Monstreux / Monasteroul / Monsterul / Monstreuil / Monstrouls / Monstruel / Monstrueux / Mosterols / Mosteruel

The present baptismal font in this church is listed and illustrated in BALaT KIK-IRPA [https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/10000757] [accessed 27 January 2026]: "fonts baptismaux [...] hauteur: 90 cm [...] Date: 1600 - 1699".
A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 2 January 2026) informs: "Monasteroul (897), later Mosterols (1059), Monstrouls (1136), Monsterul (1209), Monstruel (1225, 1410, 1412, 1547), Mosteruel (1234), Monsteroul (1339), Monstruel (1409), Monstreuil and Monstrueux.
Monstreux is a very old settlement, and was described as a small village (Villula Monasteriolum) in 877 in a charter of Nivelles Abbey, in which Charles the Bald confirmed the earlier donation. According to local belief, the name refers to a monastery that existed there until 899. Perhaps it later was a kind of priory dependent on Nivelles Abbey and intended to oversee the administration of the estate. The Latin word monasterium often simply means church in medieval documents, and Monstreux could simply refer to a "small church." The ruins of a large and spacious building once stood on the hill next to the church, which the elders identified as the remains of the palace of the Merovingian king Pepin. Others believe this was the site where the monastery of Saint Gertrude was originally founded (before moving to Nivelles), and they base their opinion on the fact that the big farm located there is called the Abbey Farm. The church of Saint-Remi (later dedicated to Saint-Michel) was once only a fourth chapel, although its parish territory was quite extensive. The parish was under the jurisdiction of the chapter of Nivelles. In 1059, the hospital (hospitale pauperum) of Nivelles received its tithes. Restoration in 1759. The current building was rebuilt in 1858-1859, replacing a smaller, older sanctuary. Baptismal registers from 1619 [...] https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/10000757".