History of Lille

The Histoire of the town of Lille starts at the 11th century.

A legend at the origins of the city

A Legend, that of Lydéric and Phinaert, locates the foundation of the Cité of Isle in 640. First mention of the city in the Files date of the year 1054. The charter of dedication of collegial the Saint-Pierre, in 1066, is the oldest complete historical document. It was the subject of a recent translation by the professor Stephan Lebecq.

The old settlement

Archaeological elements found in the basement of the city indicate an old settlement of the valley, at least since the Mesolithic . In Gaulle Belgium, the Site of the future city is located at the borders of the territories of the Ménapiens and the Nerviens. Some old excavations of Henri Rigaux at the 19th century revealed a Gallo-Roman presence on banks of the Deûle (Palais Branch) and a cemetery mérovingien with Esquermes. More recently, of the carried out excavations street of Poissonsceaux and on the small island of the Tanners, put at the day of the Roman vestiges. A rural building of the end of the 10th century was excavated street Virginia Ghesquière, in the old parish of Esquermes, not far from the vault Our-Lady-of it Réconciliation under which vestiges of the same period were also discovered. Lastly, a house Carolingien was not excavated by the municipal service of archeology under the current academy of music, places Concert. No archaeological element makes it possible however to make go up the urban fact before the late emergence of Lille in the texts at the 11th century.

The site and the emergence of the city

The name of the city comes from “insula”, “the Isla”. Lille is built in a widening of the valley of the Deûle between three areas of moderate relief: the Barœul in the North-East, the Weppes in the west and the Mélantois in the south. In detail, the original site of the city is difficult has to reconstitute because the hydrographic network, not very constrained by the relief, was very early modified.

With the site of Lille, several small rivers converged towards Deûle: Bucquet, Riviérette, the “Brook of Fives”. The unit formed a network of wetlands. Zones of alluvia ic Loesses, more raised slightly, emerged from it, as many forming marked banks or exondés small islands. Towards the downstream, Deûle was boxed in a narrower and regular bed (avenue of the Belgian People).

Until the digging of the channel of the Esplanade at the 18th century, the goods transported by water way were to forward by overland route between the “High one” and “Low” the Deûle. Historians and geographers considered this longitudinal change of incline, inducing an port activity, like a paramount factor of the urban development.

Moreover, the configuration of the bottom of valley allows, at this place, a relatively easy crossing, between the parish Saint-Maurice and the feudal Motte. Besides two bottoms of opposite slopes constitute the first cores of settlement quoted in the medieval texts at the 11th century. The toponym insula (the island) was born in this context. It indicates: either the feudal Mound artificially separate on its west coast of the slope of the Weppes by the Channel of the Currency and the Saint-Pierre which took again water of the Bucquet, or a higher small island and more dryness in the center of the valley, used for the crossing of the valley (roughly with site of the Opéra).

These two axes of circulation supported, with the Moyen-âge, the urbanization of “the island” and its accesses. The medieval city was crossed many channels. They take again partially the old rivers in the beginning of the city but much result completely artificial, from the ditches of the enclosures successive or dug for specific needs. Subjected to a strong silting and regarded as infectious agents, they were filled or covered during the 19th century.

The Middle Ages

At the time of its emergence in the history, Lille belongs to the Comté of Flanders, then one of the most prosperous areas of Europe. Lille integrates a network of cities which some are inherited ancient town planning (Boulogne, Arras, Cambrai) while others are of later development, at the time Carolingian (Valencian, Saint-Omer, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, Douai). Rise or the urban revival rests then on manufacture, the diffusion of cloths of wool and on the trade.

As of the XII {{E}}, the fame of the Foire to cloths of Lille increases. In 1144 is founded the parish saint Sauveur which gave its name to the district “holy Sauveur”.

The counts de Flandre, of Boulogne and the Hainaut, England and the Saint Germanic Empire are linked to make the war in France and its king Philippe Auguste. At the time of this war, the king of France Philippe Auguste beats the count of Flanders and the Germanic Emperor Othon IV, it is completed by the French victory of Bouvines in 1214. The count Ferrand of Portugal is imprisoned and the county falls in “stopper rod”: it is his wife, Jeanne, countess of Flanders and Constantinople which controls the city. The countess was, says one, extremely liked of the Inhabitants of Lille. Lille counts 10.000 inhabitants then.

In 1224, the Hermit Bertrand de Rains, undoubtedly pushed by local lords, tries to be made pass for Baudoin Ier of Constantinople, father of Jeanne of Flanders disappeared to the battle from Andrinople. It pushes the counties of Flanders and Hainaut to sedition against Jeanne to recover her grounds. She calls of it with her cousin the king Louis VIII the Lion. This one uncovers the impostor who is then hung by the countess Jeanne. The king agree in 1226 to release Ferrand of Portugal, which dies in 1233, like his daughter, Marie, shortly after. In 1235, Jeanne grants a Charte the town of Lille by which the Mayeur S and the alderman S are selected with each All Saints' day by four police chiefs appointed by the sovereign. The February 6th 1236 it founds, in the enclosure of its palate inhabitant of Lille, the hospital Comtesse, which remains one of most beautiful the building of the Vieux-Lille. It is in its honor that the maternity of the university regional hospital of Lille was baptized Jeanne hospital of Flanders at the 20th century.

With died of the countess, without descent, in 1244 in the Abbaye of Inlays, the counties of Flanders and of Hainaut fall to his/her sister Marguerite II of Flanders then to the son of Marguerite, GUI of Dampierre. Following the victory of the Flemish militia, in 1302, at the time of the Battle of the Gold Spurs, Lille in its turn, drives out Leliaerts and joint with its Flemish compatriots. Lille will pass all the same under the supervision of France of 1304 to 1369, after the Bataille of Mons-in-Pévèle.

The Comté of Flanders is attached to the Duché of Burgundy after the marriage in 1369 of Marguerite de Male, countess of Flanders, and Philippe II Bold the, duke of Burgundy. The duke creates in 1385 the Conseil of Lille including/understanding a Chambre of the Accounts and a court of justice, the Conseil of Flanders . This council is sedentary and deals with the financial and legal businesses of the whole of the territories of the duke except for Burgundy. Thereafter, Jean without Peur moves the Council from Flanders to Ghent but preserves the Room of the Accounts at Lille where it with the load of the financial businesses of all the territories except for the Brabant, of Holland, of the Plank and Burgundy. Lille then becomes one of the three capitals of the Burgundian Duché with Brussels and Dijon. In 1445, Lille counts 25.000 inhabitants. Philippe the Good, duke of Burgundy, and more powerful than the king of France, made of Lille a capital administrative and financial.

The February 17th 1454, is one year after the catch of Constantinople by the Turkish S, Philippe the Good organizes in his ducal palate of Lille a banquet pantagruelic remained famous under the name of “Banquet of the Vœu of the pheasant”. The duke and his following made the oath there on a Faisan richly avoided to carry help to the Chrétienté.

In 1477, with died of Charles Bold the last duke of Burgundy, his heiress Marie of Burgundy wife Maximilien of Austria, bringing the city to Habsbourg, which thus takes the title of count of Flandres. In Lille, in 1477, the Room of the Accounts of Lille is then removed. At the end of the reign of the Germanic Roman Emperor Charles V, known as Charles Quint, the Spanish Flandres falls to his/her oldest son. Lille thus passes under the supervision of Philippe II of Spain, king d' Espagne. The city remained under Spanish authority until the reign of Philippe IV of Spain.

Modern time

The 16th century is especially marked by the epidemic S of Peste, the rise of the Industrie Textile in the area, and the Révolte S Protesting be.

In 1542, the commune counts the first calvinists. In 1555 takes place a repression anti-Protestant woman. With the beginning of the year 1560, the Hurlus, rebellious Protestants claiming authority of the prince d' Orange, foam the area of Tournai, destroying churches and Couvent S, which is worth to them repression by the Spanish Tercio S carried out by the pile cluster, sent by Philippe II of Spain. In April 1578, Hurlus take the castle of the counts of Mouscron. After being itself made about it dislodge four months later by a Walloon regiment Catholic, and be themselves made take again the town of Courtrai by the baillif of Mouscron, they on several occasions try to take the town of Lille during the years 1581 and 1582, but in vain. Hurlus in particular would have been pushed back by the legendary heroin Jeanne Maillotte. In same time (1581), with the support of Elisabeth I {{Re}} of England, the north of the Spanish Netherlands, mainly become Protestant, revolts successfully and becomes the United Provinces.

In 1667, the city, become again rich and thrives, is simultaneously besieged and taken by Vauban in eight days (20 July 27th) with Douai under the eyes of the Sun king. Lille becomes French then in 1668 by the treated of Aachen, which causes the dissatisfaction with the Inhabitants of Lille. Vauban strengthens the city and governor in is named 1668 by it. Other great work of 1667 with 1670, in addition to the Citadel, like the creation of the districts of Saint-Andrew and the Madeleine, rejoins the confidence of the Flemish subjects. In 1673, D' Artagnan is governor of the city.

During the War of succession of Spain, which opposes inter alia France to the coalition between the Great Britain, the United Provinces, the Austria and the Prussia, the strengthened city is besieged mid-August 1708 by the 75.000 men of the duke of Marlborough and the prince Eugene of Savoy. The garrison inhabitant of Lille, ordered by the marshal of Boufflers, is of 15.000 men. At the end of October, Boufflers must give up the city, and is folded up with 5.000 men in the Vauban citadel. They capitulates finally at the beginning of December. The city is then occupied during five years by the troops of the coalition. Lille is returned to France when peace is signed with Utrecht the April 11th 1713.

During the 18th century, Age of Enlightenment, Lille remains deeply catholic, and in 1789 the city does not know truly a popular revolution. It however undergoes riots and the destruction of many churches. In 1790, takes place the installation of the first elected Municipalité .

The French revolution

The French revolution pushes in 1792 the Autrichiens, then present in the United Provinces, to besiege Lille. The “ column of the Goddess ”, set up in 1842 on the “ Town square ”, points out the resistance of the Inhabitants of Lille, led by their Maire François André, during the Austrian seat. With some steps of the “ Town square ” and “ Old Stock Exchange ”, one can still see the balls of the gun S Austrians embedded in the frontages (in particular in the frontages of the “ row of the beautiful glance ”), around the “ place of the theater ”. Current the opera did not exist yet at the time.

The city continues to grow, and in 1800 it counts already 53.000 habitants ; it becomes the chief town of the department of North in 1804. In 1846, the first line of Railroad between Paris and Lille is built.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the continental Blocus of the the United Kingdom by Napoleon I {{er}} leads the area to develop even more its textile industry. Lille works the Coton, and the close relations communes of Roubaix and Tourcoing, the Laine.

In 1853, Alexandre Desrousseaux composes his famous lullaby, (Canchon-Dormoire), “Sleep min P' tit quinquin”. In 1858, a imperial Decree appendix communes bordering on Fives, Wazemmes, Mills and Esquermes in Lille. Lille counts 158 000 inhabitants in 1872, more 200 000 in 1891 and 217 000 inhabitants in 1912. In 1896 Lille becomes the first municipality of France chaired by a socialist , Gustave Delory. The big city saw the Industrial revolution fully with especially the Steam engine and the mechanical weaving looms.

First World War

Lille is declared “city open” the 1914 (its fortifications are displaced since 1910) and the État-major evacuates it on August 24th. The city finds an strategic importance with the “Course with the sea” and is re-occupied on October 3rd by the French Army. 4 with the October 13rd 1914, while making turn the single gun whose troops inhabitants of Lille lay out, the defenders succeeds in deceiving the enemy and holding head to him several days under the intense bombardments which destroy more than 2200 buildings and houses, in particular in the district of the Station.

With many requisitions in food, material and taking of hostages, the German occupation is hard, like everywhere in the north of the face.

The night of the January 11th 1916, the “Ammunition dump of the eighteen bridges” explodes on the Boulevard of Belfort. The deflagration, enormous, is heard until the center of the Netherlands. It blows the Moulins district, destroying a score of factories, hundreds of house and causing the death of 104 civilians and several hundreds of casualties. One can think that a mercury vapor cloud polluted the zone located under the repercussions of the explosion. It was not known if a sabotage or an accident were at the origin of the explosion.

The city is released, without resistance, the October 17th 1918 by the British troops of the Général William Birdwood accommodated by a crowd inhabitant of Lille in jubilation. The October 28th, the Birdwood general receives the title of citizen of honor of the town of Lille.

The Mad years, the Crisis and the Popular front

In July 1921, at the Institute Pasteur of Lille, Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin develop the first Vaccin antituberculeux, more known under the name of BCG for “Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin”.

As of 1931, Lille undergoes the repercussions of the Crise of 1929 and one the third of the population inhabitant of Lille lives in poverty in 1935. In 1936, the mayor of Lille, Roger Salengro becomes Minister of Interior Department Popular front, and commits suicide following the calumny led to its opposition by the mediums to Extrême right-hand side.

Second world war

the pocket of Lille is taken on May 31st 1940 by the Germans, after a heroic resistance of the grouping of the general Molinié. The impressed Germans returned the honors to them on the Large one Places on June 1st.

As of the invasion of the Belgium, the Inhabitants of Lille still marked by the First World War flee in great number. Lille, in the zone attached to the German command of Brussels, had never left the Vichy government. North and the Pas-de-Calais are essentially released in five days of the 1 {{er}} with the September 5th 1944 by British troops, American, Canadian and Polish; except for the coast, and especially of Dunkirk which was one of the last released cities of France. The September 3rd, the German troops start to leave the city not to be encircled by the British troops already on the way towards Brussels. The resistance inhabitant of Lille takes again part of the city and it is in Lille which was already partly released that enter triumphantly the British tanks. Rationing ended in 1947 and the supply became again normal only in 1948.

post-war period at the present

In the Years 1960 and 1970, the area must face the Crise textile and Métallurgie.

In 1962, the Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing agglomeration is regarded as one of the eight “metropolises of balance”. In 1967 the chambers of commerce of Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing are amalgamated. In 1968, creation of the “Urban community of Lille” (from now on “Lille Métropole urban community”) which gathers 87 communes around Lille. Lille counts from now on two common partners: Hellemmes (1976) and Lome (2000). The Town of Lille was one of the first in France to develop a participative democracy by creating ten councils of district (1978), a Town council of dialog (1996), a municipal council of children (1999). It counts from now on 230 000 inhabitants. In 1998, Lille is indicated candidate city of France for the OJ of 2008 Lyon front but will not be retained by the CIO. The Town of Lille was indicated " European capital of the culture" in 2004 and under the authority of Martine Aubry developed a strong notoriety on the international plan while accommodating at the time of the events and artistic creations 9 million visitors.

As of the beginning of the Years 1980, Lille turns to the Tertiary sector.

Imagined in 1971, the light automatic Vehicle (VALLEY), first Subway automated with the world, is inaugurated in 1983. In 1993, the line TGV-North, which connects Paris and Lille in a hour, “brings closer” the two cities, and in 1994 the opening of the Channel tunnel, then the arrival of the Eurostar in the news Gare “Lille-Europe” Lille place in the center of the Triangle Paris, London, Brussels. In 1994 are inaugurated the center Euralille, and Lille Large palace.

In 1991 begin work from Euralille, project of urban development around stations TGV. The district, of resolutely modern Architecture, comprises office buildings, business districts, trade, residences and green areas.

The title of European Co-capital of the culture in 2004 and the classification of the belfry of the town hall to the World heritage of UNESCO in 2005 increases the tourist radiation of the agglomeration.

Chronological plank

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