Jodoigne

Jodoigne (French: [ʒɔdɔɲ] ; Walloon: Djodogne [dʒɔdɔɲ] ; Dutch: Geldenaken [ˈɣɛldəˌnaːkə(n)] ) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Jodoigne had a total population of 12,440. The total area is 73.31 km2 (28.31 sq mi) which gives a population density of 170 inhabitants per square kilometre (440/sq mi). The municipality consists of the following districts: Dongelberg, Jauchelette, Jodoigne, Jodoigne-Souveraine, Lathuy, Piétrain, Saint-Jean-Geest (including the hamlet of Sainte-Marie-Geest), Saint-Remy-Geest, and Zétrud-Lumay. In the 1568 Battle of Jodoigne, one of the early battles of the Eighty Years' War, the Spanish Duke of Alba defeated a Dutch rebel force under William the Silent. The previous mayor of Jodoigne, Louis Michel, a liberal politician was the Belgian foreign minister from 1999 until 2004 and was the Belgian European commissioner from 2004 until 2009. The current mayor is Jean-Paul Wahl. The asteroid 1199 Geldonia was named in its honour (from the Latin form of the name) by Eugène Delporte.