Guînes
Encyclopedia
Guînes is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Geography

Guînes is located on the border of the two territories of the Boulonnais
Boulonnais (land area)
The Boulonnais is a coastal area of northern France, around Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. It has a curved belt of chalk downs which run into the sea at both ends, and geologically is the east end of the Weald-Artois Anticline.- Administration :...

 and Calaisis, at the edge of the now-drained marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

es, which extend from here to the coast. The Guînes canal connects with Calais.

History

Historically, Guînes was the capital of a small county of the same name. After the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 left, in the 5th century, there’s little known about the town. In the Dark Ages, according to legend, the territory of Guînes became the property of one Aigneric, Mayor of the Palace
Mayor of the Palace
Mayor of the Palace was an early medieval title and office, also called majordomo, from the Latin title maior domus , used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7th and 8th centuries....

 of the Burgundian
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...

 king Théodebert II.

In 928, when the Danes invaded and seized the place, it was probably a defenceless village. A fenced mound and a double ditch would soon have been created by the Danes. This is the origin of the castle of Guînes. Arnulf I, Count of Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, realizing a counter-attack would be costly, arranged the marriage of his daughter Elstrude, to Sigfrid, the Danish leader, bestowing upon him the title of Count of Guînes but as vassal to him, the Count of Flanders. Under Sigfrid’s successors, the county of Guînes acquired considerable importance.
At the beginning of the 11th century, Count Manassès founded a convent of the order of Saint-Benoit
Saint-Benoît
-Canada:*Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Quebec, a municipality in the province of Quebec*Saint-Benoît-Labre, Quebec, a municipality in the province of Quebec-France:*Saint-Benoît, Ain, in the Ain département...

. This was placed under the jurisdiction of the nearby abbey of Saint Léonard
Saint Leonard
-Saints:* Saint Leonard of Noblac * Saint Leonard of Port Maurice -Canada:* Saint-Leonard, Quebec, a former city and now a borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada* Saint Leonard, New Brunswick, Canada...

. At that time, Guînes comprised three parishes within its walls, whose churches were dedicated to Saint Bertin, Saint Pierre and Saint Médard. Outside the town ramparts were the abbey of Saint Léonard, the church of Saint-Blaise, in the hamlet of Melleke, and the leper-house of Saint Quentin, in the hamlet of Spelleke (in Tournepuits).

At the end of 11th century, Baudoin II built a huge stone castle on top of Sigfrid’s old keep and enclosed the town within a stone wall, with defensive towers at each of the entrances. His son Fulk
Fulk of Guînes
Fulk of Guînes was the second son of Baldwin I, count of Guînes in the Boulonnais. He was related to the counts of Boulogne. He probably accompanied Eustace III of Boulogne and Robert II of Flanders on the First Crusade. In 1110 he obtained from his relative, King Baldwin I, the lordship of Beirut...

 was a participant in the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...

.

On January 22, 1351, three years after the capture of Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....

 by Edward III, the castle of Guînes was also delivered up to the English..
In 1360, the Treaty of Brétigny
Treaty of Brétigny
The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...

 surrendered the city and its county to England. When the French captured Calais in January 1558, Guisnes held out due to the courageous efforts of the English commander.William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton
William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton
William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton KG, was an English baron and military commander serving in France in the 1540s and 1550s, and in the Scottish wars of the 1540s.He was the thirteenth Baron Grey de Wilton....

 , but after a few days desperate fighting Grey was wounded and his soldiers refused to fight on; the French gave honourable terms of surrender, and English rule of the area came to an end.

Population

Blanchard's Column

The column was erected to commemorate Jean-Pierre Blanchard
Jean-Pierre Blanchard
Jean-Pierre Blanchard , aka Jean Pierre François Blanchard, was a French inventor, most remembered as a pioneer in aviation and ballooning....

's crossing of the English Channel by hot-air balloon on 7 January 1785.

External links

Guînes on the website of l'Institut géographique national Guînes on the website of l'Insee Guînes on the website of Quid Position of Guînes on a map of France Map of Guînes on Mapquest
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