village2

village2 2.History
2.1.Where does the name Klerken come from?

The purple arrow indicates the place of Klerken.
It is possible that the name Klerken comes from the Latin name Clara. This is very good possible because the Romans under the guidance of Gaius Julius Caesar in the first century bc conquered the Flanders region. One thing that remains from that period is the Steenstraat, which was originally part of the "via" or Roman road from Castellum Menapiorum (Kassel) via Aartrijke to Bruges. (You can find these places also on this map drawn by the famous Gerardus Mercator (a.k.a. Gerard Kremer) in the XVI th century) This place was extremely good to start a settlement. According to an article from the "Standaert van Vlaenderen" of the 17th of July of the year 1856 wrote by the historian Tanghe there has been some talk of Klerken already in the year 961 with the name "Clara" which should refer to the patron saint of the parish: the holy Clara, but the same historian says, or rather writes, that the patron saint in that time wasn't the holy Clara, but the holy Antonius (today farmers pray to him against deceases as BSE, hoof and mouth and the plague amongst pigs). (Today the patron saint is St. Laurentius. The people pray to him against poverty and skin diseases.)That is also the reason that I think the first explanation is more possible.

the inside of the church with the statue of St. Laurentius In the already mentioned "Standaert van Vlaenderen" Klerken is described as: "Klerken, gelegen op eenen afstand van vijf kwartiers uers zuidwaerts van Diksmuide schijnt zijn naam ontvangen te hebben van de woning van een clerc, of geestelijke, die aldaer de godsdienst verrichtte." (translated: "Klerken, positioned on a distance of 1,5h south of Diksmuide seems to have got his name of a 'clerc' or clergyman who was in charge of religion there.") This is affirmed by letters of Arnulphus the old, count of Flanders. In these letters there is said somethingabout "Clarc", what was a chapel which depended on the parish Esen. So would Clarc get the meaning of 'priest' or 'clergyman'. This seems to be

the most acceptable explanation. About 1089 and in 1110 it was written "Clarc", a good century later, in 1237, it was "Clarcq". Another century later it became "Clarcken", in the years 1600 it was "Clerckem" and from 1736 till 1800it was "Clercken". In 1800 it was for a while "Klerkem" what was brought back to "Clercken" again. Then, with the new spelling it became its definitive form: "Klerken". Curious is that there are a number of family names who refer to "Clercken". Some of the persons with such a name play a role in history(e. g: first priest in 1217: Theodorus de Clerckes).

2.2.The parish

the church before WWI
The parish Klerken came into existence as help chapel of the mother church of Esna (=Esen). The parish of Dieasmuntha (= Diksmuide) came into being in the same way. The chapel of Klerken was founded in 961 ( this proves that Klerken has to exist for at least 1039 years).in "Verheerlijkt Vlaanderen" writes the historian Gramay about the parish of Klerken. About this he wrote: "De naam heeft de plaats gekregen van het Klerken , zijnde zekerlijk wegens de gelijkheid der woorden in dat gevoelen gebracht. Ik zal hier nog bijvoegen dat dit kerspel in de ambacht Eessene gelegen is en van een groot bosch voorzien is." (translated: "The name the place has got of the word Klerken , certainly cause the equality of the words. I will ad to this , that this parish lies in the zone of Esen en it has a large forest.")

In the "Standaert van Vlaenderen" sir Tanghe quotes that Arnulphus the Old gave to the Collegial Chapter of St Donaes "certain money on Clercken to the canons,…" And "Tot in 1772 moest de pastoor alleen de parochie bedienen; maar hij werd meermaalsbinnen het jaar geholpen

new church built in 1922

inside of the church with the altar

door de Recoletten van Diksmuide en de Carmelieten van Ieper die aldaer hun statieën hadden. De eerste onderpastoor van Klerken was M Boechout en de laetste in de verleden eeuw Ludovicus Opsomer, geboortig van Rheninghe…" (translated: "Until 1772 the priest had to serve the parish alone; but he was assisted several times in the year by the Recoletten of Diksmuide and the Carmelieten (both monastic orders ) of Ieper , who had their Th there. The first assistant priest of Klerken was M Boechout an the last one in the past century(=18th century) Ludovicus Opsomer, Born in Rheninghe…")

This last one was brought to the island Oleron by the French Republicans , because he did not wont to swear the oath. He was shot at Oleron wile he was trying to escape .In the mean time ,the chapel of Klerken had grown to a centre of a new parish ,this was in 1144.