Siege of Tournai (1340)

The siege of Tournai was a siege of the city of Tournai, then part of the Kingdom of France, between 28 June and 3 September 1709. A Grand Alliance army under the British Duke of Marlborough successfully forced the surrender of the French garrison during the War of the Spanish Succession.The siege was the first significant engagement of the 1709 campaign. Marlborough intended to take the city quickly, thereby enabling an Allied advance into northern France. The garrison however, under the Marquis de Surville, held out for considerably longer than had been expected and the siege consumed much of the fighting season. It saw extensive use of mining and countermining as the Allies sought to break through strong French fortifications, particularly Tournai's citadel. The British historian, David G. Chandler, described the siege as "one of the hardest fought and least pleasant of modern history".

The siege of Tournai was an event of the Franco-Flemish War in 1303. Following French defeat at the Battle of the Golden Spurs, the Flemish army entered France, burning the town of Thérouanne and laying siege to Tournai. A French army of 1,400 men led by Foulques du Merle and reinforced by soldiers of John II, Count of Holland, arrived to bolster the city's defences in June 1303. The Flemish campaign lasted forty-seven days.The siege was ended by negotiations between Philip IV of France and the Flemish, in which the French agreed to release their prisoner, Guy, Count of Flanders, in return for the lifting of the siege.

The Belfry of Tournai (French: Beffroi de Tournai) is a freestanding bell tower of medieval origin in Tournai, Belgium, 72 metres (236 ft) in height with a 256-step stairway. This landmark building is one of a set of Belfries of Belgium and France registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in recognition of their civic architecture and importance in the rise of municipal power in Europe.

The siege of Tournai was an event in the War of Devolution. A French army commanded by Louis XIV successfully besieged the town of Tournai, then part of the Spanish Netherlands. The siege, which began on 21 June 1667, led to the surrender of the defenders loyal to the Spanish Empire fewer than five days later.

Tournai or Tournay ( toor-NAY; French: [tuʁnɛ] ; Dutch: Doornik [ˈdoːrnɪk] ; Picard: Tornai; Walloon: Tornè [tɔʀnɛ] ; Latin: Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies 89 km (55 mi) by road southwest of the centre of Brussels on the river Scheldt, and is part of Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai, In 2022, the municipality of Tournai had an estimated population of 68,518 people.Tournai is one of the oldest cities in Belgium and has played an important role in the country's cultural history. It was the first capital of the Frankish Empire, with Clovis I being born here.

The siege of Tournai was a two-month siege of the city and citadel of Tournai, then part of the Austrian Netherlands, in 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession. The allied Pragmatic Army's attempt to relieve the siege resulted in the decisive French victory at the Battle of Fontenoy on 11 May. The largely Dutch garrison of the city subsequently surrendered to French forces on 22 May, while the garrison of the citadel surrendered on 19 June 1745. It was one of the longest sieges of the war.

The Cathedral of Our Lady (French: Notre-Dame de Tournai, Dutch: Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Doornik), or Tournai Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral, see of the Diocese of Tournai in Tournai, Belgium. It has been classified both as a Wallonia's major heritage since 1936 and as a World Heritage Site since 2000.

The Diocese of Tournai (Latin: Dioecesis Tornacensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. The diocese was formed in 1146, upon the dissolution of the Diocese of Noyon and Tournai, which had existed since the 7th century. It is now suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels. The cathedra is found within the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Tournai, which has been classified both as a major site for Wallonia's heritage since 1936 and as a World Heritage Site since 2000.

The Grand-Place (French: [ɡʁɑ̃ plas]; "Grand Square") is the main square and the centre of activity of Tournai, Hainaut, Belgium. The square has a triangular shape, owing it to the convergence of several ancient paths, and it covers 7,500 m2 (81,000 sq ft). As in many Belgian cities, there are a number of cafés and pubs on the Grand-Place. In the middle of the square there are a series of water fountains, while a circular staircase to the top of the city's Belfry can be climbed.

The Saint-Martin Abbey (French: abbaye Saint-Martin) in the historic center of Tournai, in the Wallonia region of Belgium is a former Benedictine abbey, dating back to the 7th century. It was re-established in the late 11th century by Odo of Tournai and it immediately became an important Benedictine settlement. A fire devastated the abbey in 1340 in the Siege of Tournai during the Hundred Years' War. It was later rebuilt by renowned architect Laurent-Benoît Dewez in the 1760s. The abbey was dissolved during the French Revolution in 1796 and the buildings were largely demolished except for the abbot's palace, which today serves as the town hall.

The Church of Saint Quentin (French: Église Saint-Quentin de Tournai) is a Roman catholic parish church in Tournai, Belgium. The largely Romanesque building is located on the main square of the town, the Grand-Place. Known to have existed since the 10th century, the current building was built around 1200, but has been altered several times throughout history. In the late 15th century, a major reconstruction effort altered the chancel, created an ambulatory and replaced earlier side chapels. This reconstruction was partially financed by tapestry maker Pasquier Grenier and his wife Marguerite de Lannoye, who were also buried in one of the chapels. During World War II, the church was heavily damaged by German bombing in 1940 and subsequently reconstructed after the war. It opened again in 1968. The current facade and tower are reconstructions from this period. Inside, the church contains two Late Gothic wooden sculptures, made by Jean Delemer and painted by Robert Campin and dated to 1428. They are of art historical interest as early examples of such Late Gothic sculpture.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tournai, Belgium, is an art museum. At the beginning of the 20th century, Henri Van Cutsem, a Belgian art collector, offered his collection of art to the city of Tournai in 1905. The collection contained important works of important 19th century French painters like Manet, Monet, Seurat and others. The Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta started drafting a new building that would contain the Van Cutsem donation and other holdings already owned by the city of Tournai but the First World War intervened and construction was delayed. Horta abandoned his first designs made in a typical Art Nouveau style, shifting to the popular art deco style. The building, which opened in 1928, is a graceful curved version of usually strict linearity of art deco, in this, it is similar to Horta's Brussels Central Station.