Wanze

Title

Wanze

Also Known As

Vansia, Wange

Dates

Founded 1128; dissolved 1796

Dedication

Mary Magdalene

Affiliation

Floreffe

Medieval Diocese

Liège

Circary

Floreffe

History

Ermesinde of Luxembourg, countess of Namur, gave land at Wanze to the Premonstratensian abbey of Floreffe in the early 12th century. A community of sisters settled at Wanze ca. 1154 to run a hospital there. In the late Middle Ages, the community of women was dissolved, and Wanze remained a priory of brothers dependent on Floreffe until 1798.

The community's Romanesque church was demolished in 1925. The former priory building now houses Wanze's Cultural Centre.

Heads of Community

Magistri

Jean I, fl. 1266
Henri de Ham, fl. 1280
Pierre, fl. 1285-1290
Jean II de Huy, fl. 1296
Jean III de le Crois, fl. 1337
Jean IV du Sart, ca. 1345-1365
Henri II de Bormez, ?-1396
Jean V de Harchées, ?-1420
Renier de Mulstende, ?-1453
Gautier de Daves, ?-1462
Georges d’Ursel, ?-1494
Nicolas Leclercq, ?-1515
Jean VI Nave de Werdt, ?-1532

Prioresses

Catherine, ?-1297
Sibille, ?-1308

Status

Women's community

Bibliography

Barbier, Joseph. “Documents concernant le prieuré de Wanze, extraits du cartulaire de l’abbaye de Floreffe.” Analectes pour servir à l’histoire ecclésiastique de la Belgique 12 (1875): 33–77.

Coenen, J. “Prieuré de Wanze.” Annales du Cercle hutois des sciences et beaux-arts 20 (1926): 132–37. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015024371125?urlappend=%3Bseq=146.

Image Credit

The location of the former priory, Wanze, 2005. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Floreffe

Citation

“Wanze,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/642.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Floreffe