Frankish period (treaty of Verdun)

The Salian francs first established themselves in Taxandria, they then advanced towards the most fertile lands of Nervie and Tournaisis to the north of the coal forest, they followed the Roman road and set off in the direction from Tournai crossing our region according to Monnier (Mons archaeological circle) it is to this Frankish invasion under Clodion (431) that the origin of Lumbisiaco and Cambrio dates back, where subsequently, a Frankish lord had a castle built -strong in 751. Be that as it may, the Frankish king (428) after several attempts, drove the Romans out of middle Belgium. He was first repelled by Actius. the Salian leader returned to the charge Actius and Majorius gave him battle near Lena (Lens) and forced the Salian to retire.

The Franks had arrived as far as the town of Lens-Lena, there was their camp, closed by wagons, and the hill bordering the Dender, keeping carelessly at the mantle of the barbarians, when they were surprised by the Romans commanded by Actius, at the time of the attack, they were celebrating and dancing for the marriage of one of their chiefs, one heard from afar the sound of their songs and one saw the smoke of the fires where the preparations were made of the banquet. Suddenly the legions came running in tight files over a narrow causeway and a wooden bridge that crossed the river. The barbarians barely had time to take up their arms and give the order to form their lines. Deepened and forced to retreat, they piled up pell-mell on their carts all the preparations for their feast, dishes of all kinds, large pots adorned with garlands. .

But the cars, with what they contained and the bride as blonde as her husband, fell into the hands of the victors. Later (445), Clodion crossed the coal forest, seized Bavay and Cambrai, the following year, he extended his conquests to the sum and made Amiens his capital,

An archaeological discovery

At the beginning of June 1892, workers working in Montignies, on the macadamized road from Neufvilles to Lens, made a curious discovery while digging the road in order to lower the level, in this place, the slope is very steep and, therefore dangerous, especially in winter. This slope is at a place called "the long bridge" near the ND chapel, Lombecque, between the cabaret du beau soleil.

Here is the information given by the workers still hard at work, by the innkeeper of the beautiful sun and Mr Lhoir: "A large quantity of well-preserved bones have been brought to light; they were not very deeply buried, probably because of the last excavation made about forty years ago during the establishment of the macadam. At that time, several sabers were found in the same place, or approximately, offered to Mr. Obert de Thoricourt. During the current works, several pots , mixed with the bones, were accidentally broken; only one, that of Mr. Semette remained intact; I could not see the fragments of the others.

A single sarcophagus was encountered, without furniture or covering, well built in stones which were not from the immediate vicinity. This detail given by the workers is curious, because the place is full of rubble proper to the manufacture of lime. The sarcophagus was almost level with the ground and, according to the workers, the covering slabs were missing only because they had been removed by the first works and the traces of them could be seen, all the skeletons, without omitting that of the sarcophagus, were roughly oriented from east to west;

No trace of a wooden coffin, nor of squares, nor of nails, nor of ashes, the said sarcophagus of about 2 meters in length had everywhere the same width. After these interviews, we saw in the stable of the sun some bones: the skull of a strongly constituted man, and two fragments of iron instruments, one which could be the upper part of a frame, the another a remnant of a cutlass or a scamasax.

What can we conclude from these details, except that there is a Frankish cemetery there and that it was used for a long time since it contains funerary furniture, which characterizes the most modern Frankish periods. (Count a. d'Auxy de Launois) (Le Moustier at Jurbise, July 1, 1892)

Note: a lord of the old Auxy family, Sir Jean, sided with the House of Cleves, the main support of the communes in their fight against feudalism. (C.Monnier).