Diocese of Thérouanne

The former French diocese of Thérouanne controlled a large part of the left bank of the river Scheldt during the Middle Ages. Territorially it was part of the county of Artois which belonged to the county of Flanders.

In the 7th century, probably around 639, Saint Audomar (Saint Omer) established the bishopric of Terwaan or Terenburg in Thérouanne. 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 besieged 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.^[1] In 1557, as a result of the war damage to its see, the diocese was abolished. About two decades later the diocese of Boulogne was created, bearing the name Thérouanne for a few years.^[2]

The disappearance of the former bishopric led to a reform of sees at the Council of Trent, and the bishopric of Thérouanne was split between the Diocese of Saint-Omer, the diocese of Boulogne and the Diocese of Ypres.

Bishops

To 1000

• before 639, to c. 667 (†): Audomar (Omer)
• Draucius
• c. 667 to c. 669/701: Bainus
• c. 669/701 to c. 721/723: Ravengerus
• c. 721/723 to c. 737/742: Erkembodo
• c. 739: Adalgerus
• to before 747: Gumbertus
• 747–748: Aethereus
• Rodwaldus
• Athalphus
• Wigbertus
• before 798 to c. 798: Théoduin
• c. 798 to before 814/817: Grimbaldus
• 817–855 (†): Folcuin
• 856–869 (†): Humfridus
• 869–872: Actardus
• 872–887: Adalbertus † 914
• 887 to c. 900: Herilandus † 920
• 909 to c. 935 (†): Stephan (Etienne)
• 935–959 (†): Wicfridus
• 959–964 (†): David
• 964–995 (†): Framericus
• 995–1030 (†): Balduin (Baudouin)

1000 to 1300

• 1030–1078 (†): Drogon
• 1078–1081: Hubert
• 1082–1083: Lambert
• 1084–1099: Gérard
• 1099–1130 (†): Johann I. von Warneton
• 1130–1158 (†) or 1159 (†): Milon I.
• 1159–1169: Milon II.
• 1169–1191: Didier
• 1191–1207: Lambert de Bruges (Lambert van Brugge)
• 1207–1213: Johann II.
• 1213–1229: Adam
• 1229–1250: Pierre de Doij
• 1252–1262: Raoul de Chelles
• 1262–1276: Vacant
• 1276–1286: Heinrich von Murs
• 1287–1301: Jacques de Boulogne

From 1300

• 1301–1330: Enguerrand de Créqui
• 1330–1334: Johann III. de Vienne
• 1334–1356: Raymond Saquet
• 1356–1361: Gilles II Aycelin de Montaigut, 1357–1358, chancellor of France, based in London
• 1361–1368: Robert of Geneva
• 1368–1371: Gérard de Daimville
• 1371–1376: Adhémar Roberi
• 1376–1384: Pierre d'Orgemont
• 1384–1403: Jean Tabari
• 1404–1414: Matthieu or Renaud de Bapaume
• 1415–1436: Louis de Luxemburg, 1424–1435 , chancellor of France, partisan of the Burgundians
• 1436–1451: Jean V “the Young”
• 1451–1455: David von Burgund (also bishop of Utrecht)
• 1456–1485: Henri of Lorraine-Vaudemont (also bishop of Metz)
• 1485–1496: Antoine de Croy
• 1496–1513: Philipp de Luxemburg
• 1513–1521: François de Melun
• 1521–1535: John, Cardinal of Lorraine
• 1535–1537: François de Créquy

Notes

1. ^ Salting is mentioned in Elise Whitlock Rose, Cathedrals and Cloisters of Northern France, p. 8, but this is not a reliable historical source.
2. ^ Boulogne (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]