[5]: 7 [b] He spent his whole life in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1714, at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, it became part of the Austrian Netherlands; but the Dutch troops left only in 1718.
[6][5]: 17 [d] He composed principally motets, for both accompanied and unaccompanied voices, but also masses, cantatas (in French, Italian and Walloon dialect), a "Tantum ergo",[4][7] a "Laudate pueri", and a "Te Deum".
[2] Édouard Fétis [fr]'s impression was that Hamal was agreeable company but a mediocre musician.
[8] Maurice Barthélemy thought that Hamal's grandson Henri tended to overstate his grandfather's importance.