Welden, Belgium

Oudenaarde
Municipality
Flag Coat of arms
Oudenaarde Location in Belgium
Location of Oudenaarde in East Flanders
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.