Guînes is a commune of northern France, chief town of the canton of Guînes, arrondissement of Calais, in the Pas-de-Calais département. Population (1999): 5,289 for the commune, and 14,577 for the canton. The commune (in French: commune, word appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, gathering of people sharing a common life, from Latin communis, things held in common) is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... Pas-de-Calais is a département in northern France named after the strait which it borders. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties and are now grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas régions. ... The canton is an administrative division of France. ...

Geography

Guînes is located on the declivity of the plate which separates the Boulonnais from the Calaisis, at the edge of the marshy plain, perfectly cleansed today, which extends to the shore from the sea.

History

Historically, Guînes was the capital of the county of Guînes, a county which was not without reputation in history. The origins of the town of Guînes are lost in the night of the Middle Ages. After the retirement of Romans in front of the push of the great invasions, the territory of Guînes became, according to the legend - because we do not have any precise document over this time - the property of Aigneric, mayor of the palate of Théodebert II, king of the Burgundians. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. ... Mayor of the Palace was an early medieval title and office, also known by the Latin name, maior domus or majordomo, used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7th and 8th centuries. ... The Burgundians or Burgundes were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr (the Island of the Burgundians), and from here to mainland Europe. ...

When Sifrid the Dane and his Normans seized, in 928, of the place where this charming rises today quoted, it was probably only a village without defense. It made there raise a mound that it surrounded by quickset hedges and that it girded of a double ditch to put itself safe from any attack at it. There is the origin of the castle of Guînes. The Count of Flanders, Arnulf I, gave up the counter-attack; but it "delivered" to the Norman pirate his Elstrude daughter in marriage; it invested Sifrid the Dane count de vassal Guînes but of the count of Flanders. Under the successors of Sifrid, Guînes and its surroundings acquired a considerable importance. The name Viking is a loan from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse seafaring warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, Europe and the British Isles from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the period of European history referred to as the Viking Age. ... Events Dao Kang Di succeeds Gong Hui Di and is followed in the same year by Tai Zu, all of the Dali Gu Dynasty in southeast China. ... The counts of Flanders ruled over the county of Flanders from the 9th century. ... Arnulf I of Flanders (died March 27, 965), known as Arnulf the Great, was count of Flanders from 918 to 965. ...

In the beginning of 11th century, the count Manassès founded in the area of its capital, an abbey of women of the order of Saint-Benoît. This monastery was placed under the patronage of Saint Léonard.

At that time, the town of Guînes contained inside its walls three parishes, whose churches were devoted to Saint Bertin, Saint Pierre and Saint Médard's Day. Outside, of the ramparts also existed, in addition to the abbey of Saint Léonard, the church of Saint-Blaise of 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 made build out of stone of size, on the old keep of Sifrid, a circular palate of form to which it gave a very great rise. Moreover, it made close the town of Guînes of a stone wall, with turns of defense to each door.

Three years after the capture of Calais, in January 22, 1351, the castle of Guînes was delivered by treason to the English, and in 1360, the Treaty of Brétigny completely gave up with the King of England, the city and its county. January 22 is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events End of the reign of Emperor Suko of Japan, third of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders Start of the reign of Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan, fourth of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders May 1 Zürich joins the Swiss Confederation. ... Events Treaty of Brétigny King Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark seizes Scania (from 1658 a Swedish province). ... The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 8, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II (the Good) of France. ...