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Oudenarde

Oudenaarde
Municipality
Oudenaarde DI-677.jpg
Flag of Oudenaarde
Flag
Coat of arms of Oudenaarde
Coat of arms
Oudenaarde is located in Belgium
Oudenaarde
Oudenaarde
Location in Belgium
Coordinates: 50°51′N 03°36′E / 50.850°N 3.600°E / 50.850; 3.600Coordinates: 50°51′N 03°36′E / 50.850°N 3.600°E / 50.850; 3.600
Country Belgium
Community Flemish Community
Region Flemish Region
Province East Flanders
Arrondissement Oudenaarde
Government
 • Mayor Marnic De Meulemeester (VLD)
 • Governing party/ies VLD, CD&V
Area
 • Total 68.06 km2 (26.28 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2016)
 • Total 30,990
 • Density 460/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Postal codes 9700
Area codes 055
Website www.oudenaarde.be

Oudenaarde (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʌu̯dənaːrdə], French Audenarde, English sometimes Oudenarde) is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heurne, Leupegem, Mater, Melden, Mullem, Nederename, Welden, Volkegem and a part of Ooike.

From the 15th to the 18th century, but especially in the 16th century, Oudenaarde was a world-known centre of tapestry production. The town's name, meaning “old field”, still lingers on in “outnal”, an obsolete English term for a kind of brown linen thread.

The history of the current municipality of Oudenaarde starts in 974, when Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Germany, built one of its three fortifications on the Scheldt at Ename to protect his kingdom against possible attacks from Francia (the other two frontier posts were at Valenciennes and Antwerp). Ename grew very fast. By 1005, the town already had a couple of churches and had become the largest town in the Duchy of Lotharingia. In 1033, Count Baldwin IV of Flanders took the city as a frontier post against emperor Henry III. In 1047, Baldwin V consolidated his father’s victory by having his wife found the Benedictine abbey of Saint Salvator there. By that time, the former merchants and guild artisans of Ename had fled across the Scheldt to the recently founded city of Oudenaarde.


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