Thérouanne

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Administration
Commune of Thérouanne View of the village of Thérouanne, south of the former town
Location
Longitude	02° 15' 35
Latitude	50° 38' 15
Country	France
Région	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Département	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Saint-Omer
Canton	Aire-sur-la-Lys
Mayor	Alain Chevalier (2001-2008)
Statistics
Altitude	31 m–116 m (avg. 38 m)
Land area¹	8.37 km²
Population² (1999)	1,063
- Density (1999)	127/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62811/ 62129
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Location of Pas-de-Calais in France

Thérouanne is a commune of northern France.

1 History
- 1.1 Bishops
2 Miscellaneous
3 External links

[edit] History

At the time of the Gauls, Tarwanna was the capital of the Belgian tribe of the Morini. After the Romans conquered Gaul, they too made the city the capital of the Civitas Morinorum district.

In the 7th century, probably around 639, Saint-Audomare (Omer) established the bishopric of Terwaan or Terenburg, which controlled during the Middle Ages a large part of the left bank of the river Scheldt. Territorially it was part of the county of Artois which belonged to the county of Flanders.

Thanks to that ecclesiastical control of some of the most prosperous cities north of the Alps, like Arras and Ypres, the bishopric was able to build a cathedral which was at the time the largest in France.

In 1553 Charles V sieged Thérouanne, then a French enclave in the Holy Roman Empire, in revenge for a defeat by the French at Metz. After he captured the city he ordered it to be razed to the ground, the roads to be broken up, and the area to be ploughed and salted. Only a small commune which lay outside the city walls, then named Saint-Martin-Outre-Eaux, was left standing, and later (probably around 1800) took over the name Thérouanne. Part of the portal of the cathedral was acquired by Saint-Omer; a colossal statue of Christ is all that is left of it these days.

The disappearance of the former bishopric led to a reform of bishopric seats at the Council of Trent; the bishopric of Thérouanne was split in those of Saint-Omer and Ypres.