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Draft:Religion in Nord-Pas-de-Calais

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Religion in Nord-Pas-de-Calais has the same status as religion in France, a secular country since 1905.

The region was essentially Christianized from the 16th century onwards, with the establishment of monasteries in the Merovingian and Carolingian periods.

Despite the de-Christianization that began in the 19th century, Catholicism remains the dominant denomination, with 22.3 % of pupils enrolled in private, predominantly Catholic schools. Protestantism, which virtually disappeared after the outbreak of the Reformation and the iconoclastic crisis, reappeared in the 19th century. In the 20th century, the development of local industry led to strong immigration from Poland and Italy between the wars, which tended to involve Catholics, and then from North Africa from the 1960s onwards. Nord-Pas-de-Calais now accounts for 5-7 % of France's Muslim population.

The number of people declaring no religion has been increasing in recent decades.

History

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Antiquity

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See also: Gallo-Roman religion

Religious beliefs and practices in the prehistoric period are, as elsewhere, poorly understood. The Neolithic period left a number of megalithic sites, including dolmens, covered walkways, menhirs such as the "Twin Stones" at Cambrai or in the Sensée valley, cromlechs and polissoirs. Their use remains to be determined, but is probably religious.[1] Between the 5th and 1st centuries B.C., the Belgians settled in the region, continuing the migratory movements of Celtic peoples that had marked it since the Tene period.[2]

Their religion is known from the accounts of the Roman conquerors, who portrayed the "Gauls" as very pious. At the time when Nicene Christianity became the sole religion of the Roman Empire, the region that is now Nord-Pas-de-Calais was a sparsely urbanized frontier zone. Despite the Edict of Thessalonica, Christianization was minimal in the region, and hardly retreated at the time of the barbarian invasions, for the simple reason that it was still virtually non-existent.[3]

Middle Ages

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Christianization

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Christianization got off to a slow start in the Merovingian era, with the appointment of Vaast as bishop of Arras and Cambrai. In the 6th century, from the time of Dagobert I onwards, the Frankish aristocracy founded a number of abbeys, providing a base for the spread of Catholicism in rural areas.

These included Hamage Abbey in 625, Marchiennes Abbey and Notre-Dame de Condé in 630, Elnon Abbey in 633, Haumont Abbey in 643, Maroilles Abbey and Saint-Ghislain Abbey in 650, and Hasnon Abbey in 670. Most of their founders came from the Neustrian aristocracy, in particular the Pippinid family from which the Carolingian dynasty descended, and were supported by the local aristocracy, who endowed them with land.[4]

Establishment of parishes
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At the end of the seventh century, dioceses were equivalent to parishes: only the episcopal see had parish rights, and could administer baptism and bury in consecrated ground[5]; the bishop appointed by the king[6] benefited from the tithe, made compulsory by Pepin the Short around 765.[7]

A time of crusades and beguinages

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Saint-Vaast beguinage created in Cambrai in the 14th century.

In the 12th century, the Pope's call for the First Crusade found an echo in the principalities of the North. After the capture of Jerusalem and the death in the Holy Land of Godefroy de Bouillon, Count of Boulogne, his brother Baudouin de Boulogne became King of Jerusalem in 1100. The contribution of men to the various crusades remained high in these regions: it involved not only nobles and their men, but also the bourgeoisie, who sometimes sold their property to go on the crusades. Jousts organized during festivals such as the Fête de l'Épinette would have served as training for these battles.[8]

Flanders and Hainaut also saw the development of forms of piety and spiritual life adapted to secular life: the Free Spirit, Turlupin and Beguine movements. The Beguine movement, born in the early 13th century, brought together women who, although not consecrated, lived the life of a nun. Criticized as early as Lateran II, the movement was later encouraged by the papacy, but came under fire from the Inquisition in the 14th century.[9] In 1311, the mystic Marguerite Porete was burned in Paris for heresy. Extracts from her work, Miroir des âmes simples anéanties, were read at the Council of Vienna, and served as the basis for the Ad nostrum decree condemning beguards and beguines.[10]

The fight against heresy, which until then had been the responsibility of the bishoprics, was entrusted to the inquisitors; one of them, Robert le Bougre, distinguished himself by his zeal during his tour of northern France in February-March 1236. In 1460, one of the most famous witchcraft trials of the Inquisition took place in Arras, the Grand Vauderie d'Arras.[11]

Modern times

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The Protestant upsurge of the 16th century

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The siege of Valenciennes in 1566-67, a city declared rebellious against the king.

In the 16th century, Protestantism spread through the region like wildfire, for both religious and political reasons.[12][13]

As part of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the University of Douai was established in 1552, and the religious reorganization of the Spanish Netherlands led to a new ecclesiastical organization between 1559 and 1561. The dioceses of Boulogne and Saint-Omer replaced that of Thérouanne.[14]

In 1561, the reformer Guy de Brès wrote the Confessio Belgica, a confession of faith for Calvinists in the Spanish Netherlands.[12]

Throughout the Netherlands, however, an insurrectionary movement culminated in 1566 with the smashing of religious images. Valenciennes and Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in particular, opted unambiguously for Calvinist doctrine and set up a new municipal government. Spanish troops, however, were quick to restore order through bloody reprisals.[14]

In 1581, the northern provinces of the Spanish Netherlands, most of them Protestant and Dutch-speaking, abjured the Spanish king and formed the United Provinces. The Southern Netherlands remained Catholic, willy-nilly, and became a satellite state of a larger empire, ruled from Madrid by the Habsburgs.[15][16]

At Philip II's request, the religious reorganization of the Spanish Netherlands was initiated. He obtained the creation of new bishoprics, which increased from five to nineteen, and a territorial reorganization allowing Belgian religious powers independence from neighboring states such as the Kingdom of France. On May 12, 1559, the Bull Super Universas withdrew a large part of the territory of the Archdiocese of Cambrai in favor of the new dioceses of Mechelen and Antwerp. It retained four archdeaconries: Cambrai, Brabant, Hainaut and Valenciennes, and four suffragan bishoprics: Arras, Tournai, Namur and Saint Omer.[16]

Religions in the 21st century

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Sociological sources

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Religion in Nord-Pas-de-Calais has the same status as religion in France, a secular country since 1905. Denominational information is not collected in censuses, as the collection of such personal data is prohibited. Sociologists therefore rely on other information to measure religious practices. Surveys are frequently commissioned by various organizations, but should be treated with caution. Figures provided by the churches and organizations themselves are also used, not only for the number of believers they claim, but above all for elements indicating practices: regular ones such as mass attendance or Ramadan fasting, or around "rites of passage" such as religious weddings and funerals.[17]

Christianity

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These data show that in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, despite the de-Christianization observed since the 19th century, Catholicism remains the dominant denomination, even if the number of people declaring no religion has increased in recent decades.[18]

It may come as a surprise that Catholicism has remained strong in a region that was once a bastion of communism, but this peaceful cohabitation can be explained by the strong presence of social Christianity in the 20th century, and of Christian trade unionism.[19]

Protestantism, which almost disappeared after the outbreak of the Reformation and the iconoclastic crisis, reappeared in the 19th century.[20]

Islam

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Construction of the Grand Mosque in Villeneuve-d'Ascq.

Nord-Pas-de-Calais is home to 5-7 % of France's Muslim population[21], or 350,000 people. This presence dates back to the early 1960s, with the repatriation of Harkis after the Algerian war[22], and was extended by the recruitment of North African workers by the coal, steel and textile industries in the 1980s. Muslims account for an average of 5 % of the population of the Nord and Pas de Calais départements. The city of Roubaix is a special case, where almost 40 % of the population is Muslim.[23] Muslim denominational education is not widespread, but a private high school opened in Lille in 2003.[24]

References

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  1. ^ Desmulliez & Milis, p. 23-26)
  2. ^ Collectif (1988, p. 38)
  3. ^ Derville, Alain (2006). Quarante générations de Français face au sacré (in French). Presses universitaires du Septentrion. p. 22.
  4. ^ Michèle, Gaillard (1997). "Anne-Marie Helvétius, Abbayes, évêques et laïques, une politique du pouvoir en Hainaut au Moyen Âge (VIIe-XIe siècle)". Médiévales (in French). 16 (32): 137–141.
  5. ^ Desmulliez & Milis, p. 216)
  6. ^ Desmulliez & Milis, p. 215)
  7. ^ Ganshof, François (1968). "La dîme monastique, du IXe à la fin du xiie siècle". Cahiers de civilisation médiévale (in French). 11 (43): 413–420. doi:10.3406/ccmed.1968.1456.
  8. ^ Van den Neste, Evelyne (1996). Tournois, joutes, pas d'armes dans les villes de Flandre à la fin du Moyen (in French). École nationale des chartes. ISBN 978-2-900791-15-8.
  9. ^ Chiron, Yves (2011). Histoire des conciles (in French). Perrin. p. 43.
  10. ^ "Colloque international Marguerite Porete" (in French). 2010.
  11. ^ Mercier, Franck. "L'enfer du decor ou la vauderie Arras (1459-1491) : Les enjeux politiques d'un procès d'Inquisition à la fin du Moyen Âge". Heresis (40).
  12. ^ a b "Protestantism in the Northern region". Musée protestant.
  13. ^ Chelini-Pont, Blandini (2019). "FRENCH RELIGIOUS GEOGRAPHY AND POLITICAL CHANGES SINCE THE 2010s: VOTE HYPOTHESIS BASED ON FOURQUET-LEBRAS 2014 REPORT". HAL.
  14. ^ a b Henri, Dubief; Poujol, Jacques (1992). La France protestante, Histoire et Lieux de mémoire (in French). Max Chaleil éditeur. p. 450.
  15. ^ Joblin, Alain (1994). Catholiques et Protestants boulonnais (XVIe et XVIIe siècles) (in French). Société académique du Boulonnais.
  16. ^ a b Vanthemsche, Guy; De Peuter, Roger (2023). "The Spanish Netherlands (1555–1700/1713)". A Concise History of Belgium. Cambridge University Press. pp. 140–177. doi:10.1017/9781139018005.006. ISBN 978-1-139-01800-5.
  17. ^ Le Monde des Religions (in French). HS Atlas des religions.
  18. ^ Christianisme et Monde Ouvrier. Mouvement social (in French). Editions de l'Atelier. 1975.
  19. ^ Le Vote Communiste en Mars 1986: L'exemple Du Nord-pas-de-calais (in French). L'AGE D'HOMME. ISBN 978-2-8251-3402-3.
  20. ^ "Le protestantisme dans le Nord" (in French).
  21. ^ Laurence, Jonathan; Vaïsse, Justin (2007). Intégrer l'Islam: la France et ses musulmans, enjeux et réussites (in French). Odile Jacob. ISBN 978-2-7381-1900-1.
  22. ^ Boulhaï, Nordine (2005). Histoire des Harkis du nord de la France (in French). L'Harmattan. pp. 145–146. ISBN 978-2-7475-8912-3.
  23. ^ Manço, Altay; Amoranitis, Spyros (2005). Reconnaissance de l'islam dans les communes d'Europe : actions contre les discriminations religieuses (in French). L'Harmattan. p. 35.
  24. ^ "France: l'islam fait sa rentrée à Lille" (in French). 2003.

Bibliography

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  • Desmulliez, Jacqueline; Milis, L. J. R. Histoire des provinces françaises du Nord : De la préhistoire à l'An Mil (in French). Artois presses université.
  • Collectif (1988). Le Nord, de la Préhistoire à nos jours (in French). Bordessoules. p. 381. ISBN 2-903504-28-8.
  • Pierrand, Pierre (1978). Histoire des diocèses de France (in French) (10th ed.).
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