Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Chimay

CHIMAY, a town of Belgium, in the province of Hainault, on the Eaublanche, or White Water, about 28 miles south of Charleroi. It contains 3000 inhabitants, and has ironworks, marble quarries, breweries, and potteries. In 1470 it was raised to the rank of a countship by Charles the Bold, and in 1486 was erected into a principality in favour of Charles of Croy. Since that date it has passed in 1686 to the counts of Bossu, and in 1804 to the French family of Riquet de Caraman. In 1805 Prince Francis Joseph Philippe married the daughter of the Spanish minister Cabarrus, a woman of great wit and beauty, who had been previously the wife of M. de Fontenay and of Tallien, and had taken an active part in the overthrow of Robespierre. Their son Joseph, born in 1808, is the present possessor of the title, and has held the office of Belgian plenipotentiary.