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If you Google for Pajottenland you immediately find that it is the Tuscany of the North. If you search for it on a map, even an old map of Belgium, you are not likely to find it. It is not mentioned on any map nor does it appear in any documents.

Under the nickname Franciscus Twyffeloos, F.J. de Gronckel assembled in 1852 a collection of stories that appeared under the title Pajottenland. In his work he tried to convince the readers of the heroism of the people of Pajottenland. The term contains pajot or payot.

According to Dr. Mon de Goeyse pajot was first used during the Brabant Revolution of 1789-1790 (see Chapter I). It was the term used for soldiers originally from the Southern Netherlands, hired by the Austrian army. Payot was the opposite of patriot, i.e., the freedom fighters who resisted the occupation by the Austrians. Payot was therefore the name given to those who supported the Austrians.

In 1899 a newsmagazine was published under the name Het Pajottenland te Gooik. In 1911 Arthur Cosyn published a book, Le Brabant inconnu (the unknown Brabant), in which he wrote “‘t Pajottenland, the country of the pays or comrades.” The same year a genealogical periodical was published under the name Eigen Schoon (Our Beauty) that regularly contained contributions about Pajottenland.

In 1977 Pajottenland was defined in the Encyclopedia Larousse as follows Pajottenland is the area that stretches from the Heuvelstreek and the Brabant lime area to the southwest of Brussels, between the Senne valley in the east and the river Dender in the west; in the north bordering with Little Brabant and in the south with the lime area of Hainaut. It is 290 square kilometers with rolling rural landscape without cities and few main roads.

Pajottenland is thus an area of some 111 square miles southwest of Brussels. It is a beautiful rural area of rolling hills and small villages. The horizon of Pajottenland covered with trees is dotted with church spires of villages that go back to the 14th century. Those churches still have stained glasses that are relatively intact.

Twyffeloos wrote in 1852: “no one will ever leave this region {Pajottenland}, these picturesque hills, these fertile valleys without shedding a tear when saying good-bye.” It was in Pajottenland, the Tuscany of the North, where Marie Louise Fransisca Girardin was born and where she grew up.

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