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Tournai[tOOrnA´] Pronunciation Key, Du. Doornik, commune (1991 pop. 67,732), Hainaut prov., SW Belgium, on the Scheldt River. Tournay and Doornijk are alternate spellings for the commune's French and Dutch names. It is a commercial and industrial center. Manufactures include steel, hose, and leather goods.
One of Belgium's oldest cities, Tournai was the fortified capital of a Roman province and in the 5th cent. became a seat of the Merovingian kings of Austrasia. The city was destroyed by the Normans in 881. It belonged to France from 1187 to 1521, when Emperor Charles V captured it and attached it to the Spanish (from 1714, Austrian) Netherlands. Tournai joined in the rebellion of the Spanish Netherlands and was a Calvinist stronghold until its capture (1581) by Alessandro Farnese. It was taken several times by the French in the wars of the 17th–18th cent.
Tournai has been a cultural center since the 12th cent. Of note are the Cathedral of Notre Dame (11th–12th cent.), with many art treasures; a 15th-century tower named for Henry VIII of England (who took the city in 1513 and made Cardinal Wolsey bishop of Tournai); the clothworkers hall (17th cent.); and a well-known art museum.
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