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Aniche (Municipality, Nord, France)

Flag of Aniche - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 30 May 2025

Presentation of Aniche
- Coat of arms of Aniche
Flag of Aniche

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Presentation of Aniche

Aniche (10,001 inhabitants in 2022; 652 ha) is a commune in the Nord département.

The rich terroir of Ostrevant has been populated since prehistoric times, and humans have continued to inhabit it and integrate through various conquests: Gallic tribes, Romans, and Salian Franks, as evidenced by numerous remains. The founding of the church dedicated to Saint Martin dates back to the Merovingian period between 400 and 630. It was in 630, in the expanse of the Scarpe marshes, that the Irish monks of Saint-Colomban founded the Abbey of Marchiennes, to which the tithes and the altar of Aniche would later be attributed. At the end of the 11th century, Count Anselm the Bearded ravaged the region and seized the tithes of the abbeys of Marchiennes and St. Amand. It is in the enumeration of this abbey's possessions that the name Aniche (Hanic) appears. The name of Aniche appears in several forms: "Aniz, Enich, Hanic, Anich, etc.), and on a document dated 1103 Aniche appears in its current form.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Aniche suffered the fate common to all of Ostrevant, constantly disputed by the Counts of Flanders and Hainaut, under the self-serving arbitration of the Kings of France. Periods of peace, when wheat cultivation and wool and linen weaving were already flourishing, alternated with periods of war. From the 9th to the 14th century, the region passed from the Counts of Flanders to the Counts of Hainaut, and was tossed between the Holy Roman Empire and the Capetian Kingdom before being absorbed from 1433 to 1676 by Burgundy and the Halsburgs of Austria and Spain. Aniche suffered numerous abuses at the hands of the French. In 1340, it was burned by the inhabitants of Douai. In 1477, during the French invasion of Louis XI, the village of Agincourt was destroyed. The population declined dramatically, only to recover under Spanish rule. It was from this time that the lordship returned to the St. Aldegonde family, whose coat of arms the commune still retains. Aniche, having become a possession of the King of Spain, enjoyed a period of
prosperity until the long war of reconquest by the King of France in the 17th century. It was at the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 that Hainaut and Aniche returned to the King of France, Louis XIV. In the 18th century, the lordship passed to the Marquis of Traisnel.

In 1778, the discovery of coal at the Sainte Catherine pit transformed the rural village and led to the expansion of Aniche. The Marquis of Traisnel's company, which became the "Compagnie des Mines d'Aniche", became one of the largest in France. In 1823, attracted by the coal used to heat the furnaces, the first glassworks were established. Aniche became the most industrial town in the Douaisis region with the opening of four new pits stretching from Douai to Somain, then the Azincourt company opened three before settling in Monchecourt. The construction of seven new glassworks, one glassworks, one chemical factory, and a large cast-glass factory made Aniche the French glass capital. Trade and crafts flourished, with more than one hundred taverns supplied by twelve breweries.

During the First World War, the town was occupied for four years; it was a barracks and hospital town, 40 km from the Artois and Somme fronts. The town was liberated by the English and Canadians on October 20, 1918. It suffered heavy damage, especially to its industry. Between the two wars, mouth-blown molding was phased out, replaced by the Fourcault vertical drawing process. Only two groups remained: Boussois and Drion, now Saint-Gobain. The closure of the last pit in 1938 put an end to coal production. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the population remained above 9,000 thanks to the arrival of Poles in the mines and Belgians in the glassworks. After the exodus of May 1940, the town would again endure four years of occupation by German troops. The town's mayor, Jules Domisse, was shot by the Nazis on September 21, 1941. On April 30 and May 1, 1944, two Allied raids left more than 50 civilians dead. The town of Aniche was awarded the Croix de Guerre 39-45. [source: municipal website]

Olivier Touzeau, 30 May 2025

Coat of arms of Aniche

The arms of Aniche, inherited from the St. Aldegonde family, are blazoned: Ermine a cross Gules, charged with 5 roses Or.
Several other communes have the same coat of arms, like Bugnicourt and Rieulay, also linked to the St. Aldegonde family.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the communist and socialist municipalities of Aniche created a coat of arms with symbolic elements: a miner's pick, a glassmaker's shovel, and a glass "cannon," recalling Aniche's industrial history. Michel Meurdesoif, mayor of Aniche from 1989 to 2014, reiterated the request to retain this workers' coat of arms as the municipal emblem. The prefectural authorities, seeing the intersection of these
emblematic Aniche tools as a hammer and sickle, overturned this request. [source: local blog by Mr. Grabarczyk]

Olivier Touzeau, 30 May 2025

Flag of Aniche

The current flag of Aniche is white with the coat of arms and the name of the commune: photo, photo (2016).

Older flag of Aniche

Older flag of Aniche - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 30 May 2025

An older flag was simply a banner of arms. According to this post on the municipal Facebook page:
In 2021, Mr. José Fedi, a shopkeeper in Aniche, discovered an old banner of arms of the commune in his attic. "To perpetuate this trace of our shared memory, Mr. Fedi wished to donate it to the town hall. From now on, the banner of arms will proudly be displayed in the Mayor's office."

Olivier Touzeau, 30 May 2025