Tours (
French pronunciation: [tuʁ]) is a city located in the centre-west of
France. It is the administrative centre of the Indre-et-Loire department and the largest city in the
Centre-Val de Loire region of France (although it is not the capital, which is the region's second-largest city,
Orléans). In
2012, the city of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants, while the population of the whole metropolitan area was 483,744.
Tours stands on the lower reaches of the
River Loire, between Orléans and the
Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the traditional province of
Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection (as perceived by some speakers) of its local spoken
French, and for the
Battle of Tours (732). The city is also the end-point of the annual
Paris–Tours cycle race.
In Gallic times the city was important as a crossing
point of the
Loire.
Becoming part of the
Roman Empire during the
1st century AD, the city was named "
Caesarodunum" ("hill of
Caesar"). The name evolved in the
4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first "
Civitas Turonum" then "Tours". It was at this time that the amphitheatre of Tours, one of the five largest amphitheatres of the
Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the
Roman province of
Lugdunum towards 380–388, dominating the
Loire Valley,
Maine and
Brittany. One of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was
Saint Martin, second bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in
Amiens. This incident and the importance of
Martin in the medieval
Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostela, a major centre during the
Middle Ages.
Middle Ages[edit]
In the
6th century Gregory of Tours, author of the Ten
Books of
History, made his mark on the town by restoring the cathedral destroyed by a fire in 561.
Saint Martin's monastery benefited from its inception, at the very start of the 6th century from patronage and support from the
Frankish king,
Clovis, which increased considerably the influence of the saint, the abbey and the city in Gaul
. In the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the
Carolingian Rebirth, in particular because of
Alcuin abbot of
Marmoutier.
In 732 AD,
Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi and a large army of Muslim horsemen from Al-Andalus advanced
500 kilometres (
311 miles) deep into France, and were stopped at Tours by
Charles Martel and his infantry igniting the Battle of Tours. The outcome was defeat for the Muslims, preventing France from
Islamic conquest. In 845, Tours repulsed the first attack of the
Viking chief Hasting (
Haesten). In 850, the
Vikings settled at the mouths of the
Seine and the Loire. Still led by Hasting, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked
Angers, Tours and the abbey of Marmoutier.
During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres.
The "City" in the east, successor of the late
Roman 'castrum', was composed of the archiepiscopal establishment (the cathedral and palace of the archbishops) and of the castle of Tours, seat of the authority of the
Counts of Tours (later
Counts of Anjou) and of the
King of France. In the west, the "new city" structured around the
Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the
City during the
10th century (an enclosure was built towards 918) and became "Châteauneuf". This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the economic centre of Tours. Between these two centres remained Varennes, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the Abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire. The two centres were linked during the
14th century. Tours is a good example of a medieval double city.
Place Plumereau,
Medieval buildings
Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or Touraine, territory bitterly disputed between the counts of
Blois and
Anjou – the latter were victorious in the
11th century. It was the capital of France at the time of
Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of
Montils (today the castle of Plessis in
La Riche, western suburbs of Tours), Tours and Touraine remained until the
16th century a permanent residence of the kings and court. The rebirth gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles, joined together to some extent under the generic name of the Châteaux of the Loire. It is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day.
- published: 18 Apr 2016
- views: 0