Tournai (in Dutch: Doornik, in Latin:
Tornacum) is a French-speaking city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river
Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut.
It (along with Tongeren) is the oldest city in Belgium and it has played an important role
in the country's cultural history.
Geography
Tournai is located in the lowlands of Belgium, at the southern limit of
the Flemish plain, in the basin of the Scheldt. Administratively, the town is part of the Province of Hainaut, itself part of the
Walloon Region of the country. It is also a commune that is part of the French-speaking Community of Belgium. Tournai has its own arrondissements, both administrative and judicial.
Its area of 213.75 km² makes it the largest commune in size in Belgium; it is also the largest in population in Western
Hainaut. The municipality of Tournai consists of the former municipalities of Ere, Saint-Maur, Orcq, Esplechin, Froyennes, Froidmont, Willemeau, Ramegnies-Chin, Templeuve, Chercq,
Blandain, Hertain, Lamain,
Marquain, Gaurain-Ramecroix, Havinnes, Beclers, Thimougies, Barry, Maulde, Vaulx, Vezon, Kain, Melles, Quartes, Rumillies, Mont-Saint-Aubert,
Mourcourt and Warchin.
Geology
Rocks from the Tournai area date from the Carboniferous Period and have been used to
define the Tournasian Age, a subdivision of the Carboniferous lasting from 359.2±2.5 to 345.4±2.1
million years ago. Tournai stone is a dark limestone which takes a polish and was used particularly in the Romanesque period for
sculpted items such as baptismal fonts. It is also hard enough to have been used locally for pavements and kerb-stones. It is
sometimes called Tournai marble, though this is geologically inaccurate.
History
Tournai in the northeast of France
in Europe by the end of the 10th C.
Tournai existed already in Roman times and came into the possession of the
Salian Franks in 432. Under kings Childeric and
Clovis, Tournai was the capital of the Frankish empire. In the year 486, Clovis moved
the center of power to Paris. In turn, a native son of Tournai, Eleutherius, became
bishop of the newly created bishopric of Tournai, extending over most of the area west of the Scheldt that nearly four centennia later by Charles the Bald, first
king of Western Francia and still to become Holy Roman
Emperor, would be made the County of Flanders (862).
After the partition of the Frankish empire by the Treaties of Verdun (843) and of
Meerssen (970), Tournai remained in the western part of the empire, which in
987 became France. First being part of the County of Flanders, the
city soon became attractive for wealthy merchants. Its drive for independence from the local rulers succeeded in 1187, and the
city was henceforth directly subordinated to the French Crown.
During the 15th century, the city's textile trade boomed and it became an important supplier of wall carpets. It was conquered
in 1513 by the English king Henry VIII, making it the only Belgian city ever to
have been ruled by England. It was also represented in the Parliament of England. The city was handed back to French rule in 1519.
In 1521, 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 Duke of Parma, following a
prolonged siege in 1581. After the fall of the city, its Protestant inhabitants were given one year to sell their possessions and
emigrate, a policy that was at the time considered quite humane, since very often religious opponents were simply massacred.
One century later, in 1668, the city briefly returned to France under Louis XIV
in the Treaty of Aachen. After the end of the War of Spanish Succession in 1713, the former Spanish Netherlands, including Tournai, became Austrian through the Treaty of Utrecht. From 1815 on,
following the Napoleonic Wars, Tournai formed part of the United Netherlands and after 1830 of newly independent Belgium.
Tourist Attractions
Tournai is considered to be one of the most important cultural sites in Belgium. The mixed Romanesque- and Gothic-style cathedral of Notre Dame de Tournai and the belfry, the oldest in Belgium, have been designated by UNESCO as a
World Heritage Site. Inside the cathedral, the Châsse de Notre-Dame flamande,
a beautifully ornated 12th-century reliquary, gives
witness to Tournai's wealth in the Middle Ages. Other places of interest are the
13th-century Scheldt bridge (Pont-des-Trous) and
the main square (Grand'Place), as well as several old city gates, historic warehouses, and a variety of museums.
Culture
A Flemish town
Tournai is a French-speaking town of Belgium. The local language is tournaisien, a Picard dialect similar to that of other communes of Hainaut and Northern France.
Tournai belongs to Romance Flanders, like Lille,
Douai, Tourcoing, and Mouscron. Those towns, bilingual or not, are part of the Flemish cultural area and therefore possess several
Flemish characteristics in their artistic heritage (architecture, painting, sculpture...). The city of Tournai was one of the
greatest cultural and economic centers of Flanders. Some traces can still be seen today:
- The gothic choir of Our Lady's Cathedral is a precursory element of the Scaldian
(meaning from the Scheldt area), typically Flemish, Gothic art.
- The bishopric of Tournai was the religious capital of Flanders during more than a millennium (from 496 to 1559).
- The tapestries and draperies of Tournai belong to the great Flemish school of tapestry and
Tournai was part of the Hanseatic League of London, which also included the draper
towns of Flanders.
- The Saint-Brice church of Tournai, dedicated to Saint Britius, is one of the first
examples of the hallekerk style, so typical of the Flemish countryside.
- Some of the great Flemish Primitives are from Tournai: Robert Campin, Roger van der Weyden, Jacques Daret.
Although Tournai is in the Flemish cultural area, it also possesses some treasures of the Mosan
style. Indeed, the two most beautiful shrines of the Cathedral, commissioned by the Bishop of
Tournai, were made in the region of Liège by the artist
Nicholas of Verdun: the shrines of Saint-Eleutherius and of Our Lady of
Flanders (13th century). Those shrines testify to the opulence of the towns of Tournai and Liège during the Middle-Ages. The
shrine of Our Lady of Flanders has been called one of the seven wonders of Belgium.
Festivities
- The "Great Procession" (in French: Grande Procession) has taken place every
year since 1092, with the single exception of the year 1566, when the
iconoclasts considerably damaged the religious symbols of the city. This historic
procession unfolds in the streets every second Sunday of September.
- The first Monday after January 6 is known as "Lost Monday" (in French: Lundi perdu) or "Perjury Monday" (Lundi parjuré). This tradition dates from more
than 700 years ago. The wealthier city inhabitants used to prepare fastuous family dinners and elect a king. Today, the family
dinners have expanded to wider groups and a rabbit dish is often served.
People born in Tournai
- Gilles Li Muisis, French chronicler and poet
(13th century)
- Roger van der Weyden, Flemish
painter (15th century)
- Jacques Daret, Flemish painter
(15th century)
- Pierre de La Rue, Franco-Femish
composer (15th century)
- Perkin Warbeck, impostor and pretender to the throne of England (15th century)
- Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy, courtier and patron of
learning (16th century)
- Donat Casterman, publisher (18th century)
- Piat Sauvage, painter (19th century)
- Louis Gallait, painter (19th century)
- Jean-Baptiste Moëns, philatelist (19th
century)
- Jules Bara, statesman (19th century)
- Georges Rodenbach, Symbolist poet and
novelist (19th century)
- Hélène Dutrieu, cycle racer, stunt driver and aviator (19th century and
20th century)
- Marc Quaghebeur, writer (20th century)
- Xaveer De Geyter, architect (20th
century)
Gallery
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The "Pont des Trous" bridge over the Scheldt
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Eglise Sainte-Marie-Madeleine
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External links
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