Oudenaarde

Oudenaarde grew on the Scheldt opposite the older settlement of Ename. Its cloth industry prospered beside the river, and from the fifteenth century the town became particularly renowned for its tapestries. Churches, religious houses and a splendid town hall, built between 1526 and 1537, reflected the wealth of its merchants and craftsmen. The town was a steadfast supporter of the counts of Flanders in their struggles with neighbouring cities.

Religious conflict brought a harsher age. After a long siege, Alexander Farnese took Oudenaarde in 1582, prompting many merchants and workers to leave. Tapestry making recovered for a time under the Counter-Reformation, but the town remained exposed to war. French armies took it repeatedly, and its fortifications were improved in the seventeenth century. In 1708 a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession was fought nearby.