Oudenaarde
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{{Infobox Belgium Municipality
|name=Oudenaarde
|picture=Oudenaarde Stadhuis.jpg
|picture-legend=Oudenaarde Town Hall
|map=OudenaardeLocatie.png
|map-legend=Location of Oudenaarde in East Flanders
|arms=Oudenaarde.jpg
|flag=Flag of Oudenaarde.svg
|region={{BE-REG-FLE}}
|community={{BE-NL}}
|province={{BE-PROV-OV}}
|arrondissement=[[Arrondissement of Oudenaarde|Oudenaarde]]
|nis=45035
|pyramid-date=
|0-19=
|20-64=
|65=
|foreigners=
|foreigners-date=
|mayor= Marnic De Meulemeester (VLD)
|majority=[[VLD]], [[CD&V]]-[[N-VA]]
|postal-codes=9700
|telephone-area=055
|web=[http://www.oudenaarde.be/ www.oudenaarde.be]
|lat_deg=50
|lat_min=51
|lon_deg=03
|lon_min=36
}}
'''Oudenaarde''' ([[French language|French]] ''Audenarde'', [[English language|English]] sometimes ''Oudenarde'') is a [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[Municipalities in Belgium|municipality]] in the [[Flemish Region|Flemish]] [[Provinces of Belgium|province]] of [[East Flanders]]. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of [[Bevere]], [[Edelare]], [[Eine, Belgium|Eine]], [[Ename]], [[Heurne]], [[Leupegem]], [[Mater, Belgium|Mater]], [[Melden]], [[Mullem]], [[Nederename]], [[Volkegem]], and [[Welden, Belgium|Welden]].
From the 15th to the 18th century, but especially in the 16th century, Oudenaarde was a world-known centre of [[tapestry]] production. The town's name, meaning “old field”, still lingers on in “outnal”, an obsolete [[English language|English]] term for a kind of brown linen thread. Today, Oudenaarde is known as the pearl of the [[Flemish Ardennes]].
==History==
===The glory of Ename===
The history of the current municipality of Oudenaarde starts in 974, when [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor]] and [[King of Germany]], built one of its three fortifications on the [[Scheldt]] at Ename to protect his kingdom against possible attacks from [[France]] (the other two frontier posts were at [[Valenciennes]] and [[Antwerp]]). Ename grew very fast. By 1005, the town already had a couple of churches and had become the largest town in the duchy of [[Lotharingia]]. In 1033, [[Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders]] took the city as a frontier post against [[Germany]]. In 1047, [[Baldwin V, Count of Flanders|Baldwin V]] consolidated his father’s victory by having his wife found a [[Benedictine]] abbey there. By that time, the former merchants and guild artisans of Ename had fled across the Scheldt to the recently founded city of Oudenaarde.
===Oudenaarde’s golden age===
[[Image:Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Pamele kerk 2.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Church of Our Lady of Pamele]]
In the 11th century, Oudenaarde’s economy flourished, thanks to the proximity of the [[Scheldt]] and to the burgeoning, but vibrant cloth and tapestry industry. Churches, cloisters and hospitals were built. Throughout the Middle Ages, the city was one of the staunchest supporters of the [[Count of Flanders|Counts of Flanders]], defending them against insurrections from the South, and even from [[Ghent]]. The city became known as the ''residence of the nobles''. It built itself a flagship [[Oudenaarde Town Hall|town hall]] (built 1526–1537), which we can still admire today, and the St-Walburga church. [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] stayed here for a couple of months in 1522 and fathered an illegitimate daughter, [[Margaret of Parma]], who was to become Regent of the Netherlands.
===Decline===
During the [[Reformation]], the people of Oudenaarde chose [[Protestantism]] and allied themselves with [[Ghent]] against [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]. In 1582, after a prolonged siege by Margaret's son, [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma|Alexander Farnese]], the city finally gave in, causing most merchants, workers, and even nobles to flee. Oudenaarde belatedly embraced the [[Counter-Reformation]], which revived for a short while the commerce of tapestry. The glory days, however, never came back. The French attacked and took the city three times in less than a century. In 1708, one of the key battles in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], known as the [[Battle of Oudenaarde]], was fought in the vicinity of the city. Oudenaarde slumbered as a provincial town under the [[Austria]]n regime.
Like its neighbours, in the 1790s it suffered the religious curtailments imposed by the [[French Revolution]]. The city suffered damages during [[World War I]], which is commemorated by several monuments scattered around town.
==Sights==
*The [[Flamboyant]] [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]]-style [[Oudenaarde Town Hall|Town Hall]] and its [[Belfries of Belgium and France|Belfry]] were designated by [[UNESCO]] as a [[World Heritage Site]] in 1999. The city hall houses a unique collection of Oudenaarde [[tapestries]].
*The Church of Our Lady of Pamele, begun in 1234 on the banks of the [[Scheldt]], and the Church of St Walburga near the market square, are both worth a visit.
*Oudenaarde is also home to the ''Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen'', a museum dedicated to the [[Ronde van Vlaanderen]] cycle race.
==Events==
*Recurring events include a beer fest in June, an open-air musical festival in the summer, and an agricultural fair in February. The celebrated ''Ronde van Vlaanderen'', the [[Ronde van Vlaanderen]] cycle race for women, starts every spring in Oudenaarde. The race for men passes through Oudenaarde several times.
*Every ten years, one of Flander’s largest floral displays takes place on the market square (''Grote Markt''). The last one took place in 2005.
==Famous inhabitants==
*[[Arnold of Soissons]], saint (1040-1087)
*[[Margaret of Parma]], daughter of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] and [[Governors of the Habsburg Netherlands|Regent of the Netherlands]] (1522-1586)
*[[Johannes van den Driesche]], orientalist and exegete (1550-1616)
*[[Charles Liedts]], politician (1802-1878)
*[[Gentil Theodoor Antheunis]], poet, (1840-1907)
*[[Reimond Stijns]], writer (1850-1905)
*[[Adriaen Brouwer]], painter (1605-1638)
*[[André Dierickx]], road racing cyclist (b. 1946)
*[[Jotie T'Hooft]], poet (1956-1977)
==Twin cities==
*{{FRA}}: [[Arras]]
*{{NLD}}: [[Bergen op Zoom]]
*{{ROM}}: [[Buzău]]
*{{ITA}}: [[Castel Madama]]
*{{GER}}: [[Coburg]]
*{{UK}}: [[Hastings]]
==External links==
{{Commonscat|Oudenaarde}}
*[http://www.oudenaardeinfo.be Nieuws in Oudenaarde] - Only available in [[Dutch language|Dutch]]
*[http://www.ename974.org/ Ename] - available in English
*[http://www.crvv.be Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen] - available in English
*[http://www.fortified-places.com/reliefs/audenarde.html Relief map of Oudenaarde and its fortifications in the 17th century]
{{East_Flanders}}
[[Category:Municipalities of East Flanders]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Belgium]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Belgium]]
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