Editing Tournai (section)

==History==
Tournai, known as ''Tornacum'', was a place of minor importance in [[Roman times]], a stopping place where the [[Roman road]] from [[Cologne]] on the Rhine to [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]] on the coast crossed the river [[Scheldt]]. It was fortified under [[Maximian|Emperor Maximian]] in the 3rd century AD,<ref>Williams, Stephen. ''Diocletian and the Roman Recovery''. New York: Routledge, 1997:50f.</ref> when the Roman ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]'' was withdrawn to the string of outposts along the road. It came into the possession of the [[Salian Franks]] in 432. Under [[Childeric I|King Childeric I]], whose tomb was discovered there in 1653,<ref>{{cite web |website=Archaeology in Europe Educational Resources |title=Location of Childeric's Grave |url=http://archeurope.eu/index.php?page=location-of-childeric-s-grave |access-date=21 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701185952/http://archeurope.eu/index.php?page=location-of-childeric-s-grave |archive-date=1 July 2015}}</ref> Tournai was the capital of the [[Francia|Frankish Empire]]. In 486, [[Clovis I|Clovis]] moved the center of power to [[Paris]]. In turn, a native son of Tournai, [[Eleutherius of Tournai|Eleutherius]], became bishop of the newly created [[bishopric of Tournai]], extending over most of the area west of the Scheldt. In 862, [[Charles the Bald]], first king of [[Western Francia]] and still to become [[Holy Roman Emperor]], would make Tournai the seat of the [[County of Flanders]].

[[File:Doornik 1581.jpg|thumb|left|Siege of Tournai, 1581]]

After the partition of the Frankish Empire by the Treaties of [[Treaty of Verdun|Verdun (843)]] and of [[Treaty of Meerssen|Meerssen (870)]], Tournai remained in the western part of the empire, which in 987 became France. The city participated in 11th-century rise of towns in the [[Low Countries]], with a woollen cloth industry based on English wool, which soon made it attractive to wealthy merchants. An ambitious rebuilding of the cathedral was initiated in 1030. [[Odo of Tournai|Odo of Orléans]] was appointed at the cathedral school of Tournai in 1087.<ref name="Stone">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dpwLAwAAQBAJ&dq=odo+of+orleans+1087+saint+martin+abbey&pg=PA263|author=Stone, Darwell|title=A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist Volume 1|publisher=Legare Street Press|page=263|isbn=9781013881794}}</ref> Under Odo's leadership, [[Saint-Martin Abbey, Tournai|Saint-Martin Abbey]] flourished and by 1105 had 70 monks.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34TzVbxCItMC&dq=70+monks+1105+saint+martin+abbey&pg=PA91|title=The Reformation of the Twelfth Century|author=Constable, Giles|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1998|isbn=9780521638715|page=91}}</ref> The commune's drive for independence from the local counts succeeded in 1187, and the city was henceforth directly subordinated to the French Crown, as the ''[[Tournaisis|seigneurie de Tournaisis]]'', as the city's environs are called. The stone {{ill|Bridge of the Holes|da|Pont des Trous|fr|Pont des Trous|it|Pont des Trous|nl|Pont des Trous|pcd|Peont des Treos}} over the Scheldt, with defensive towers at either end, was built in 1290, replacing an earlier wooden structure.

In 1340, as a part of the Hundred Years' War, [[Edward III of England]] gathered a large army and [[Siege of Tournai (1340)|besieged]] Tournai for a month. The operation was unsuccessful, bankrupting Edward and forcing him to sign the [[Truce of Espléchin]].

During the 15th century, the city's textile trade boomed and it became an important supplier of [[tapestry]]. The art of painting flourished too: [[Jacques Daret]], [[Robert Campin]] and [[Rogier van der Weyden]] all came from Tournai. It was [[Battle of the Spurs|captured in 1513]] by [[Henry VIII of England]], making it the only Belgian city ever to have been ruled by England. It was also [[Tournai (Parliament of England constituency)|represented]] in the 1515 [[Parliament of England]].<ref>Davies, C. S. L. "Tournai and the English crown, 1513-1519." Historical Journal (1998): 1-26.</ref> The city was handed back to French rule in 1519, following the [[Treaty of London (1518)]].

[[File:Eugene-Henry-Fricx-Table-des-cartes-des-Pays-Bas MG 0564.tif|thumb|Siege of Tournai, 1709]]

In 1521, [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] added the city to his possessions in the [[Low Countries]], leading to a period of religious strife and economic decline. During the 16th century, Tournai was a bulwark of [[Calvinism]], but eventually it was conquered by the Spanish governor of the Low Countries, the [[Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza|Duke of Parma]], following a prolonged siege in 1581.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Karl Baedeker | location = Coblenz | title = Belgium and Holland | date = 1869 | oclc = 18168820 | url = https://archive.org/details/belgiumandholla12firgoog|pages=27-28 }}</ref> After the fall of the city, its [[Protestantism|Protestant]] inhabitants were given one year to sell their possessions and emigrate, a policy that was at the time considered relatively humane, since very often religious opponents were simply massacred.

One century later, in 1668, the city briefly returned to France under [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]] in the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] following the [[Siege of Tournai (1667)|siege of Tournai]]. The city was [[Siege of Tournai (1709)|besieged]] by the [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Duke of Marlborough]] during the [[War of Spanish Succession]] in 1709. At the end of the war in 1713, under terms of the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] the former [[Spanish Netherlands]], including Tournai, came into possession of the [[Austrian Netherlands|Austrian Habsburgs]]. The city was again successfully [[Siege of Tournai (1745)|besieged]] by France in 1745. In 1794, France annexed the [[Austrian Netherlands]] during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and Tournai became part of the [[Departments of France|department]] of [[Jemmape (department)|Jemmape]]. From 1815 on, following the [[Napoleonic Wars]], Tournai formed part of the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands|United Netherlands]] and after 1830 of [[Belgian Revolution|newly independent Belgium]]. Badly damaged in 1940 during [[World War II]], Tournai has since been carefully restored.