TOURNAI (Flemish Doornik), city, province of Hainaut, Belgium, on tne Scheldt. Pop. (1930) 35,44o. The cathedral of Notre-Dame dates from 1030, the nave is Romanesque of the middle of the 12th century, with much pointed work. The transept was added in the 13th century. The first choir was burned down in 1213, but was rebuilt in 1242 at the same time as the transept, and is a superb specimen of pointed Gothic. There are five towers with spires. There are several old pictures of merit, and the shrine of St. Eleuthere, the first bishop of Tournai in the 6th century, is a remarkable product of the silversmith's art. The belfry on the Grand Place, the oldest in Belgium, was built in 1187, partly reconstructed in 1391 and finally restored and en dowed with a steeple in 1852. The church of St. Quentin in the same square as the belfry is almost as ancient as Notre-Dame.
In the church of St. Brice is the tomb of Childeric discovered in 1653. Among the relics were three hundred small golden models of bees. These were removed to Paris, and when Napoleon was crowned emperor a century and a half later he chose Childeric's bees for the decoration of his coronation mantle. In this manner the bee became associated with the Napoleonic legend just as the lilies were with the Bourbons. The Pont des Trous over the Scheldt, with towers at each end, was built in 129o, and some old houses still in occupation date back to the 13th century. On the Grand Place is the fine statue of Christine de Lalaing, princess d'Epinoy, who defended Tournai against Parma in 1581. Tournai
is engaged in cement working, the making of hosiery, and spin ning, weaving and tanning.
The actual site was occupied under Julius Caesar and called civitas Nerviorum or castrum Turnacum. In the reign of Au gustus, Agrippa fixed the newly mixed colony of Suevi and Me napii at Tournai. In the 5th century the Franks seized Tournai, and Merovaeus made it the capital of his dynasty. This it re mained until the subdivision of the Frank monarchy among the sons of Clovis. When feudal possessions, instead of being purely personal, were vested in the families of the holder after the death of Charlemagne, Tournai was specially assigned to Baldwin of the Iron Arm by Charles the Bald, whose daughter Judith he had abducted, on receiving the hereditary title of count of Flanders. During the Burgundian period it was the residence of Margaret of York, widow of Charles the Bold ; and the pretender Perkin War beck, whom she championed, if not born there, was the reputed son of a Jew of Tournai. In the early 16th century Tournai was an English possession for a few years and Henry VIII. sold it to Francis I. It did not long remain French, for in, 1521 the count of Nassau, Charles V.'s general, took it and added it to the Spanish provinces.