Enghien

Enghien is a city and municipality in the province of Hainaut in Wallonia, Belgium. It is known in Dutch as Edingen and lies on the Flemish border, so the Dutch-speaking minority has language facilities. On 1 January 2006 it had 11,980 inhabitants spread over 40.59 square kilometres, and the municipality consists of the districts of Enghien, Marcq and Petit-Enghien. The town was founded by the House of Enghien, a noble family with an Italian branch that included Mary of Enghien, queen consort of Naples. The House of Bourbon sold the town to the House of Arenberg in 1606, and the Dukes of Arenberg laid out the Enghien Gardens around the castle that became their court. Through a chain of family successions the name also passed to a French duchy and to the commune of Enghien-les-Bains near Paris.