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58-605: The Mélantois ( French pronunciation: [melɑ̃twa] ) is an inland area of northern France, at south-east of Lille . Between the Deûle and the Marque , it is bounded to the north by a line from Willems to La Madeleine . It is a chalky plateau at an altitude of between 20 and 45 metres (66 and 148 ft), with gentle slopes (below 5 %). 50°35′00″N 3°05′00″E  /  50.5833°N 3.0833°E  / 50.5833; 3.0833 This Nord geographical article

116-562: A Hook rebellion in Holland and Flemish revolts . Maximilian prevailed with the support of Duke Albert III of Saxony and his son Philip the Handsome , husband of Joanna of Castile, could assume the rule over the Habsburg Netherlands in 1493. Philip as well as his son and successor Charles V retained the title of a " Duke of Burgundy " referring to their Burgundian inheritance, notably

174-739: A city charter by which city governors would be chosen each All Saint's Day by four commissioners chosen by the ruler. On 6 February 1236, she founded the Countess's Hospital ( Hospice Comtesse ). It was in her honour that the hospital of the Regional Medical University of Lille was named "Jeanne of Flanders Hospital" in the 20th century. The Countess died in 1244 in the Abbey of Marquette, leaving no heirs. The rule of Flanders and Hainaut thus fell to her sister, Margaret II, Countess of Flanders , then to Margaret's son, Guy of Dampierre . Lille fell under

232-797: A former territory of the county of Flanders that is not part of the linguistic area of West Flanders . A garrison town (as evidenced by its Citadel), Lille has had an eventful history from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution . Very often besieged during its history, it belonged successively to the Kingdom of France , the Burgundian State , the Holy Roman Empire of Germany and the Spanish Netherlands before being definitively attached to

290-545: A long roster of officers, and a busy schedule of banquets festivals and competitions. In 1853, Alexandre Desrousseaux composed his lullaby " P'tit quinquin ". In 1858, Lille annexed the adjacent towns of Esquermes , Fives , Moulins-Lille and Wazemmes . Lille's population was 158,000 in 1872, growing to over 200,000 by 1891. In 1896 Lille became the first city in France to be led by a socialist, Gustave Delory . By 1912, Lille's population stood at 217,000. The city profited from

348-469: A manufacturing city since the 16th century, the Industrial Revolution made it a great industrial capital, mainly around the textile and mechanical industries. Their decline, from the 1960s onwards, led to a long period of crisis and it was not until the 1990s that the conversion to the tertiary sector and the rehabilitation of the disaster-stricken districts gave the city a different face. Today,

406-542: A population of 1,515,061 that same year (Jan. 2020 census), the fourth most populated in France after Paris , Lyon , and Marseille . The city of Lille and 94 suburban French municipalities have formed since 2015 the European Metropolis of Lille , an indirectly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of wider metropolitan issues, with a population of 1,182,250 at the Jan. 2020 census. More broadly, Lille belongs to

464-603: A vast conurbation formed with the Belgian cities of Mouscron , Kortrijk , Tournai and Menin , which gave birth in January 2008 to the Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai , the first European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), which has more than 2.1 million inhabitants. Nicknamed in France the "Capital of Flanders", Lille and its surroundings belong to the historical region of Romance Flanders ,

522-465: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lille Lille ( / ˈ l iː l / LEEL ; French: [lil] ; Dutch : Rijsel [ˈrɛisəl] ; Picard : Lile ; West Flemish : Rysel ) is a city in the northern part of France , within French Flanders . Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium , it is the capital of

580-476: The 2005 riots , like all of France's other urban centres. In 2007 and again in 2010, Lille was awarded the label "Internet City". The Saint-Joseph Chapel of Saint-Paul College was demolished in February 2021. Lille can be described as having a temperate oceanic climate ; summers normally do not reach high average temperatures, but winters can fall below freezing temperatures, though with averages still above

638-559: The Austrians , then in the United Provinces, laid siege to Lille. The " Column of the Goddess ", erected in 1842 in the "Grand-Place" (officially named Place du Général-de-Gaulle ), is a tribute to the city's resistance, led by Mayor François André-Bonte  [ fr ] . Although Austrian artillery destroyed many houses and the main church of the city, the city did not surrender, and

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696-585: The Hauts-de-France region , the prefecture of the Nord department , and the main city of the European Metropolis of Lille . The city of Lille proper had a population of 236,234 in 2020 within its small municipal territory of 35 km (14 sq mi), but together with its French suburbs and exurbs the Lille metropolitan area (French part only), which extends over 1,666 km (643 sq mi), had

754-451: The Industrial Revolution , particularly via coal and the steam engine . The entire region grew wealthy thanks to its mines and textile industry. Lille's occupation by the Germans began on 13 October 1914 after a ten-day siege and heavy shelling, which destroyed 882 apartment and office blocks and 1,500 houses, mostly around the railway station and in the centre. By the end of October, the city

812-576: The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle , provoking discontent among the citizens of the prosperous city. A number of important public works undertaken between 1667 and 1670, such as the Citadel (erected by Vauban ), or the creation of the quartiers of Saint-André and la Madeleine, enabled the French king to gradually gain the confidence of his new subjects in Lille, some of whom continued to feel Flemish, but they had always spoken

870-568: The University of Lille and the Catholic University of Lille , the third largest in France behind Paris and Lyon ), its ranking as a European Capital of Culture in 2004 and the events of Lille 2004 ( European Capital of Culture ) and Lille 3000 are the main symbols of this revival. The European metropolis of Lille was awarded the "World Design Capital 2020". Archeological digs seem to show

928-414: The battle of Adrianople . He pushed the counties of Flanders and Hainaut towards sedition against Jeanne in order to recover his land. She called her cousin, Louis VIII ("The Lion"). He unmasked the imposter, whom Countess Jeanne quickly had hanged. In 1226 the king agreed to free Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders. Count Ferrand died in 1233, and his daughter Marie soon after. In 1235, Jeanne granted

986-589: The Austrian Army left after eight days. The city continued to grow and, by 1800, had some 53,000 residents, leading to Lille becoming the seat of the Nord département in 1804. In 1846, a railway connecting Paris and Lille was built. In the early 19th century, Napoleon I 's continental blockade against the United Kingdom led to Lille's textile industry developing even more fully. The city was known for its cotton while

1044-800: The Burgundian inheritance in the Low Countries. Charles V was born and raised in the Low Countries and often stayed at the Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels. By the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 , Charles V declared the Seventeen Provinces a united and indivisible Habsburg dominion. Between 1555 and 1556, the House of Habsburg split into an Austro-German and a Spanish branch as a consequence of Charles's abdications:

1102-595: The Chamber of Commerce of Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing were joined, and in 1969 the Communauté urbaine de Lille (Lille urban community) was created, linking 87 communes with Lille. Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, the region was faced with some problems after the decline of the coal, mining and textile industries. From the early 1980s, the city began to turn itself more towards the service sector . Pierre Mauroy served as Mayor of Lille for 28 years from 1973 to 2001. Mauroy

1160-513: The France of Louis XIV following the War of Spanish Succession along with the entire territory making up the historic province of French Flanders . Lille was again under siege in 1792 during the Franco-Austrian War , and in 1914 and 1940. It was severely tested by the two world wars of the 20th century during which it was occupied and suffered destruction. A merchant city since its origins and

1218-760: The Low Countries and the Free County of Burgundy in the Holy Roman Empire. The Habsburgs often used the term Burgundy to refer to their hereditary lands (e.g. in the name of the Imperial Burgundian Circle established in 1512), actually until 1795, when the Austrian Netherlands were lost to the French Republic . The Governor-general of the Netherlands was responsible for the administration of

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1276-593: The Netherlands under Habsburg rule was repeatedly invaded by the French and an increasing portion of the territory came under French control in successive wars. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 the French annexed most of Artois , and Dunkirk was ceded to the English. By the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (ending the War of Devolution in 1668) and Nijmegen (ending the Franco-Dutch War in 1678), further territory up to

1334-560: The Netherlands were left to his son Philip II of Spain , while his brother King Ferdinand I succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor . The Seventeen Provinces, de jure still fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, from that time on de facto were ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as part of the Burgundian heritage. Philip's stern Counter-Reformation measures sparked the Dutch Revolt in

1392-647: The Romance Picard language . For five years, from 1708 to 1713, the city was occupied by the Dutch during the War of the Spanish Succession . Throughout the 18th century, Lille remained profoundly Catholic. It took little part in the French Revolution , but there were riots and the destruction of churches. In 1790, the city held its first municipal elections. In 1792, in the aftermath of the French Revolution,

1450-451: The Spanish sphere of influence. With Albert's death in 1621 they returned to formal Spanish control, although the childless Isabella remained on as governor until her death in 1633. The failing wars intended to regain the 'heretical' northern Netherlands meant significant loss of (still mainly Catholic) territories in the north, which was consolidated in 1648 in the Peace of Westphalia , and given

1508-802: The area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC, most notably in the modern quartiers of Fives , Wazemmes and Vieux Lille. The original inhabitants of the region were the Gauls , such as the Menapians , the Morins , the Atrebates and the Nervians , who were followed by Germanic peoples : the Saxons , the Frisians and the Franks . The legend of " Lydéric and Phinaert " puts the foundation of

1566-568: The area in 1542, and by 1555, the authorities were taking steps to suppress that form of Protestantism . In 1566, the countryside around Lille was affected by the Iconoclastic Fury . In 1578, the Hurlus, a group of Protestant rebels, stormed the castle of the Counts of Mouscron. They were removed four months later by a Catholic Wallon regiment, and they tried several times between 1581 and 1582 to take

1624-464: The authority of the House of Habsburg reconciling previous anti-Spanish sentiments. In the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at Brussels . Among the artists who emerged from the court of the "Archdukes", as they were known, was Peter Paul Rubens . Under Isabella and Albert, the Spanish Netherlands actually had formal independence from Spain, but always remained unofficially within

1682-658: The brand-new Euralille business district in 1988 (now the third largest in France) and the arrival of the TGV and then the Eurostar in 1994 put Lille at the heart of the major European capitals. The development of its international airport , annual events such as the Braderie de Lille in early September (attracting three million visitors), the development of a student and university center (with more than 110,000 students in colleges and schools of

1740-530: The city of Lille at 640. In the 8th century, the language of Old Low Franconian was spoken, as attested by toponymic research. Lille's Dutch name is Rijsel , which comes from ter ijsel (at the island) from Middle Dutch ijssel ("small island, islet"), calque of Old French l'Isle ("the Island"), itself from Latin Īnsula , from īnsula ("island"). From 830 to around 910, the Vikings invaded Flanders. After

1798-547: The city of Lille, all in vain. The Hurlus were notably held back by the legendary Jeanne Maillotte . At the same time (1581), at the call of Elizabeth I of England , the north of the Seventeen Provinces , having gained a Protestant majority, successfully revolted and formed the Dutch Republic . The war brought or exacerbated periods of famine and plague (the last in 1667–1679). The first printer to set up shop in Lille

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1856-649: The core of the Habsburg Netherlands , which passed to the Spanish Habsburgs upon the abdication of Emperor Charles V in 1556. When part of the Netherlands separated to form the autonomous Dutch Republic in 1581, the remainder of the area stayed under Spanish rule until the War of the Spanish Succession . A common administration of the Netherlandish fiefs, centered in the Duchy of Brabant , already existed under

1914-439: The county fell into dispute: it would be his wife, Jeanne, Countess of Flanders and Constantinople , who ruled the city. She was said to be well loved by the residents of Lille, who by that time numbered 10,000. In 1225, the street performer and juggler Bertrand Cordel , doubtlessly encouraged by local lords, tried to pass himself off as Baldwin I of Constantinople (the father of Jeanne of Flanders), who had disappeared at

1972-593: The current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including Cambrai , Walloon Flanders , as well as half of the County of Hainaut (including Valenciennes ). Later, in the War of the Reunions and the Nine Years' War , France annexed other parts of the region that were restored to Spain by the Treaty of Rijswijk 1697. During the War of the Spanish Succession , in 1706 the Habsburg Netherlands became an Anglo-Dutch condominium for

2030-682: The destruction caused by Normans ' and the Magyars ' invasion, the eastern part of the region was ruled by various local princes. The first mention of the town dates from 1066: apud Insulam (Latin for "at the island"). It was then controlled by the County of Flanders , as were the regional cities (the Roman cities Boulogne , Arras , Cambrai as well as the Carolingian cities Valenciennes , Saint-Omer , Ghent and Bruges ). The County of Flanders thus extended to

2088-478: The exception of the coast, notably Dunkirk ) were for the most part liberated from 1 to 5 September 1944, by British, Canadian and Polish troops. On 3 September, German troops began to leave Lille out of fear of the British, who were on their way from Brussels. The city was liberated by a British force consisting largely of tanks. Rationing came to an end in 1947, and by 1948, normality had returned to Lille. In 1967,

2146-401: The freezing mark. Precipitation is plentiful year round. The table below gives average temperatures and precipitation levels for the 1991–2020 reference period. Lille is noted for its air pollution, with a 2018 study attributing 1,700 deaths per year in the agglomeration of Lille to pollution. In 2018, Lille held France's record pollution peaks. The population data in the table and graph to

2204-662: The historic center, Old Lille, is characterized by its 17th-century red brick town houses, its paved pedestrian streets and its central Grand'Place. The belfry of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) is one of the 23 belfries in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Somme regions that were classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2005, in recognition of their architecture and importance to the rise of municipal power in Europe. The construction of

2262-517: The last duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold , Mary of Burgundy married Maximilian of Austria , who thus became Count of Flanders. The 16th and the 17th centuries were marked by a boom in the regional textile industry, the Protestant revolts and outbreaks of the plague . Lille came under the rule of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1519. The Low Countries fell to his eldest son, Philip II of Spain , in 1555. The city remained under Spanish Habsburg rule until 1668. Calvinism first appeared in

2320-460: The left bank of the Scheldt , one of the richest and most prosperous regions of Europe. The Carolingian duke Évrard lived in the city in the 9th century and participated in many of the day's political and military affairs. There was an important Battle of Lille in 1054. Raimbert of Lille (fl. c. 1100) was an early nominalist who taught at Lille. From the 12th century, the fame of the Lille cloth fair began to grow. In 1144 Saint-Sauveur parish

2378-405: The left below refer to the commune of Lille proper in its borders since 2000, i.e. a municipal territory of 35 km (14 sq mi). This includes the former communes annexed by the commune of Lille: Esquermes , Fives , Moulins-Lille, and Wazemmes in 1858, Hellemmes-Lille in 1977, and Lomme in 2000. The Lille metropolitan area (table to the right below), which is much larger than

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2436-416: The mainly Calvinist Netherlandish provinces, which led to the outbreak of the Eighty Years' War in 1568. In January 1579 the seven northern provinces formed the Protestant Union of Utrecht , which declared independence from the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands by the 1581 Act of Abjuration . The Spanish branch of the Habsburgs could retain the rule only over

2494-438: The nearby towns of Roubaix and Tourcoing worked wool. Leisure activities were thoroughly organised in 1858 for the 80,000 inhabitants. Cabarets or taverns for the working class numbered 1,300, or one for every three houses. At that time the city counted 63 drinking and singing clubs, 37 clubs for card players, 23 for bowling, 13 for skittles, and 18 for archery. The churches likewise have their social organizations. Each club had

2552-426: The partly Catholic Southern Netherlands , completed after the Fall of Antwerp in 1585. Better times came, when in 1598 the Spanish Netherlands passed to Philip's daughter Isabella Clara Eugenia and her husband Archduke Albert VII of Austria . The couple's rule brought a period of much-needed peace and stability to the economy, which stimulated the growth of a separate South Netherlandish identity and consolidated

2610-412: The peculiar inferior status of Generality Lands (jointly ruled by the United Republic, not admitted as member provinces): Zeelandic Flanders (south of the River Scheldt ), the present Dutch province of North Brabant and Maastricht (in the present-day Dutch province of Limburg ). As the power of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs waned in the latter decades of the 17th century, the territory of

2668-403: The repercussions of the Great Depression , and by 1935, a third of the city's population lived in poverty. In 1936, the city's mayor, Roger Salengro , became Minister of the Interior of the Popular Front but eventually killed himself after right-wing groups led a slanderous campaign against him. During the Battle of France , Lille was besieged by German forces for several days. When Belgium

2726-426: The rule of France from 1304 to 1369, after the Franco-Flemish War (1297–1305). The county of Flanders fell to the Burgundian State next, after the 1369 marriage of Margaret III, Countess of Flanders , and Philip the Bold , Duke of Burgundy. Lille thus became one of the three capitals of said Duchy, along with Brussels and Dijon . By 1445, Lille counted some 25,000 residents. Philip the Good , Duke of Burgundy,

2784-424: The rule of the Burgundian Duke Philip the Good with the implementation of a stadtholder and the first convocation of the States General of the Netherlands in 1464. His granddaughter Mary had confirmed a number of privileges to the States by the Great Privilege signed in 1477. After the government takeover by her husband Archduke Maximilian I of Austria , the States insisted on their privileges, culminating in

2842-462: The small commune of Lille proper, covers a territory of 1,666 km (643 sq mi) (French part of the metropolitan area only) and had a population of 1,515,061 in 2020 (Jan. census). Spanish Netherlands The Imperial fiefs of the former Burgundian Netherlands had been inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg from the extinct House of Valois-Burgundy upon the death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482. The Seventeen Provinces formed

2900-523: Was Antoine Tack in 1594. The 17th century saw the building of new institutions: an Irish College in 1610, a Jesuit college in 1611, an Augustinian college in 1622, almshouses or hospitals such as the Maison des Vieux hommes in 1624 and the Bonne et Forte Maison des Pauvres in 1661, and of a Mont-de-piété in 1626. Unsuccessful French attacks on the city were launched in 1641 and 1645. In 1667, Louis XIV of France (the Sun King) successfully laid siege to Lille , resulting in it becoming French in 1668 under

2958-508: Was Prime Minister for part of the term of Francois Mitterrand. In 1983, the VAL , the world's first automated rapid transit underground network, opened. In 1993, a high-speed TGV train line was opened connecting Paris with Lille in one hour. This, with the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 and the arrival of the Eurostar train put Lille at the centre of a triangle connecting Paris, London and Brussels. Work on Euralille, an urban remodelling project, began in 1991. The Euralille Centre

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3016-435: Was also the hunting ground of the German World War I flying ace Max Immelmann , who was nicknamed "the Eagle of Lille". In July 1921, at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin discovered the first anti- tuberculosis vaccine , known as BCG ("Bacille de Calmette et Guérin"). The Opéra de Lille , designed by Lille architect Louis M. Cordonnier , was dedicated in 1923. From 1931, Lille felt

3074-424: Was being run by German authorities. Because Lille was only 20 km from the battlefield, German troops passed through the city regularly on their way to and from the front. As a result, occupied Lille became a place for the hospitalisation and the treatment of wounded soldiers as well as a place for soldiers' relaxation and entertainment. Many buildings, homes and businesses were requisitioned to those ends. Lille

3132-402: Was even more powerful than the King of France , and made Lille an administrative and financial capital. On 17 February 1454, one year after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks , Philip the Good organised a Pantagruelian banquet at his Lille palace, the still-celebrated " Feast of the Pheasant ". There the Duke and his court undertook an oath to Christianity. In 1477, at the death of

3190-399: Was formed, which would give its name to the modern-day quartier Saint-Sauveur . The counts of Flanders, Boulogne , and Hainaut came together with England and East Frankia and tried to regain territory taken by Philip II of France following Henry II of England's death, a war that ended with the French victory at Bouvines in 1214. Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders was imprisoned and

3248-400: Was invaded, the citizens of Lille, still haunted by the events of World War I, began to flee the city in large numbers. Lille was part of the zone under control of the German commander in Brussels, and was never controlled by the Vichy government in France . Lille was instead controlled under the military administration in Northern France . The départements of Nord and Pas-de-Calais (with

3306-427: Was liberated by the Allies on 17 October 1918, when General Sir William Birdwood and his troops were welcomed by joyous crowds. The general was made an honorary citizen of the city of Lille on 28 October. The only audio recording known to have been made during World War I was recorded near Lille in October 1918. The two-minute recording captured the Royal Garrison Artillery conducting a gas shell bombardment. Lille

3364-414: Was opened in 1994, and the remodeled district is now full of parks and modern buildings containing offices, shops and apartments. In 1994 the "Grand Palais" was also opened for the general public, which is free for the public to enter on the first Sunday of every month. Lille was chosen as a European Capital of Culture in 2004, along with the Italian city of Genoa . Lille and Roubaix were affected by

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