111-517: Saint-André-lez-Lille ( French pronunciation: [sɛ̃t‿ɑ̃dʁe le lil] , literally Saint-André near Lille ; Dutch : Sint-Andries or Sint-Andries-Rijsel , before 1991: Saint-André ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France . It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille . Saint-André-lez-Lille is twinned with: This Nord geographical article
222-466: A centralised state governed from the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts of France; by compelling many members of the nobility to reside at his lavish Palace of Versailles , he succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many of whom had participated in the Fronde rebellions during his minority. He thus became one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated
333-479: A chief minister: "Up to this moment I have been pleased to entrust the government of my affairs to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govern them myself. You [secretaries and ministers] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my command . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one". Capitalizing on
444-739: 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
555-529: A common diplomatic front against France, leading to the Triple Alliance , between England, the Dutch and Sweden . The threat of an escalation and a secret treaty to divide Spanish possessions with Emperor Leopold , the other major claimant to the throne of Spain, led Louis to relinquish many of his gains in the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . Louis placed little reliance on his agreement with Leopold and as it
666-508: A counterweight against his domestic Orangist opponents. Louis provided support in the 1665-1667 Second Anglo-Dutch War but used the opportunity to launch the War of Devolution in 1667. This captured Franche-Comté and much of the Spanish Netherlands ; French expansion in this area was a direct threat to Dutch economic interests. The Dutch opened talks with Charles II of England on
777-457: A favoured few. Financial officials were required to keep regular accounts, revising inventories and removing unauthorized exemptions: up to 1661 only 10 per cent of income from the royal domain reached the king. Reform had to overcome vested interests: the taille was collected by officers of the Crown who had purchased their post at a high price, and punishment of abuses necessarily lowered the value of
888-736: 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
999-545: 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
1110-469: 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,
1221-542: 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
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#17328691196921332-688: A powerful but war-weary kingdom, in major debt after the War of the Spanish Succession that had raged on since 1701. Some of his other notable achievements include the construction of the Canal du Midi , the patronage of artists , and the founding of the French Academy of Sciences . Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye , to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria . He
1443-412: A result, and Anne was forced, under intense pressure, to free Broussel. Moreover, on the night of 9–10 February 1651, when Louis was twelve, a mob of angry Parisians broke into the royal palace and demanded to see their king. Led into the royal bed-chamber, they gazed upon Louis, who was feigning sleep, were appeased, and then quietly departed. The threat to the royal family prompted Anne to flee Paris with
1554-573: A secret marriage to Queen Anne. However, Louis's coming-of-age and subsequent coronation deprived them of the Frondeurs ' pretext for revolt. The Fronde thus gradually lost steam and ended in 1653, when Mazarin returned triumphantly from exile. From that time until his death, Mazarin was in charge of foreign and financial policy without the daily supervision of Anne, who was no longer regent. During this period, Louis fell in love with Mazarin's niece Marie Mancini , but Anne and Mazarin ended
1665-484: A strong position and on the Spanish marriage. Additionally, Mazarin's relations with Marie Mancini were not good, and he did not trust her to support his position. All of Louis's tears and his supplications to his mother did not make her change her mind. The Spanish marriage would be very important both for its role in ending the war between France and Spain, because many of the claims and objectives of Louis's foreign policy for
1776-685: A system of absolute monarchy in France that endured until the French Revolution . Louis also enforced uniformity of religion under the Catholic Church . His revocation of the Edict of Nantes abolished the rights of the Huguenot Protestant minority and subjected them to a wave of dragonnades , effectively forcing Huguenots to emigrate or convert, virtually destroying the French Protestant community. During Louis's long reign, France emerged as
1887-603: 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 ,
1998-512: 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
2109-476: 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
2220-559: 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
2331-639: The Battle of Lens , Mazarin, on Queen Anne's insistence, arrested certain members in a show of force. The most important arrest, from Anne's point of view, concerned Pierre Broussel , one of the most important leaders in the Parlement de Paris . People in France were complaining about the expansion of royal authority, the high rate of taxation, and the reduction of the authority of the Parlement de Paris and other regional representative entities. Paris erupted in rioting as
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#17328691196922442-480: The Duchess of Longueville ; dukes of legitimised royal descent, such as Henri, Duke of Longueville , and François, Duke of Beaufort ; so-called " foreign princes " such as Frédéric Maurice, Duke of Bouillon , his brother Marshal Turenne , and Marie de Rohan , Duchess of Chevreuse; and scions of France's oldest families, such as François de La Rochefoucauld . Queen Anne played the most important role in defeating
2553-608: The Duke of Beaufort and Marie de Rohan , who conspired against him in 1643. The best example of Anne's loyalty to France was her treatment of one of Richelieu's men, the Chancellor Pierre Séguier . Séguier had brusquely interrogated Anne in 1637 (like a "common criminal", as she recalled) following the discovery that she was giving military secrets to her father in Spain, and Anne was virtually under house arrest for years. By keeping
2664-597: The Electorate of Cologne . Rapid French advance led to a coup that toppled De Witt and brought William III to power. Leopold viewed French expansion into the Rhineland as an increasing threat, especially after they seized the strategic Duchy of Lorraine in 1670. The prospect of Dutch defeat led Leopold to an alliance with Brandenburg-Prussia on 23 June, followed by another with the Republic on 25th. Although Brandenburg
2775-539: 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
2886-451: 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
2997-867: The Peace of Westphalia , which ended the Thirty Years' War . Its terms ensured Dutch independence from Spain , awarded some autonomy to the various German princes of the Holy Roman Empire , and granted Sweden seats on the Imperial Diet and territories controlling the mouths of the Oder , Elbe , and Weser Rivers . France, however, profited most from the settlement. Austria, ruled by the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III , ceded all Habsburg lands and claims in Alsace to France and acknowledged her de facto sovereignty over
3108-645: The Secretary of War , helped maintain large field armies that could be mobilised much more quickly, allowing them to mount offensives in early spring before their opponents were ready. The French were nevertheless forced to retreat from most of the Dutch Republic, which deeply shocked Louis; he retreated to St Germain for a time, where no one, except a few intimates, was allowed to disturb him. French military advantages allowed them however to hold their ground in Alsace and
3219-589: The Three Bishoprics of Metz , Verdun , and Toul . Moreover, many petty German states sought French protection, eager to emancipate themselves from Habsburg domination. This anticipated the formation of the 1658 League of the Rhine , which further diminished Imperial power. As the Thirty Years' War came to an end, a civil war known as the Fronde erupted in France. It effectively checked France's ability to exploit
3330-576: 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
3441-568: 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
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3552-414: 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
3663-589: 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
3774-595: 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
3885-468: 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
3996-443: The French crown and nobility: the king might raise taxes on the nation without consent if only he exempted the nobility. Only the "unprivileged" classes paid direct taxes, which came to mean the peasants only, as most bourgeois finagled exemptions in one way or another. The system laid the whole burden of state expenses on the backs of the poor and powerless. After 1700, with the support of Louis's pious secret wife Madame de Maintenon ,
4107-485: The Fronde because she wanted to transfer absolute authority to her son. In addition, most of the princes refused to deal with Mazarin, who went into exile for a number of years. The Frondeurs claimed to act on Louis's behalf, and in his real interest, against his mother and Mazarin. Queen Anne had a very close relationship with the Cardinal, and many observers believed that Mazarin became Louis XIV's stepfather by
4218-510: The King's authority, in a manner that was much more radical than the one proposed by Mazarin. The Cardinal depended totally on Anne's support and had to use all his influence on the Queen to temper some of her radical actions. Anne imprisoned any aristocrat or member of parliament who challenged her will; her main aim was to transfer to her son an absolute authority in the matters of finance and justice. One of
4329-510: The Peace of Westphalia. Anne and Mazarin had largely pursued the policies of Cardinal Richelieu, augmenting the Crown's power at the expense of the nobility and the Parlements . Anne was more concerned with internal policy than foreign affairs; she was a very proud queen who insisted on the divine rights of the King of France. All this led her to advocate a forceful policy in all matters relating to
4440-530: The Reunions . Warfare defined Louis's foreign policy, impelled by his personal ambition for glory and power: "a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique". His wars strained France's resources to the utmost, while in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats that their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military. Upon his death in 1715, Louis XIV left his great-grandson and successor, Louis XV ,
4551-538: 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,
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4662-563: The Spanish Netherlands while retaking Franche-Comté. By 1678, mutual exhaustion led to the Treaty of Nijmegen , which was generally settled in France's favour and allowed Louis to intervene in the Scanian War . Despite the military defeat, his ally Sweden regained much of what it had lost under the 1679 treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , Fontainebleau and Lund imposed on Denmark–Norway and Brandenburg. Yet Louis's two primary goals,
4773-802: 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
4884-568: 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
4995-556: The aristocracy, this rebellion represented a protest for the reversal of their political demotion from vassals to courtiers . It was headed by the highest-ranking French nobles, among them Louis's uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans and first cousin Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier , known as la Grande Mademoiselle ; Princes of the Blood such as Condé, his brother Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti , and their sister
5106-438: The boundaries of his kingdom. Contemporary treaties were intentionally phrased ambiguously. Louis established the Chambers of Reunion to determine the full extent of his rights and obligations under those treaties. Cities and territories, such as Luxembourg and Casale , were prized for their strategic positions on the frontier and access to important waterways. Louis also sought Strasbourg , an important strategic crossing on
5217-464: 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
5328-479: The capital and the larger strategic picture, with the old military aristocracy ( noblesse d'épée , nobility of the sword) monopolizing senior military positions and the higher ranks. Louvois modernized the army and reorganised it into a professional, disciplined, well-trained force. He was devoted to the soldiers' material well-being and morale, and even tried to direct campaigns. Louis's legal reforms were enacted in his numerous Great Ordinances . Prior to that, France
5439-432: 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
5550-430: 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
5661-439: 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
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#17328691196925772-414: The creation of a coalition headed mainly by Marie de Rohan and the duchess of Longueville. This aristocratic coalition was strong enough to liberate the princes, exile Mazarin, and impose a condition of virtual house arrest on Queen Anne. All these events were witnessed by Louis and largely explained his later distrust of Paris and the higher aristocracy. "In one sense, Louis's childhood came to an end with
5883-485: 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
5994-565: The destruction of the Dutch Republic and the conquest of the Spanish Netherlands, had failed. Louis was at the height of his power, but at the cost of uniting his opponents; this increased as he continued his expansion. In 1679, he dismissed his foreign minister Simon Arnauld, marquis de Pomponne , because he was seen as having compromised too much with the allies. Louis maintained the strength of his army, but in his next series of territorial claims avoided using military force alone. Rather, he combined it with legal pretexts in his efforts to augment
6105-417: The direction of religious policy strongly in hand until her son's majority in 1661. She appointed Cardinal Mazarin as chief minister, giving him the daily administration of policy. She continued the policies of her late husband and Cardinal Richelieu , despite their persecution of her, in order to win absolute authority in France and victory abroad for her son. Anne protected Mazarin by exiling her followers
6216-468: The effective Séguier in his post, Anne sacrificed her own feelings for the interests of France and her son Louis. The Queen sought a lasting peace between Catholic nations, but only after a French victory over her native Spain. She also gave a partial Catholic orientation to French foreign policy. This was felt by the Netherlands, France's Protestant ally, which negotiated a separate peace with Spain in 1648. In 1648, Anne and Mazarin successfully negotiated
6327-428: 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,
6438-428: The exemplar nation-state of the early modern period , and established a cultural prestige which lasted through the subsequent centuries until today. Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister Cardinal Mazarin , when the King famously declared that he would take over the job himself. An adherent of the divine right of kings , Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating
6549-444: The first knots which tied me to my mother. But attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood." It was his mother who gave Louis his belief in the absolute and divine power of his monarchical rule. During his childhood, he was taken care of by the governesses Françoise de Lansac and Marie-Catherine de Senecey . In 1646, Nicolas V de Villeroy became
6660-401: 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
6771-480: The grandson of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa. The War of Devolution did not focus on the payment of the dowry; rather, the lack of payment was what Louis XIV used as a pretext for nullifying Maria Theresa's renunciation of her claims, allowing the land to "devolve" to him. In Brabant (the location of the land in dispute), children of first marriages traditionally were not disadvantaged by their parents' remarriages and still inherited property. Louis's wife
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#17328691196926882-460: 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
6993-446: The king and his courtiers. Shortly thereafter, the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia allowed Condé's army to return to aid Louis and his court. Condé's family was close to Anne at that time, and he agreed to help her attempt to restore the king's authority. The queen's army, headed by Condé, attacked the rebels in Paris; the rebels were under the political control of Anne's old friend Marie de Rohan . Beaufort, who had escaped from
7104-469: The king at the opulent château of Vaux-le-Vicomte , flaunting a wealth which could hardly have accumulated except through embezzlement of government funds. Fouquet appeared eager to succeed Mazarin and Richelieu in power, and he indiscreetly purchased and privately fortified the remote island of Belle Île . These acts sealed his doom. Fouquet was charged with embezzlement; the Parlement found him guilty and sentenced him to exile; and finally Louis altered
7215-421: The king was persuaded to change his fiscal policy. Though willing enough to tax the nobles, Louis feared the political concessions which they would demand in return. Only towards the close of his reign under the extreme exigency of war, was he able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy. This was a step toward equality before the law and toward sound public finance, though it
7326-496: The king's infatuation by sending Mancini away from court to be married in Italy. While Mazarin might have been tempted for a short time to marry his niece to the King of France, Queen Anne was absolutely against this; she wanted to marry her son to the daughter of her brother, Philip IV of Spain , for both dynastic and political reasons. Mazarin soon supported the Queen's position because he knew that her support for his power and his foreign policy depended on making peace with Spain from
7437-517: 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
7548-431: The leaders of the Parlement of Paris, whom she had jailed, died in prison. The Frondeurs , political heirs of the disaffected feudal aristocracy, sought to protect their traditional feudal privileges from the increasingly centralized royal government. Furthermore, they believed their traditional influence and authority was being usurped by the recently ennobled bureaucrats (the Noblesse de Robe , or "nobility of
7659-405: The leading European power and regularly made war. A conflict with Spain marked his entire childhood, while during his personal rule, Louis fought three major continental conflicts, each against powerful foreign alliances: the Franco-Dutch War , the Nine Years' War , and the War of the Spanish Succession . In addition, France contested shorter wars such as the War of Devolution and the War of
7770-460: 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
7881-414: The left bank of the Rhine and theretofore a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire , annexing it and other territories in 1681. Although a part of Alsace, Strasbourg was not part of Habsburg-ruled Alsace and was thus not ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia. Following these annexations, Spain declared war, precipitating the War of the Reunions . However, the Spanish were rapidly defeated because
7992-405: 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
8103-438: 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
8214-433: The net outflow of precious metals from France. Louis instituted reforms in military administration through Michel le Tellier and his son François-Michel le Tellier , successive Marquis de Louvois. They helped to curb the independent spirit of the nobility, imposing order on them at court and in the army. Gone were the days when generals protracted war at the frontiers while bickering over precedence and ignoring orders from
8325-511: The next 50 years would be based upon this marriage, and because it was through this marriage that the Spanish throne would ultimately be delivered to the House of Bourbon. Louis XIV was declared to have reached the age of majority on the 7th of September 1651. On the death of Mazarin, in March 1661, Louis personally took the reins of government and astonished his court by declaring that he would rule without
8436-461: The outbreak of the Fronde. It was not only that life became insecure and unpleasant – a fate meted out to many children in all ages – but that Louis had to be taken into the confidence of his mother and Mazarin on political and military matters of which he could have no deep understanding". "The family home became at times a near-prison when Paris had to be abandoned, not in carefree outings to other chateaux but in humiliating flights". The royal family
8547-404: The practice by prohibiting the separation of families. Additionally, in the colonies, only Roman Catholics could own slaves, and these had to be baptised. Louis ruled through a number of councils: The death of Louis's maternal uncle King Philip IV of Spain in 1665 precipitated the War of Devolution . In 1660, Louis had married Philip IV's eldest daughter, Maria Theresa , as one of
8658-485: The prison where Anne had incarcerated him five years before, was the military leader in Paris, under the nominal control of Conti. After a few battles, a political compromise was reached; the Peace of Rueil was signed, and the court returned to Paris. Unfortunately for Anne, her partial victory depended on Condé, who wanted to control the queen and destroy Mazarin's influence. It was Condé's sister who pushed him to turn against
8769-613: The provisions of the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees . The marriage treaty specified that Maria Theresa was to renounce all claims to Spanish territory for herself and all her descendants. Mazarin and Lionne , however, made the renunciation conditional on the full payment of a Spanish dowry of 500,000 écus . The dowry was never paid and would later play a part persuading his maternal first cousin Charles ;II of Spain to leave his empire to Philip, Duke of Anjou (later Philip V of Spain ),
8880-485: The purchase. Nevertheless, Colbert achieved excellent results, with the deficit of 1661 turning into a surplus by 1666, with interest on the debt decreasing from 52 million to 24 million livres. The taille was reduced to 42 million in 1661 and 35 million in 1665, while revenue from indirect taxation progressed from 26 million to 55 million. The revenues of the royal domain were raised from 80,000 livres in 1661 to 5.5 million in 1671. In 1661,
8991-411: The queen. After striking a deal with her old friend Marie de Rohan, who was able to impose the nomination of Charles de l'Aubespine, marquis de Châteauneuf as minister of justice, Anne arrested Condé, his brother Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti , and the husband of their sister Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, duchess of Longueville . This situation did not last long, and Mazarin's unpopularity led to
9102-402: The receipts were equivalent to 26 million British pounds, of which 10 million reached the treasury. The expenditure was around 18 million pounds, leaving a deficit of 8 million. In 1667, the net receipts had risen to 20 million pounds sterling , while expenditure had fallen to 11 million, leaving a surplus of 9 million pounds. Money was the essential support of
9213-489: The reorganized and enlarged army, the panoply of Versailles, and the growing civil administration. Finance had always been the weakness of the French monarchy: tax collection was costly and inefficient; direct taxes dwindled as they passed through the hands of many intermediate officials; and indirect taxes were collected by private contractors called tax farmers who made a handsome profit. The state coffers leaked at every joint. The main weakness arose from an old bargain between
9324-567: 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
9435-417: The robe"), who administered the kingdom and on whom the monarchy increasingly began to rely. This belief intensified the nobles' resentment. In 1648, Anne and Mazarin attempted to tax members of the Parlement de Paris . The members refused to comply and ordered all of the king's earlier financial edicts burned. Buoyed by the victory of Louis, duc d'Enghien (later known as le Grand Condé ) at
9546-580: 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,
9657-402: The sentence to life imprisonment. Fouquet's downfall gave Colbert a free hand to reduce the national debt through more efficient taxation. The principal taxes included the aides and douanes (both customs duties ), the gabelle (salt tax), and the taille (land tax). The taille was reduced at first, and certain tax-collection contracts were auctioned instead of being sold privately to
9768-498: 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). Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great ( Louis le Grand ) or the Sun King ( le Roi Soleil ),
9879-558: The sole regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his son's behalf, with Anne at its head. Louis XIII died on 14 May 1643. On 18 May Queen Anne had her husband's will annulled by the Parlement de Paris , a judicial body of nobles and high clergymen, and she became sole regent. She exiled her husband's ministers Chavigny and Bouthilier and appointed the Count of Brienne as her minister of foreign affairs. Anne kept
9990-623: The state's registers, not the church's, and it strictly regulated the right of the Parlements to remonstrate. The Code Louis later became the basis for the Napoleonic code , which in turn inspired many modern legal codes. One of Louis's more infamous decrees was the Grande Ordonnance sur les Colonies of 1685, the Code Noir (black code). Although it sanctioned slavery, it attempted to humanise
10101-447: The time. Contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is highly likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis's journal entries, such as: "Nature was responsible for
10212-411: The treasury verged on bankruptcy. To rectify the situation, Louis chose Jean-Baptiste Colbert as Controller-General of Finances in 1665. However, Louis first had to neutralize Nicolas Fouquet , the powerful Superintendent of Finances . Although Fouquet's financial indiscretions were not very different from Mazarin's before him or Colbert's after him, his ambition worried Louis. He lavishly entertained
10323-453: The widespread public yearning for peace and order after decades of foreign and civil strife, the young king consolidated central political authority and at the expense of the feudal aristocracy. Praising his ability to choose and encourage men of talent, the historian Chateaubriand noted: "it is the voice of genius of all kinds which sounds from the tomb of Louis". Louis began his personal reign with administrative and fiscal reforms. In 1661,
10434-496: The young king's tutor. Louis XIV became friends with Villeroy's young children, particularly François de Villeroy , and divided his time between the Palais-Royal and the nearby Hotel de Villeroy. Sensing imminent death in the spring of 1643, King Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order for his four-year-old son Louis XIV. Not trusting the judgement of his Spanish wife Queen Anne, who would normally have become
10545-698: Was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign . An emblematic character of the Age of Absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV's legacy is widely characterized by French colonial expansion , the conclusion of Eighty Years' War involving the Habsburgs , and his architectural bequest , marked by commissioned works of art and buildings. His pageantry, opulent lifestyle and ornate cultivated image earned him enduring admiration. Louis XIV raised France to be
10656-671: 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
10767-606: Was Philip IV's daughter by his first marriage, while the new king of Spain, Charles II, was his son by a subsequent marriage. Thus, Brabant allegedly "devolved" to Maria Theresa, justifying France to attack the Spanish Netherlands . During the Eighty Years' War with Spain , France supported the Dutch Republic as part of a general policy of opposing Habsburg power. Johan de Witt , Dutch Grand Pensionary from 1653 to 1672, viewed this as crucial for Dutch security and
10878-659: 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
10989-501: Was a patchwork of legal systems, with as many traditional legal regimes as there were provinces, and two co-existing legal systems— customary law in the north and Roman civil law in the south. The Grande Ordonnance de Procédure Civile of 1667, the Code Louis , was a comprehensive legal code imposing a uniform regulation of civil procedure throughout the kingdom. Among other things, it prescribed baptismal, marriage and death records in
11100-601: 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
11211-424: 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
11322-649: Was driven out of Paris twice in this manner, and at one point Louis XIV and Anne were held under virtual arrest in the royal palace in Paris. The Fronde years planted in Louis a hatred of Paris and a consequent determination to move out of the ancient capital as soon as possible, never to return. Just as the first Fronde (the Fronde parlementaire of 1648–1649) ended, a second one (the Fronde des princes of 1650–1653) began. Unlike that which preceded it, tales of sordid intrigue and half-hearted warfare characterized this second phase of upper-class insurrection. To
11433-593: 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
11544-783: Was forced out of the war by the June 1673 Treaty of Vossem , in August an anti-French alliance was formed by the Dutch, Spain , Emperor Leopold and the Duke of Lorraine . The French alliance was deeply unpopular in England, and only more so after the disappointing battles against Michiel de Ruyter 's fleet. Charles II of England made peace with the Dutch in the February 1674 Treaty of Westminster . However, French armies held significant advantages over their opponents; an undivided command, talented generals like Turenne , Condé and Luxembourg and vastly superior logistics. Reforms introduced by Louvois ,
11655-399: 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
11766-605: 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
11877-593: 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
11988-473: Was named Louis Dieudonné (Louis the God-given) and bore the traditional title of French heirs apparent : Dauphin . At the time of his birth, his parents had been married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631. Leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Louis's relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for
12099-510: Was now clear French and Dutch aims were in direct conflict, he decided to first defeat the Republic , then seize the Spanish Netherlands. This required breaking up the Triple Alliance; he paid Sweden to remain neutral and signed the 1670 Secret Treaty of Dover with Charles, an Anglo-French alliance against the Dutch Republic. In May 1672, France invaded the Republic , supported by Münster and
12210-463: 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
12321-702: Was predictably diminished by concessions and exemptions won by the insistent efforts of nobles and bourgeois. Louis and Colbert also had wide-ranging plans to grow French commerce and trade. Colbert's mercantilist administration established new industries and encouraged manufacturers and inventors, such as the Lyon silk manufacturers and the Gobelins tapestry manufactory . He invited manufacturers and artisans from all over Europe to France, such as Murano glassmakers, Swedish ironworkers, and Dutch shipbuilders. He aimed to decrease imports while increasing French exports, hence reducing
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