City · Royal demesne of Philip II · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Tournai

An old episcopal city on the Scheldt, wedged between Flanders and Hainaut, whose townsmen bought a commune from Philip Augustus in 1188 and look to the king.

Its bishop Stephen is a canonist of European fame. The city lives by the Scheldt trade, cloth and the blue Tournai stone, carved into fonts sold across the north. The Tournaisis around it is the bishop's and the commune's.

Who holds it

Name
Bishop Stephen of Tournai, lord in the city with the commune; the king of France as protector of the commune; the castellan of Tournai (the house of Mortagne)
Title
Lord of the town
Confidence
high

Lord in 1200

Bishop Stephen of Tournai, lord in the city with the commune; the king of France as protector of the commune; the castellan of Tournai (the house of Mortagne)

How things stand that morning

The king's commune and the bishop's city; the interdict may be applied here as the king's town.

Charter

Commune charter granted by Philip Augustus in 1188.

Council

Provosts and jurés of the commune, with échevins.

Communities

No Jewish community is attested here in 1200; the count's Flanders had few or none. Lombard and Cahorsin moneylenders come later.

Fairs and markets

The Great Procession of Our Lady each September (since 1092) brings pilgrims; markets.

Militia

The commune's militia serves the king.

Walls and castle

Walls and the castellan's tower; the Romanesque cathedral with its towers.

Trade and crafts

Scheldt shipping, cloth, the stone trade (Tournai marble and fonts).

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign notes (Part 6 A) give Stephen of Tournai as bishop since 1192 and call the see Flemish with a French metropolitan; consistent.

Evidence: The 1188 charter is well known; the castellan's name is not pinned here.

On the map: The tierra is the town's own banlieue or district, drawn from modern municipal units.

Primary sources for France (royal)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
  • Chronicle of Hainaut, Gislebert of Mons (about 1195 to 1196). Ends in 1195, so it has no 1200 entries, but it is the indispensable background for Flanders and Hainaut: the career of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut (VIII of Flanders), his union of the two counties, the settlement with Philip over Artois, the rights, castles, fiefs and vassals of Hainaut listed by a man who ran its chancery, and the youth of Baldwin IX, who held both counties in 1200. Read online
  • Chronicle of Robert of Auxerre, Robert of Auxerre (Robert of Saint-Marien) (about 1190 to 1211; continued at Saint-Marien to 1227). A universal chronicle whose last twenty years are contemporary and well informed from Burgundy and the Auxerrois. Read online
  • Chronicles of the Churches of Anjou (Saint-Aubin, Saint-Serge, Saint-Florent and others), Various (monks of Angers and the Loire) (11th to 13th centuries; the Saint-Aubin annals run to the 1220s). The Angevin houses' own annals of the succession crisis in their city: Arthur received at Angers in 1199 with Constance and the Breton and Angevin barons, John's counter-moves, the defection of William des Roches and the Angevin lords to John, and the peace of 1200 that left Arthur John's vassal. Read online
  • The Great Chronicle of Tours, Anonymous (a canon of Saint-Martin of Tours) (about 1227). The Loire valley's view of the Angevin succession. Read online
  • Universal Chronicle of the Anonymous of Laon, Anonymous (an English-born canon of Laon) (about 1219). A Picard chronicle whose author had lived in England and keeps an eye on both kingdoms. Read online
  • Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
  • Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online

15 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.

Sources and studies

  1. Tournai (English Wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.