There's a town in East Germany called “Beelitz”, a German variant of “Bels”, with a Polish consonance due to its proximity to the Polish border. The German border town of Frankfurt (Oder) is only 118 km to the east of Beelitz. The town, which dates to the very early 11th century, had a population of 14,800 in December 2023.

To assert that "Beelitz" has a direct connection with the “Bels” seems, at first sight, to be “nonsense” and an inclination to see “Bels” everywhere. What saves the day is the fact, rather than the supposition, that this town is in a region known as the “Land der Fläming”.

The name “Land der Fläming” means “Land of the Flemish”. It's a historic region east of the Elbe and south of Berlin. It was settled by people from Flanders (Belgium) in the Middle Ages. Their settlement is thought to date back to 1100, when the form “flamengs” was first attested.

By metonymy, the term “Flamand”, or “Vlamingen” in Flemish, is used to describe Dutch-speaking Belgians from the Belgian region of Flanders. In French, the term “Flamand” refers to an ethnic group distributed between France, Belgium and the Netherlands, whose identity is rooted in memories of the county of Flanders.

The “Land der Fläming” is therefore with certainty “The land of the Flemish”. The facts are clear: Bellitz is synonymous with Bels, and the name was given by Flemish settlers.

As the town was called “Beelitz”, these new arrivals must have included people with the “Bels” surname. They would have had, by some prerogative or right unknown to this day, the right to name, as was often the case, the place where they settled after their patronymic “Bels”. This name has then, over time, given rise to the phonetic variant “Belz” and “Beelitz” proper to the pronunciation of the German language, which is close to it.

We've already come across phonetic variants of the Bels, just about everywhere in Belgium with the “Belles” - the “Bellis” - the “Bailes” - the “Bayles” and so on. In southern France, with “Les Bels” - “Les Bayles” - “Baillesats” - “Villardebelle” - “Ambels” - ”Cazals des Bayles”, etc. In Scotland, with “Bell” - “Balliol” - “Bayles”, etc. In England and Scotland, the Flemings were also called “The Flemings”.

History books indicate that the name “Fläming”, in Germany, is derived from the medieval “Flemish” settlers. There are two regions near Beelitz, the “hohe Fläming” a little higher up, to the west, and the “niedere Fläming” to the east. The whole area is sparsely populated and has, even today, no major industries.

Now we need to find out the reasons for this movement of people and goods. There are several: Flanders has always been, for various reasons, a land of covetousness, and therefore of armed conflict. Flanders has also repeatedly suffered catastrophic flooding due to its low-lying areas and, more recently, the wars of religion (Huguenots) broke up family nuclei, scattering people all over Europe.

But Flanders harboured also disciplined and conscientious tradesmen. Flemish people were multi-skilled and highly sought-after. So were the Flemish craftsmen and tradesmen were highly valued, especially on the other side of the Channel. Many Flemings had already settled in England and southern Scotland, centuries before the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

The Flemish people had, very early on in their history, to face the fact that with their Flemish language, they'd never get very far off their borders. This very deceptive reality triggered them to become Europe's first polyglots. In addition to Flemish, they were fluent in French, English and German (Flemish is nothing more than archaic German).

Early on in Europe's history, the Flemish distinguished themselves in many fields, with a predilection for wool and its processing, for weaving draperies, wall carpets and tapestries, of which they became the absolute and undisputed masters in Europe.

England sent its wools to Flanders for processing, and once processed, they sailed back to England. The Flemish innovated in many trades, competing with, but not rivaling the other, commercial, financial, economic, artistic and scientific hub of the Middle Ages, Florence, Italy.

Few people know that before the oil colors used to paint the magnificent pictures of the great Flemish and Florentine painters, these pictures were painted with “Tempera”, pigments mixed with egg yolk (dries quickly and lasts at least 3500 years).

t wasn't until a Flemish painter by the name of Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) that oil painting, based on linseed oil, was discovered, along with the means to dry it. Overnight, Italian artists headed for Flanders.

I won't go into too much detail about this new Beelitz discovery, as I don't know all the ins and outs. It will nevertheless be the subject of further research.