What language was spoken in Tournai in the 16th century?
I have found sources stating French, others state Dutch, and still others say French, Dutch, and German! My reason for wanting to know is that I am creating a dual persona for both Renaissance Festival and SCA. My persona is from Tournai, born in 1505, and need to figure out whether to have a French or Dutch surname. Thanks and appreciation in advance.
Just as today, they probably spoke several, but their primary language was Tournaisien, a dialect of Picard or French. Go to Wikipedia for Picard -- quicker to read there than here.Not everyone agrees that Picard is a Northern dialect of French, some consider it a different language affected by its nearness to Paris and the Île-de-France, i.e the original heartland of the French monarchy. It is very close to the current French border, not far from Lille.
As for last name, you could use either French or Dutch but the Dutch area did not use fixed surnames for about 300 more years. It would depend to some degree on class and ancestry. Tournai was much more French than Dutch and probably began fixed surnames long before Napoleon made it mandatory. This not sourced as too much trouble, but this a list of most common names in Belgium. (on 1 January 2002) Peeters 33,273 Janssens 31,529 Maes 25,654 Jacobs 20,229 Mertens 18,927 Willems 18,604 Claes 16,822 Goossens 16,202 Wouters 15,950 De Smet 14,491 The ten most common names in Belgium, shown above, are all of Flemish origin. The ten most common names in the Walloon region are: Dubois 9.804 Lambert 9.099 Martin 7.266 Dupont 6.688 Dumont 6.614 Leclercq 6.431 Simon 6.285 Laurent 5 ... The Tournai district is called Hainaut's Spanish and its name, Henao, is one of the most common last names in Colombia's Paisa Region.
Those would reasonably work in your time period -- or you could follow either the name of a commune or town -- or be creative and build a name. Your character could conceivably be a Sephardic Jew who were expelled from Spain in 1492, the reason I included Perkin Warbeck. There might have been some who spoke Western Yiddish (many Jews settled in the Netherlands which was relatively tolerant). Most of these would have spoken Judeo-Spanish, i.e. Ladino, or Judeo-Portuguese
The period you've picked for Tournai is an absolutely fascinating one for that town. It is captured BEFORE Henry VIII broke with Rome, so a true Englishman left behind the English occupation might have a predicament with the Catholic rulers of Spain or France. A Sephardim would wish to be discreet and might be involved in a family secret as Warbeck was supposed to have as a pretender.
There are language labeling disputes in the area. Half of Belgium is Walloon, or French-speaking. The other half speak Flemish, which is essentially Dutch. There is a pocket of German speakers.
Tournasien would have been the dominant language for a considerable distance from Tournai in it's hinterland. Remember it was then one of the largest cities in Europe, comparable to London or Paris. A provincial type would be limited to what his village spoke, although on the language border, there would probably be local patois. Educated people of the time might read and write in the local dialect, German, Latin, Greek, English, French or dialect of (if not native). The Spanish influence would become much more direct (with a female heroine defender (Christine de Lalaing, princess d'Epinoy)
Many in Tournai would have spoken more than one language. Belgium as we know it did not exist in the 16th century, but multilingual talent would be expected. English Kings at least as early through Elizabeth I were fluent in French as those lands were a large part of their lands. Things change, but if in sources, you see the WWII map of German occupied area, you'll an area of continuity that included Tournai. Traveling traders would range over large areas and would need to speak several languages. Tournai has been under seige and captured many times, resisted a lot, etc. Someone born in 1505 would already have a memory of Henry VIII, may even have seen him and would have lived in Tournai durring the occupation.
Be cautious of historical inaccuracy in describing Tournai, but some of the links to real events and people, I thought, could be used in constructing either a character or widening one. The area of Tournai was to become identified as the Southern Netherlands under the Spanish. In feudal era, the concept of nationality was as developed as it became with the rise of Nationalism. Louis XIV a century later would essentially begin to define French borders with many wars.
. The concepts of "France" and England were different. The British monarch claimed the title of "king of France" until 1801. Henry VIII of Britain is frequently left out . He laid siege to Tournai in 1508, embedded an English garrison who kept control until 1518, then it went to the French, then to the . this is from Britannica
"Main municipality, Hainaut province, southwestern Belgium. It lies along the Schelde (Scheldt, or Escaut) River, northwest of Mons. Tournai has changed hands many times. As Turnacum, it was important in Roman times. Seized by the Salic Franks in the 5th century, it was the birthplace of the Frankish king Clovis I (c. 466) and became a Merovingian capital. A bishop’s see from the early 6th century, it was largely controlled by the counts of Flanders from the 860s until it was recovered by France and granted a charter in 1188. Under French protection but remote from French interference, it was a virtually republican zone. It fell to Henry VIII of England in 1513, was returned to France in 1518, and in 1521 was taken by Charles V, who attached it to the Netherlands, then a Spanish Habsburg province. From 1543 it was a centre of Calvinism and favoured the anti-Spanish rebels of the 1560s until Alessandro Farnese broke the defense of Christine de Lalaing, princess of Espinoy, and recaptured it for Spain after the siege of 1581. Taken by Louis XIV (1667) during the War of Devolution, it was transferred to the Austrian Habsburgs by the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), recaptured by the French in 1745, and restored to Austria in 1748. During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, it was again French from 1794 to 1814."
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There is a PDF from coventry.gov that refers to a Tournai tapestry which was commissioned for the visit of the reigning monarch to Coventry Guildhall. It might be a launch point for a tale about a tapestry woven in tournai in some way that blends with your character.
Your character, depending on the role could be someone who has traveled, been to sea, visited England or Germany, France. You might know of and disapprove of Odo of Tournai long before. You might have worked fo a Ladino master craftsman.There are an excess of links, but most of them are intended for a quick reference in the event you're still working on your story line.
As for local customs and language, this guy is great. He's not limited to our period. http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/504ab/54ebb/a/
He notes among (with a link to an MP3)
el Pichou de St Piat
by Djinn76
Here is the traditional song of Tournai. At least this is its beginning, have a look to the external website for the full version and to listen to the mp3 : http://www.chez.com/tournaisienne/chants/tournaisiens.mp3
Even the french speakers won't understand too much of the lyrics! It is written in "Tournaisien", the local dialect. It is indeed closer to "Picard", the dialect spoken in the north of France, than to Walloon, the dialects spoken in the south part of Belgium.
Le Ray l'a dit, d'dins les guerr's de la France,
Quand l'caporal s'appreteot a buquer,
S'ertournant su s' n-officier d'ordonnance
"Dis deonc, l'ami, c'qu'on peut beteot qu'mincher?
Not' aid' de camp s'ertourneot tout d'ein' traque,
R'weitieot au leong et puis diseot comm'cha:
"Sa majeste, on peut donner l'attaque
On peut qu'mincher, les Tournaisiens sont la! (ter)
(refrain)
Perhaps that will be a help. It is no directly relevant but the link to Amazon and "The Discovery of France -- which deals with all the ideas we have about the France of the past, which is only marginally related to what we believe. Most of "France" did not speak French as a first tongue as recently as the 19th century. Language and customs changed. It is a good read and not at all hard to realize you period.
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