Saint Laurentius church and vicinity in Ename around 1595

The occupation of Oudenaarde and its vicinity by the protestants of the city of Ghent in the period 1578-1582 is disastrous for the Saint Laurentius church of Ename. As the villages around Oudenaarde convert to Protestantism, the church is desecrated and abandoned in the period 1578-1593. Depictions of the village, probably dating back to 1593, show that there were no houses anymore in the village centre. More than half of the population of the village leaves around that time, going for example to the new protestant state, which is called today the Netherlands.
 
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