Tournai : District of Hainaut - Tournai

Tournai (in Dutch: Doornik) is located 85 kilometers southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt in the Belgian province of Hainaut. It is the second oldest city in Belgium and has played an important role in the country’s cultural history. As of 1 January 2005, the municipality counts 67,476 inhabitants.

History

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, but in turn Tournai was made siege of a bishopric that extended over the entire region of Flanders. Its first bishop was Eleutherius, himself a native son of Tournai.

After the partition of the Frankish empire during the early 9th century, Tournai remained in the western part, which would later become 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.

In 1521, Emperor Charles V added the city to his posessions in the Low Countries, leading to a period of religious strife and economic decay. 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 Low Countries, and Tournai as part of them, 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 Romanesque cathedral of Notre Dame de Tournai and the belfry, the oldest in Belgium, have been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Other places of interest are the 13th-century Scheldt bridge and the Great Market, as well as several old city gates and historic warehouses.