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Dunkirk

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Ѓоре Гаќев
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15 views

Dunkirk

Uploaded by

Ѓоре Гаќев
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Dunkirk (UK: /dʌnˈkɜːrk/ dun-KURK, US: /ˈdʌnkɜːrk/ DUN-kurk,[3][4] French: Dunkerque [

dœ̃ kɛʁk] ⓘ; West Flemish: Duunkerke; Dutch: Duinkerke or Duinkerken) is a major


port city in the department of Nord in northern France.[5] It lies 10 kilometres (6.2 mi)
from the Belgian border. It has the third-largest French harbour. The population of
the commune in 2019 was 86,279.
Etymology and language use
[edit]
The name of Dunkirk derives from West Flemish dun(e) 'dune' or 'dun'
and kerke 'church', thus 'church in the dunes'.[6] A smaller town 25 km (15 miles)
farther up the Flemish coast originally shared the same name, but was later
renamed Oostduinkerke(n) in order to avoid confusion.

Until the middle of the 20th century, French Flemish (the local variety of Dutch) was
commonly spoken.

History
[edit]
Middle Ages
[edit]

Saint Eloi Church


A fishing village arose late in the tenth century, in the originally flooded coastal area
of the English Channel south of the Western Scheldt, when the area was held by
the Counts of Flanders, vassals of the French Crown. About AD 960, Count Baldwin
III had a town wall erected in order to protect the settlement against Viking raids. The
surrounding wetlands were drained and cultivated by the monks of
nearby Bergues Abbey. The name Dunkirka was first mentioned in a tithe privilege of
27 May 1067, issued by Count Baldwin V of Flanders.[citation needed] Count Philip I (1157–
1191) brought further large tracts of marshland under cultivation, laid out the first
plans to build a Canal from Dunkirk to Bergues and vested the Dunkirkers
with market rights.

In the late 13th century, when the Dampierre count Guy of Flanders entered into
the Franco-Flemish War against his suzerain King Philippe IV of France, the citizens
of Dunkirk sided with the French against their count, who at first was defeated at the
1297 Battle of Furnes, but reached de facto autonomy upon the victorious Battle of
the Golden Spurs five years later and exacted vengeance. Guy's son, Count Robert
III (1305–1322), nevertheless granted further city rights to Dunkirk; his successor
Count Louis I (1322–1346) had to face the Peasant revolt of 1323–1328, which was
crushed by King Philippe VI of France at the 1328 Battle of Cassel, whereafter the
Dunkirkers again were affected by the repressive measures of the French king.

Count Louis remained a loyal vassal of the French king upon the outbreak of
the Hundred Years' War with England in 1337, and prohibited the maritime trade,
which led to another revolt by the Dunkirk citizens. After the count had been killed in
the 1346 Battle of Crécy, his son and successor Count Louis II of Flanders (1346–
1384) signed a truce with the English; the trade again flourished and the port was
significantly enlarged. However, in the course of the Western Schism from 1378,
English supporters of Pope Urban VI (the Roman claimant) disembarked at Dunkirk,
captured the city and flooded the surrounding estates. They were ejected by
King Charles VI of France, but left great devastations in and around the town.

Upon the extinction of the Counts of Flanders with the death of Louis II in 1384,
Flanders was acquired by the Burgundian, Duke Philip the Bold. The fortifications
were again enlarged, including the construction of a belfry daymark (a navigational
aid similar to a non-illuminated lighthouse). As a strategic point, Dunkirk has always
been exposed to political greed, by Duke Robert I of Bar in 1395, by Louis de
Luxembourg in 1435 and finally by the Austrian archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg,
who in 1477 married Mary of Burgundy, sole heiress of late Duke Charles the Bold.
As Maximilian was the son of Emperor Frederick III, all Flanders was immediately
seized by King Louis XI of France. However, the archduke defeated the French
troops in 1479 at the Battle of Guinegate. When Mary died in 1482, Maximilian
retained Flanders according to the terms of the 1482 Treaty of Arras. Dunkirk, along
with the rest of Flanders, was incorporated into the Habsburg Netherlands and upon
the 1581 secession of the Seven United Netherlands, remained part of the Southern
Netherlands, which were held by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands)
as Imperial fiefs.

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