Discover Corbion

The area and its history

The history of our ancestors

The brother of the Lord of Corbion whose name was Sébastien, found the rifle very cumbersome and decided to improve it.

He simply sawed off its barrel which had the effect of reducing its range by a few centimeters. Sébastien forged a conical barrel to extend the range of this weapon.

Sébastien named this new firearm thus obtained : « Pistollet »* , taking inspiration from the name of a small , very deadly dagger (pistola), that the Italians carried on their belts.

You can see the coat of arms of the lordship of Corbion which consists of two crossed pistols on an azur background. The motto on it means :

« HE HITS THE ENNEMY BEFORE THE FLAME EVEN SPRINGS OUT ».

*The spelling of this word was with two « L » at that time.

An artistically rich territory

The poet Paul Verlaine stayed in Corbion in the 1880’s, he came to meet his childhood friend the priest of Corbion « L’abbé DEWEZ ».

The house is located along the border stream between France and Belgium.  This allowed him to quickly reach France, at that tim he was banned from staying in Belgium, further to his attack on Arthur Rimbaud .

MAISON DES COULEUVRES – Place called « Le Bojaban » – CORBION.

A walk ” In the footsteps of Verlaine ” is in progress, it will pass through the site of the “Maison des couleuvres” and end at the old washhouse.

TO THE WALK “SUR LES PAS DE VERLAINE”

Culture

Painting by Jigé Joseph GILLAIN (JIJE) well known in the world of comics, begins by drawing « the adventures of Jojo in the crusader».

Two years later, he worked on the weekly « Spirou »  from its launch (Trinet and Trinette in the Himalaya 1938).

He created « Blondin and Cirage » for the weekly « Petits Belges » (1940) then the first Don Bosco (1941) and Jean Valhardi detective.
For « Emmanuel », (1947) he abandoned his usual series.

He drew Baden-Powell (1949) in Mexico.

In 1954  Blan-Casque was inspired by a book and Jerry Spring brought a western in « Spirou ».
Jijé drew several albums « Le pirate sans visage »  « Barbe rouge » (1967), « Blue Berry (1965) « Tanguy et Laverdure (1969) « les grandes chevauchées » (1975).
He is also an illustrator and painter.

Corbion, his mother’s village, was his vacation refuge. He decorated the church ( 1934 ) by painting a picture which clearly shows that he was a native of the country. The subject is the preaching of Saint-Jean Baptiste . The landscape is obviously the Semois and his listeners are the people of the village.

Heritage

The washhouse of Corbion is from 1884.

During the 18th century the textile industry in Sedan was an important activity. These fabrics were washed in the water of the Semois, the bleaching properties of which were known. The washerwomen, in particular from Poupehan, went every day again and again to collect the laundry and bring it back. The washhouse in the center of the town recalls this activity.