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TOURNAI (Town) BELGIUM
Tournai
DIOCESE OF TOURNAI (Lat. TURNACUM, TORNACUM; Flemish, DOORNIJK — TORNACENSIS)
Diocese in Belgium. As early as the second half of the third century St. Piat
evangelized Tournai; some writers represent him as the first bishop, but this
cannot be proved. Towards the end of the third century the Emperor Maximian rekindled
the persecutions, and St. Piat suffered martyrdom. The great barbarian invasions
began shortly afterwards, and a wave of Germanic paganism mingled with the Roman
paganism, to the destruction of all Christian life. This lasted from the end of
the third century till the end of the fifth. But with the progress of the Frankish
race Clodion established himself at Tournai; Childeric, his successor, died there
in 481. St. Remigius profited by the good will of the Frankish monarchy to organize
the Catholic hierarchy in the north of Gaul. He confided the Diocese of Arras
and Cambrai to St. Vaast (Vedastus), and erected the See of Tournai (c. 500),
appointing as its titular Eleutherius. It was probably its character of royal
city which secured for Tournai this premature creation, but it soon lost its rank
of capital by the departure of the Merovingian court. Nevertheless it kept its
own bishops for nearly a century; then about 626 or 627, under the episcopate
of St. Achar, the sees of Tournai and Noyon were united, retaining separate organizations.
Tournai then lost the benefit of a privileged situation, and shared the condition
of the neighbouring dioceses, such as Boulogne and Therouanne, Arras and Cambrai,
where the same titular held both sees for five hundred years. It was only in 1146
that Tournai received its own bishop.
Among its bishops may be mentioned: St. Eleutherius (beginning of
sixth century); St. Achar (626-27 — 1 March, 637-38); St. Eloi (641-60); Simon
de Vermandois (1121-46); Walter de Marvis (1219-51), the great founder of schools
and hospitals; Etienne (1192-1203), godfather of Louis VII and minister of the
queen; Andrea Chini Malpiglia (1334-42), cardinal and papal legate; Guillaume
Filastre (1460-73), chancellor of the Golden Fleece; Michel de Warenghien (1283-91),
a very learned doctor; Michel d'Esne (1597-1614), the author of several works.
During the Spanish domination (1521-1667) the see continued to be occupied by
natives of the country, but the capture of Tournai by Louis XIV in 1667 caused
it to have as bishops a series of Frenchmen: Gilbert de Choiseul du Plessis-Praslain
(1670-89); Francois de La Salle de Caillebot (1692-1705); Louis Marcel de Coetlogon
(1705-07); Francois de Beauveau (1708-13). After the Treaty of Utrecht (173) the
French were replaced by Germans: Johann Ernst, Count of Lowenstein-Wertheim (1713-31);
Franz Ernst, Count of Salm-Reifferscheid (1731-1770); Wilhelm Florentine, Prince
of Salm-Salm (1776-94).
It will be readily understood that the union of the see with Noyon
and the removal thither of the seat of the bishopric had favoured the growth of
the power of the chapter. The privilege possessed by the chapter under the old
regime of being composed only of nobles and scholars necessarily attracted to
it the most distinguished for birth and learning. Illustrious names of France
and Belgium are inscribed in the registers of the archives or on the tombstones
of the cathedral. The cathedral, 439 feet long by 216 feet wide, is surmounted
by 5 towers 273 feet high. The nave and transept are Romanesque (twelfth century),
and the choir is primary Gothic, begun in 1242 and finished in 1325. Originally
the boundaries of the diocese must have been those of the Civitas Turnacensium
mentioned in the "Notice des Gaules". The prescriptions of councils and the interest
of the Church both favoured these boundaries, and they were retained throughout
the Middle Ages. The diocese then extended along the left bank of the Schelde
from the Scarpe to the North Sea, with the exception of the Vier-Ambachten (Hulst,
Axel, Bouchaute, and Assenede), which seem to have always belonged to the Diocese
of Utrecht. The Schelde thus formed the boundary between the Dioceses of Tournai
and Cambrai, cutting in two the towns of Termonde, Ghent, Oudenarde, and Tournai
itself. The shore of the North Sea between the Schelde and the Yser was wholly
included within the perimeter. On the other side of the Yser was the Diocese of
Therouanne, which bordered Tournai as far as Ypres. There began the Diocese of
Arras, which bordered Tournai as far as the confluence of the Scarpe and the Schelde
at Mortgne, France. This vast diocese was long divided into three archdeaneries
and twelve deaneries. The archdeanery of Bruges comprised the deaneries of Bruges,
Ardenbourg, and Oudenbourg; the archdeanery of Ghent, the deaneries of Ghent,
Roulers, Oudenarde, and Waes; the archdeanery of Tournai, the deaneries of Tournai,
Seclin, Helchin, Lille, and Courtrai.
In 1559 in order to wage more successful war against Protestantism,
King Philip II of Spain obtained from Paul VI the erection of a series of new
dioceses. The ancient Diocese of Tournai was divided, nearly two-thirds of its
territory being taken away. The outlines of the archdeaneries of Bruges and Ghent
formed the new dioceses of Bruges and Ghent, and six parishes passed to the new
Diocese of Ypres. These conditions lasted until the beginning of the nineteenth
century. The French Revolution created the Department of Jemappes, which in 1815
became the Province of Hainault, whose boundaries followed those of the Diocese
of Tournai, after a concordat between the plenipotentiaries of Pius VI and the
consular government of the republic. The Bishop of Tournai retained only two score
of the parishes formerly under his jurisdiction, but he governed on the right
bank of the Schelde a number of parishes which, prior to the Revolution, belonged
to the Diocese of Cambrai (302), Namur (50), and Liege (50).
The Diocese of Tournai, with 1,240,525 inhabitants, has 537 parishes,
divided into 33 deaneries: Antoing (21 parishes), Ath (12), Beaumont (17), Beloeil
(15), Binche (18), Boussu (18), Celles (14), Charleroi (18), Chatelet (27), Chievres
(23), Chimay (22), Dour (18), Ellezelles (6), Enghien (12), Fountain-L'Eveque
(20), Frasnes-lez-Buissenal (14), Gosselies (20), La Louviere (15), Lens (23),
Lessines (12), Leuze (17), Merbes-le-Chateau (17), Mons (Ste-Elisabeth, 9), Mons
(Ste-Waudru, 10), Paturages (17), Peruvelz (12), Roeulx (16), Seneffe (21), Soignies
(11), Templeuve (13), Thuin (16), Tournai (Notre-Dame, 14), Tournai (St-Brice,
13).
Eight diocesan colleges prepare young men for theological studies
in a seminary, or for a liberal course in a university.
Turnacum (Tournai) Belgium.
A large Gallo-Roman vicus of the civitas Menapiorum, on the Bavai-Cassel (Castellum
Menapiorum) road, where it crosses the Scheldt. The heart of the vicus was on
the left or Menapian bank of the Scheldt, but there were important bridgeheads
on the night or Nervian bank of the river, notably at St. Brice and at Le Luchet
d'Antoing. The beginnings of the center go back to the Iron Age. Some huts of
that period, found and excavated on the slope between the Scheldt and the hill
of La Loucherie, were cabins of wattle and daub containing coarse pottery decorated
with fingernail, comb, and stick impressions. Some Celtic coins found at Tournai
date to the period of the Roman conquest.
During the Roman period Tournai developed rapidly, both because of
its favorable position at the intersection of a large road and a navigable river,
and because of the intensive working of limestone quarries. The limestone, exported
over a radius of more than 100 km, was used as building material and in ironworks.
The growth of the vicus dates mostly to the period of Claudius. Probably Caligula
and Claudius concentrated here the troops intended for the invasion of Britain.
A V-shaped ditch, sectioned in 1954 and 1955, dates to Claudius and seems to have
belonged to the defenses of a temporary camp. The building of a large part of
the road network in NW Gaul also dates to this time. The Tournai limestone was
very intensively used in the construction of these roads. The first quarries worked
in this period were located in the center of the modern town on the site of the
cathedral. Limekilns, several of which have been excavated, were placed all around
this pit. The kilns were circular (4 m in diameter) and looked like a hemispherical
tub with clay walls furnished with an air vent 40 cm wide. In the 1st c. the center
was provided with a checkerboard street plan. Under the streets conduits were
found, both for bringing fresh water (masonry channels 30 to 35 cm wide and 35
to 90 cm high with walls coated with red plaster) and for taking away waste waters.
The growth of the vicus also led to the filling of the first quarry mentioned
above. (Houses were built on the fill.) The stone industry was relocated on the
outskirts of the vicus in the district of Bruyelles-Antoing. Possibly the quarries
were nationalized and put under the direction of an imperial official. The foundations
of a barrow were discovered at Antoing. Its structure included a circular enclosing
wall of carefully fitted large stones and a dromos leading to a double funerary
chamber, recalling Roman mausoleums of Etruscan tradition. The barrow may be the
mausoleum of an imperial official.
The vicus continued to grow at the end of the 1st c. and during all
of the 2d. The destruction of a part of Tournai in 1940 made possible the excavation,
unfortunately in rather scattered and incomplete fashion, of a certain number
of buildings of the Gallo-Roman vicus. The dwellings of this period were characterized
by the use of very fine masonry with fine outside facings. The interiors were
enhanced by painted plastering. The paving was of cement, the roofing of imbricated
tiles. A number of these dwellings were heated by hypocausts. They were provided
with masonry cellars with storage niches set in the walls. The largest edifice
found to date (52 m long) was on the summit of the hill of La Loucherie. It may
have been a public building. Two large rooms at the wings were separated by a
gallery with columns, which opened on a vast courtyard. This building was enhanced
by figurative frescos and by columns whose capitals were topped by a cornice with
modillions.
A dwelling excavated in 1942 had a bath building with plunges lined
with marble. Large necropoleis have been found all around the vicus, for example,
under the modern Grand-Place (hundreds of tombs), under the Rue de Monnel (ca.
100 tombs). Tournai was not only an industrial center but also the commercial
center for all the surrounding region, a very fertile area with many rich villas.
The town, sacked during the invasions of the Chauci in 172-74, rose from its ruins,
but was not very prosperous in the Severan period although some fine artifacts
(splendid jet medallions, for example) date to that time.
The town was destroyed a second time during the first invasions of
the Franks just after the middle of the 3d c. Many hoards of coins, found at Tournai
and neighboring villages (Howardries, Beloeil, La Hamaide, Basecles, Ellezelles,
Bailleul), were buried between 258 and 268. At the end of the 3d c. Tournai was
turned into a fortress. Residential districts were leveled and the materials from
these demolitions were used to build a rampart 2.4 m thick. It included the building
of La Loucherie, whose corners were furnished with towers 1.45 m thick. This rampart
can be traced for ca. 100 m. During the administrative reorganization under Diocletian,
Tournai replaced Cassel as the caput of the civitas Menapiorum. A gynaecum (a
workshop for military equipment) was installed at Tournai. The military garrison
consisted of Germanic Laeti, and their tombs have been found in the town hall
park. The grave goods of these tombs are characterized by belt trimmings with
excised decoration with geometric and animal motifs.
In the 4th c. there still was a large civilian population whose necropoleis
have been found at Grand-Place, the Rue Perdue, and St.-Quentin Church. In 407
the town was ravaged again, this time by the Vandals. Shortly thereafter it was
reoccupied by the Salian Franks, who repaired the fortifications and made Tournai
the capital of their kingdom. It was the residence of Clodion, Merovaeus (who,
allied with the Romans, conquered Attila), and Childeric, who died at Tournai
in 481. His tomb, with its very rich and famous grave goods, was found in 1653
near the church of St.-Brice. The artifacts from that tomb are kept at the Cabinet
des Medailles in Paris. Clovis, Childeric's son and successor, moved the capital
to Paris.
S.J. De Laet, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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