Town of Art and History Au fil du Pays let us tell you about the Saint-Omer region The Saint Catherine housing development which Skyline of Arques and Saint-Omer with their emblematic buildings: Romelaëre lake in Clairmarais. contains both high-rise and individual homes developed the castle and church of Arques and the cathedral of Saint Omer. between Arques and Saint-Omer in the 1970s. Urban Wetlands The region is built up from The Audomarois marsh is a To the east and the north of Saint-Omer to Arques conservation area chosen by Saint-Omer, the extraction of between the canal and railway UNESCO in 2013 to be a «Man peat has left many ponds and line to the east and the D942 and Biosphere» reserve. All the lakes, while the west side collects road to the west of Saint-Omer water flowing from the Artois the clearer water from the from Lille to the coast. The old hills collects here, creating a Artois hills. Here we sometimes town retains all its character with many facetted landscape. It forms find springs of clear water, or its typical, yellow brick and stone canals in whose waters are artesian wells whose name is houses two or three storeys high, reflected the town houses of the derived from «Artois». This part above which tower the churches old districts of Saint-Omer. of the wetlands is more wooded, and chapels of centuries-old Upstream, the «high» part of with many areas of pastureland schools, hospitals and the town’s the marshland reclaimed in the formed when the railway line military barracks. Beyond the Middle Ages is a labyrinth of separated it from the rest of line of the former city walls lie winding waterways and market the marshes. The marshes are the red-bricked districts that gardens of all shapes and sizes. also crossed by some major grew up at the start of the 20th Going north westwards, the canals linking Saint-Omer with century along the roads leading «low» part is formed of wide the coast. One of these, the to Saint-Martin-au-Laërt and straight bands of cultivated Neuffossé canal, runs beyond Longuenesse. From there to land called casiers and lègres, the town southwards to Arques. Arques stretches a built-up area separated by ditches. This The land is also bordered by with high-rise housing, a vast land was polderized mainly in two forests, Clairmarais to the shopping centre, the university the 19th century according to south and Eperlecques to the and a conference centre. Arques, techniques borrowed from the north. dubbed a «factory town» owing Dutch. to the urban mix of factories and housing, is crossed by rivers and canals. The town centre, where a major glassworks was founded, is now undergoing a massive urban The lands countryside the rolling of between Lying d’Artois and the plains of Flanders, the Haut Pays of landscapes. a patchwork offers the Saint-Omer region development programme. The church, ruins of the Sainte Colombe Abbey and Heather on the Landes plateau in Helfaut. Lys valley in Rebecques. castles of Blendecques on the banks of the Aa. The western hills The Aa valley The Landes plateau The Lys and Hem valleys To the west of Saint-Omer and The paper mills along the The Landes plateau, a «regional The region is also crossed by the wetlands, from Tournehem- river often grew up around nature reserve», lies between the the Lys and Hem rivers which sur-la-Hem to Thérouanne, watermills, some of which Aa valley and the Lys river basin. start in the Artois hills. They then stretches around thirty can still be seen, interspersed It forms a landscape that is unique flow into the lowlands of the kilometres of rolling countryside, between the floodplains. Some in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, with Flemish plains. The rivers flow where the foothills of the Artois settlements grew up on the heather, gorse and trees that more slowly here, meandering reach the coastal plain to the rocky outcrop of the north side prosper well in its acidic soil. With and sometimes splitting into north-west and the plains of of the valley, such as Wizernes, its ponds, lakes and heathland, it two or crossing larger expanses Flanders to the east. This area or on the valley floor between offers a natural habitat for a wide of water. With their meadows is crossed by three rivers which the former backwaters of the variety of plant and wildlife. There and hedgerows, woods and flow from west to east: the river, like Blendecques. The are around thirty endangered tree-lined river banks, green is Hem to the north, the Aa in the steeper south side is covered species of bird nesting in the the predominant colour of the centre and the Lys to the south, in woodland; only the concrete Landes. And over 450 species of valley bottoms, punctuated here separated by dry valleys and dome of the Coupole in plants have been identified there. and there by villages and hamlets. artesian wells. While the fields Helfaut is visible above the The plateau also offers many Stone or the more recent brick- near the villages are separated trees. nooks and crannies where small built watermills and their sluice by hedgerows, beyond them lie reptiles and amphibians can hide. gates operate in pace with the vast areas of farmland growing flow. cereal crops, such as barley for the brewing industry, and sugar beet. The region is bordered to the north by the forests of Tournehem and Eperlecques. Mammoth skeleton reconstituted from bones found during an Details of the Peutinger Table. This mediaeval copy of an Dagobert giving a cross to brother Omer from Luxeuil archaeological dig in Arques. Private collection. ancient map clearly illustrates the strategic position of Thé- abbey after appointing him bishop of Thérouanne. rouanne at the crossroads of some major trade routes. ÖNB Illumination from the Life of Saint Omer, 11th century, Bildarchiv, Wien, Cod.324. ms.698, Library of the Saint Omer region. Prehistoric settlers At the other end Impact of Christianity of the Roman empire : on the Morini Thérouanne Archaeological finds in the 19th The celtic origin of the name There are few traces of Christianity and 20th centuries show that Thérouanne, Taruanna, probably before the 7th century in Morini. the region has been peopled indicates that there used to be To encourage its development, in the since prehistoric times. The a Gallic settlement here. After year 638 king Dagobert the First put a largest finds were discovered the Roman conquest (1 BC), the fervent monk, Audomar, at the head of on the slopes of the Aa area was the centre of the civitas the Thérouanne bishopric. valley. Our knowledge of the Morinorum, the land of the Morini Through his preaching and missionary prehistoric era in the North of which covered most of the present activities, the surrounding lands gradually France was greatly furthered Pas-de-Calais department. Apart became converted to Christianity. by the discovery of around from the many gallo-roman tombs The donation of the Sithiu domain by one hundred carved flints in found around Thérouanne, there Adroald, a wealthy convert to this new Hallines. This 16 thousand are many remains of roman villas religion, enabled the founding of a church odd year old site was probably to be found in the area, particularly then a monastery there around 649. frequented in Herbelles and Zouafques. The While Thérouanne retained its position by hunters in the lower landscape is marked by pre-roman as bishopric, it was from the monastery Paleolithic era. and gallo-roman constructions. of Sithiu that Christianity spread in the The Chaussée Brunehaut region. The worship of relics contributed and Leulène roads still have a to the growth of towns such as Saint- structuring effect on the lands of Omer whose urban identity was forged the Morini and the Audomarois. from the late 9th century. At the same time, a network of churches mentioned in the polyptych of Saint-Bertin (an administrative records document) shows that most of the population living around the abbey had been converted to Christianity. In Moringhem, a tomb was found showing that there was a well ch era of history has left its mark on the region established community there by the mid The region over the centuries the centuries over The region Ea with events local historywhere often converges history. world shaped that have 11th century. Foulque de Saint-Aldegonde, a member of an Fantastic vision of the siege of Thérouanne by Charles V’s army in Consacrated in 1636, the Jesuit Chapel illustrates the important local family, immortalized in a slab of the 1537. The imperial army can be seen in the foreground with the importance of this religious order. pavement of the cathedral of Saint-Omer in the 13th beseiged city behind it. Painted by Herri Met de Bles, 16th century. century. The «Golden» Troublesome times Spiritual zeal against Middle Ages in the late Middle Ages a background of endemic warfare Between the 11th and the late The 14th century saw the start During the first half of the In parallel to these conflicts, 13th century, the region enjoyed of a long period of troubles for 16th century, Thérouanne the Audomarois region also a period of wealth and growth. the Audomarois and Morini. was the only remaining French saw a resurgence of religious The work to reclaim the land was Alongside famine and the plague, stronghold while Saint-Omer fervour which was to continue completed and the resulting plots there was the deadly Hundred and the rest of the Artois fell thoughout the 16th and 17th in the wetlands were cultivated.