Record Atlas
5 eras · 1477–2026 · 7 places

Belgian Gaume — Athus, Aubange and Messancy

Aubange, Athus, Messancy. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1477–1713 Duchy of Luxembourg — Habsburg Rijksarchief / Archives de l'État · Geneanet · FamilySearch

The duchy passed to the Habsburgs in 1477 (1482 in some accounts). France under Louis XIV held it from 1684 until the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.
1713–1795 Austrian Southern Netherlands Rijksarchief / Archives de l'État · Geneanet · FamilySearch

Luxembourg was confirmed as part of the Austrian Habsburgs' Southern Netherlands by the Treaty of Utrecht (1713-15).
1795–1815 France Rijksarchief / Archives de l'État · Geneanet · FamilySearch

Revolutionary France annexed Luxembourg in 1795; the Peasants' War of 1798 was a short-lived uprising against French rule.
1815–1839 Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in union with the Netherlands Rijksarchief / Archives de l'État · FamilySearch

The Congress of Vienna made Luxembourg a Grand Duchy in personal union with the Netherlands and a member of the German Confederation. The Conference of London carried out a Third Partition of Luxembourg in 1830-31.
1839–2026 Belgium — Province of Luxembourg Rijksarchief / Archives de l'État · Geneanet · FamilySearch · Open Archieven

William I agreed to the partition in 1839 and the western, predominantly French-speaking part went to Belgium, with Arlon as the provincial capital. The Gaume is the southernmost part, around Virton, and the Arlon area has historically spoken Luxembourgish alongside Walloon.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1477–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

7 places on this ground

59 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

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