Ourthe (department)

Department of Ourthe
Département de l'Ourthe (French)
Departement Ourte (Dutch)
Departement der Urt (German)
1795–1814
Flag of Ourthe
Ourthe and other annexed departments
Ourthe and other annexed departments
StatusDepartment of the French First Republic and the French First Empire
Chef-lieuLiège
50°27′N 3°57′E / 50.450°N 3.950°E / 50.450; 3.950
Official languagesFrench
Common languagesDutch, German
Historical eraFrench Revolutionary Wars
• Creation
1 October 1795
• Treaty of Paris, disestablished
30 May 1814
Population
• 1796[1]
325,278
• 1800[2]
327,121
• 1812[3]
352,264
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Austrian Netherlands
Prince-Bishopric of Liège
Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy
Province of Liege
Today part of

Ourthe (French: [uʁt], Dutch: Ourte, German: Urt) was a department of the French First Republic and French First Empire in present-day Belgium and Germany. It was named after the river Ourthe (Oûte). Its territory corresponded more or less with that of the present-day Belgian province of Liège and a small adjacent region in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was created on 1 October 1795, when the Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège were officially annexed by the French Republic.[4] Before this annexation, the territory included in the department had lain partly in the Bishopric of Liège, the Abbacy of Stavelot-Malmedy, the Duchies of Limburg and Luxembourg, and the County of Namur.

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, most of the department became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as the province of Liège. The easternmost part (Eupen, Malmedy, Sankt Vith, Kronenburg, Schleiden) became part of the Prussian Rhine Province; part of this (Eupen, Malmedy and Sankt Vith) was taken back into Liège province after the First World War, under the Treaty of Versailles.

  1. ^ Massin, Antoine (1801). Almanach du département de l'Ourte. J.F. Desoer. p. 149.
  2. ^ Oudiette, Charles (1804). Dictionnaire géographique et topographique des treize départements de la Belgique et de la rive gauche du Rhin. Imprimerie de Cramer. p. XIII.
  3. ^ Almanach Impérial. Imprimerie de Sa Majesté. 1812. p. 396.
  4. ^ Duvergier, Jean-Baptiste (1835). Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglemens et avis du Conseil d'état, t. 8. p. 300.