Editing Valenciennes (section)

==<FONT COLOR="#CC0000">'''HISTORY OF VALENCIENNES'''</FONT>==

===<FONT COLOR="#FF9900">'''The Beginning'''</FONT>===
'''Valenciennes is first mentioned in 693''' in a legal document written by Clovis II (''Valentiana''). In the 843 Treaty of Verdun, it was made a neutral city between Neustria and the Austrasia. Later in the 9th century the region was overrun by the Normans, and in 881 the town passed to them. In 923 it passed to the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia dependent on the Holy Roman Empire. Once the Empire of the Franks was established, the city began to develop, though the archaeological record has still not revealed all it has to reveal about this period. Under the Ottonian emperors, '''Valenciennes became the centre of marches on the border of the Empire'''. 

===<FONT COLOR="#FF9900">'''During the Middle Age'''</FONT>===
In 1008, '''a terrible famine brought the Bubonic Plague'''. According to the local tradition, the Virgin Mary held a cordon around the city which, miraculously, has since protected its people from the disease. Since then, every year at that time, the Valenciennois used to walk around the 14km road round the town, in what is called the tour of the Holy  Cordon. In 1285, the currency of Hainaut was replaced by the currency of France: the ecu. Valenciennes was full of activity, with numerous corporations, and outside its walls a large number of convents developed, like that of the Dominicans. In the 14th century, '''the Tower of Dodenne was built''' by Albert I, Duke of Bavaria, where even today, the bell is rung in honour of Our Lady of the Holy Cordon. In the 15th century, the County of Hainaut, of which Valenciennes is part, was re-attached to Burgundy, losing its autonomy.

===<FONT COLOR="#FF9900">'''16th and 17th Centuries'''</FONT>===
In 1591, the Jesuits built a school and then the foundations of a church of Sainte-Croix.  In 1611, the facade of the town hall was completely rebuilt in magnificent Renaissance style.  In the seventeenth century the Scheldt was channelled between Cambrai and Valenciennes, benefitting Valenciennes' wool, fabric and fine arts.  To use up flax yarn, women began to make the famous lace. '''In 1677, the armies of Louis XIV of France captured the city''' and in 1678 the Treaty of Nijmegen gave the control of Valenciennes (1678) and the surrounding southern part of County of Hainaut, roughly cutting the former county in half.  The city became one of the main strongholds of northern France, and was fortified by Vauban, who personally visited the town for that purpose shortly after the Treaty.

===<FONT COLOR="#FF9900">'''French Revolution'''</FONT>===
'''The city was besieged by the First Coalition against Revolutionary France''' in 1793. The city was captured, plundered and occupied in July by Anglo-Austrian forces under the Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany and the Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg, and only retaken by the French Revolutionary armies in August 1794. After the Napoleonic era, Valenciennes gave itself up to the Bourbon Restoration in 1815 for 5 years.  After that, the town's sugar-refining and coal industries once more started to expand. On 6 August 1890, a law downgraded the town's fortified status, and so '''from 1891 to 1893, its fortifications were demolished'''.  The town was granted the Légion d'honneur in 1900.

===<FONT COLOR="#FF9900">'''Valenciennes Today'''</FONT>===
'''The town's first antenna''' was set up in Lille in 1964, then the Centre universitaire was set up in 1970, becoming independent in 1979 as the University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambrésis.

'''''More information about the History of Valenciennes on the [[wikipedia:Valenciennes]] !'''''