saint-Gery of Cambrai.
Under Charles V Aniche became a possession of the King of Spain until the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 when the Chatellenie of Bouchain returned to Louis XIV, King of France. In 1686, Eugène de Sainte-Adelgonde, Baron of Bours and Rieulay held the right of high justice in the land of Aniche under letters patent of engagement (lettres-patentes d'engagière). In 1778, on the night of 11 to 12 September, the discovery of coal in the Sainte Catherine pitVoix du Nord of 7 December 2008 caused the expansion and transformation of village society. The Marquis de Traisnel Company and Claude-Constant Juvénal d'Harville des Ursins, then the owner of the manor, became the Aniche Mining Company - the second largest coal company in France after the Anzin Mining Company.
18th century On the morning of 7 February 1827 at the Saint Hyacinthe pit, fire broke out in an access passage for the workers to descend into the pit. Thick smoke spread inside the mine and asphyxiated 46 workers employed in the coal extraction tunnels. Seven young men and two fathers were found dead.p. 29, Memoires of the inhabitants of Douai or Notes in response to the work of Mr. Plouvain on the history of this town from 1 January 1822 to 30 November 1842, 1843, imprimerie de D. Ceret-Carpentier, 5 rue des chapelets, Douai - Archive from Harvard College Library Location of the Saint Hyacinthe pit
From the 19th century to the present day
After the creation of the first glassworks in 1823, Aniche became, from the middle of the 19th century, the French capital of the window glass industry and went from 4,000 to 7,500 inhabitants in 1900. The Antoine Lumière & son plates and photographic papers Company (Lyon) were supplied by the Glassworks of the Station, better known under the name "Belotte Glass".
On 28 November 1900, 21 workers were killed by the explosion of 148 kg of dynamite in the Fenelon pit owned by the Aniche Mining Company.The Progrès Illustré of 8 December 1900 supplement of the Progrès de Lyon
The First World War caused a sharp slowdown in industrial activity and led to the destruction by the occupying power of the majority of installations before their departure in October 1918.
The occupation lasted 49 months from September 1914 to 20 October 1918 when the village was liberated by British forces. There were 314 war victims from Aniche: 299 at the front or from injuries and 15 civilian victims.The Voix du Nord of 11 November 2008
The period between the wars saw the decline of the mining industry with the cessation of operations of the last pit in 1938 and the final closure of the glassworks at the beginning of the Second World War.
Heraldry
Geography Aniche is located some 15 km south-east of Douai and some 7 km north-west of Douchy-les-Mines in the heart of the old Ostrevent region. Access is by the D943 road from Bouchain in the south-east passing through the commune to the town. There is also the D645 from Auberchicourt in the west passing through the town and continuing east to Abscon. The D47 road comes from Bruille-lez-Marchiennes in the north passing through the town and continuing south-west to Monchecourt. More than half of the commune consists of the urban area of Aniche town with the rest of the commune in the east and south farmland.Google Maps
Geology and terrain On 27 December 1893, an earthquake occurred in the glass-making districtMeteorology by the Meteorological Society of France published in 1894 (archived at the New-York Public Library) which indicated a seismic risk that the coal mines then more or less took into account.
Communications and transport Aniche is connected to Douai by bus route 1 (Aniche-Guesnain) which connects with Tram A (Guesnain-Douai) of the SMTC of Douai, as well as routes 211 (Guesnain-Denain via Aniche), 210 (Aniche-Somain), and 201 (Aniche-Villeneuve d'Ascq) operated by the Arc-en-Ciel network.
Phase 3 of Route A will link Aniche on the Évéole network of autobuses to Douai. The line will link the Champ de la Nation in the centre of town and pass along the Rue Henri-Barbusse.The SMTD continues its reorganistion and plans for the future
The commune was served by rail transport through Aniche station which was demolished in 2010.
Neighbouring communes and villages
Source:
Toponymy The name of Aniche (Anic) was mentioned for the first time in 1103 in a list of the possessions of the abbey of Marchiennes, then as Enice in 1113 and Henice in 1181. It was in 1219 that the name Aniche appears under the seal of Robert, Lord of Aniche and of Auberchicourt.
In Flemish, the commune is called Anik.
Administration
List of Successive MayorsList of Mayors of France
From To Name Party Position 1615 Nicolas Dufour 1630 Jean-Crépin Vallet 1661 Nicolas Dufour 1705 Jean Guilmo 1706 Jean Vallet 1716 Jean-Robert Cannesson 1729 Jean-Jacques Danchin 1731 Gille Marouzet 1736 François Caron 1737 Maurand Guilmo 1744 Alexis Lanseau 1756 Anselme Lefebvre 1790 1791 Nicolas François Joseph Quennesson 1791 1792 Philippe Antoine Clery 1791 Jean-Louis Quennesson 1792 1795 Nicolas François Guillemot 1795 1800 Nicolas Joseph Guillemot 1799 Toussaint Caron 1800 1817 Auguste Louis Lanvin Lieutenant 1812 Ambroise Olivier 1818 1824 Louis Joseph Stanislas Hayez 1824 1831 Jacques Joseph Dubois 1831 1854 Edouard Auguste Lanvin 1848 1875 Adolphe Achille Aristide Patoux 1875 1876 Charles Ducret 1878 1881 Alexandre Fogt 1881 1884 Charles Ducret 1884 1886 Jean Louis Dewez 1886 1889 Edouard Alexandre Joseph Lefebvre 1889 1900 Victor Adolphe Bastin 1900 1902 Charles Adolphe Scelles 1902 1910 Pierre Joseph Richard Bertinchamps 1910 1919 Eloi Joseph Lanoi 1919 1925 Pierre Olivier Humez 1925 1929 Emile Germain Léon Danchin 1929 1931 Louis Pol 1931 1932 Philippe Descamps 1932 1933 Louis Pol 1933 1939 Jules Agile Domisse PCF 1939 1942 Albert Betrema
Mayors from 1930 From To Name Party 1942 1944 Gaston Lefort 1944 1959 Jean Schmidt 1959 1971 François Longelin 1971 1989 Jean Charles François Quiquempois 1989 2014 Michel Meurdesoif PCF 2014 2020 Marc Hémez 2020 2026 Xavier Bartoszek
Twin towns – sister cities
Aniche is twinned with: Bobingen, Germany (1969) Nový Bor, Czech Republic (1990)
Demography The inhabitants of the commune are known as Anichois or Anichoises in French.Le nom des habitants du 59 - Nord, habitants.fr According to historians,Image and legend of gouache made for the Duke of Croÿ around 1600 in 1540 Aniche had 47 fires of which 7 were of ploughmen (the others had no horse & carts or other animals).
Distribution of age groups Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Aniche and Nord Department in 2023
Culture and heritage
Sites and monuments L'Idéal Cinéma Jacques Tati. Its first show was on 23 November 1905. Demolished and rebuilt in 1995. The Théodore Monod College is the largest college of the Academy of Lille The Church of Saint Martin built in 1855-1859 by the architect Charles Leroy The War Memorial 1914-1918 located in the Berrioz Square and opened on 9 November 1924 (314 victims from Aniche).Voix du Nord from 11 November 2008 The College of Saint Joseph, a former hospital during the war. Saint Joseph School The pyramid
Notable people linked to the commune
1770: Auguste-Louis Lanvin