Jacquemin, Charles-François

(1761-1799)

   Charles-François Jacquemin (or Jacmin), who called himself Cousin Charles de Loupoigne, was born in Brussels on 14 March 1761 into a family that ran a liquor shop on the rue de la Violette. He served in the Austrian army. Following the French occupation, he remained suspect and was arrested and imprisoned in the Treurenberg prison, then released. After the incorporation of Belgium into France, Jacquemin adopted the above name and recruited partisans for an "armée Belgique" to fight to restore Austrian authority. Utilizing hit-and-run tactics, he would appear, disappear, and reappear, especially in the Forêt de Soignes. He also flooded the country with pamphlets calling for resistance. The département of the Dyle declared a state of siege when, at the beginning of 1795, he issued a new call for recruits. Condemned to death in absentia on 25 February 1797, he was betrayed by three peasants and, on 30 July 1799, French troops tracked him down between Neer-Yssche and Hulden-berg and killed him. He was decapitated and his head placed on a post on the Grand' Place for three hours. Jacquemin remained popular after death, and for many years his admirers believed him to be still alive.