The story
Medieval origins
The life of Saint Alena, the 7th-century martyr daughter of a lord of Dilbeek, was set in Dilbeek and Forest (Vorst). The historical facts of her life, however, are disputed. In Carolingian times, Dilbeek and its neighbouring villages were part of the pagus Bracbatensis. This territory, ruled by the Lords of Aa in Anderlecht, was integrated into the Landgraviate of Brabant by the counts of Leuven around 1085. The first mention of the name Dedelbeccha dates from 1075, while the name Bigardis, later transformed into Groot-Bijgaarden (in French Grand Bigard), dates from 1110. Bigardis was originally a dependency of the Abbey of Saint Bavo in Ghent, but by 1125, nuns under the leadership of Saint Wivina had founded a religious community there. Around 1183, the landgraviate became the Duchy of Brabant, within which Dilbeek remained as an independent parish until the French Revolution.
16th century until now
The area's parishes belonged to the see of Cambrai until 1559 when they were placed under the administration of the Archbishop of Mechelen. Also in the 16th century, Dilbeek, Itterbeek and Sint-Martens-Bodegem were placed under the local rule of the Lords of Gaasbeek. The following decades were marked by the wars that opposed Catholics and Protestants, which resulted in the ruin of the Abbey of Groot-Bijgaarden. The final dismantlement and sale of the buildings occurred during the French regime in the 1790s.
From Wikipedia’s article on Dilbeek, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4