Editing Tongeren (section)

==History==

===''Atuatuca Tungrorum''===
The Romans referred to Tongeren as ''Aduatuca Tungrorum'' or ''Atuatuca Tongrorum'',<ref>{{Citation|last=Gysseling| first=Maurits |url=http://www.wulfila.be/tw/facsimile/?page=77| year=1960| title=Toponymisch Woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland}}</ref> and it was the capital of the large [[Roman province]] of ''[[Civitas Tungrorum]]'', an area which covered modern [[Limburg (Belgium)|Belgian Limburg]], and at least parts of all the areas around it. Before the Roman conquests, this area was inhabited by the group of [[Belgic tribes]] known as the ''[[Germani cisrhenani]]''. (Despite being known as the ''Germani'', whether they spoke a [[Germanic language]] is debated, and the names of their tribes and their leaders were [[Celts|Celtic]].) Specifically the [[Eburones]] were the largest of these tribes and the one living around Tongeren.

[[File:Tongeren Romeinse wallen.jpg|thumb|left|Part of the Roman city wall]]

Caesar referred to the fort of the Eburones as [[Aduatuca]], and this has led to a widely accepted proposal that this can be equated to Tongeren. There are counter arguments that the word "''Aduatuca''" was probably a general word for a fort in this region, meaning that there might have been more places with the same name, and that Tongeren shows no signs of pre-Roman occupation, nor the hilly terrain described by Caesar. There was also a distinct tribe in the area known as the [[Aduatuci]].<ref>{{Citation|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zY4g1kfWvCMC&pg=PA143|page=143|title=Archaeology in Confrontation: Aspects of Roman Military Presence in the Northwest (Studies in Honour of Prof. Em. Hugo Thoen)| editor-first=Frank |editor-last=Vermeulen |editor2-first=Kathy |editor2-last=Sas |editor3-first=Wouter |editor3-last=Dhaeze |publisher=Ghent University| last1=Vanderhoeven| last2=Vanderhoeven| first1=Alain |first2=Michel |chapter=Confrontation in Archaeology: Aspects of Roman Military in Tongeren|year=2004|isbn=9789038205786}}</ref> On the other hand, it has the same name and function as a local capital, and is in generally the right area. If it is not Tongeren itself, the Aduatuca of the Eburones might be the ancient fortification of [[Caestert]] in nearby [[Riemst]].

During [[Julius Caesar]]’s campaigns in this part of [[Gaul]] in the first century BC, the Belgae revolted against the campaign of Caesar, led by the Eburones. They destroyed a legion that had demanded the right to winter among them in 54 BC. Caesar reported that he sold the Aduatuci into slavery, and annihilated the name of the Eburones, many of whom however he reported having fled successfully, including [[Ambiorix]] the leader of the revolt. Instead of risking Roman lives to pursue them he invited tribes from over the Rhine, such as the [[Sigambri]] to come and plunder. This back-fired when Eburones pointed out to the Sigambri that the Romans had all the booty at Aduatuca, and were the more attractive target.

The [[Tungri]], not mentioned by Caesar, came to dominate this area in the Roman era, and are the reason for the name of the modern name Tongeren. [[Tacitus]] says that [[Tungri]] was a new name for the original tribes who had previously been called the ''Germani''. But many modern writers believe that the Gallo-Roman population of the area contained a significant amount of more recent Germanic immigrants from across the Rhine. Located on the important road linking [[Cologne]] to [[Bavay]] via the relay of [[Liberchies]], and surrounded by the fertile lands of the [[Hesbaye]] region, Roman Tongeren quickly became one of the largest [[Gallo-Roman]] administrative and military towns in the first century.  It suffered from a destructive fire during the [[Batavians|Batavian]] siege in 70 AD, which was part of the [[Batavian revolt]]. In the second century, it erected a defensive wall, portions of which can still be seen today. Typical Roman buildings were built in town, while [[villa]]s and mound graves ([[tumuli]]) dotted the surrounding area.

In 358 the future [[emperor Julian]] met, in Tongeren, a delegation of [[Salian Franks]] who had recently settled in [[Toxandria]] (the modern [[Campine]] region), to the north of Tongeren. They wanted peace but spoke "as if the ground they had seized were rightfully their own". Julian gave ambiguous replies and then after the meetings sent a surprise attack along the Maas or [[Meuse]] river, and "they met him with entreaties rather than with resistance, he received the submission of them and their children".<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, ''Res Gestae'', [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_17_book17.htm#C8 Book XVII.8.3-4]</ref>  They became increasingly important after this time. [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] reports that Julian used them as part of his forces in fights against other Germanic tribes.<ref>Zosimus ''Nova Historia'' [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zosimus03_book3.htm Book III]</ref>

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Moerenpoort, Tongeren.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The Moeren Gate, a monumental gate in the medieval city wall]]
Already in the fourth century, just as the Salian Franks were settling to the north, the city became the center of a Christian diocese under the influence of [[Saint Servatius]], [[bishop of Tongeren]], who died in 384 AD. In the meantime, the Franks to the north and east were pagan and so many areas had to be reconverted over the course of the following centuries, with several missionaries becoming martyrs. The seat of the Tungrian bishopric however eventually moved to nearby [[Maastricht]], after Saint Servatius was buried near the Roman town there. Much later, [[Liège]] became the seat of what would become the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège]], the church equivalent to the Civitas Tungrorum. This was the resting place of Saint [[Lambert of Maastricht]], one of the last missionaries in the area, who died about 700 AD.<ref>{{cite web|author=Jona Lendering |url=https://www.livius.org/se-sg/servatius/servatius.html |title=Servatius of Tongeren |publisher=Livius.org |access-date=2014-05-20}}</ref> Aduatuca Tungrorum may have been destroyed by the Huns in 451 AD. Tongeren therefore lost some importance during this period.

Significant waves of Germanic settlers and invaders changed the area. The [[Merovingian]] period between the fifth and the eighth century is not well documented. The building of a new church and the foundation of a chapter of [[canon (priest)|canons]] took place in [[Carolingian]] times, at the very place where the old bishops’ houses stood, and where the basilica still stands today. The construction of the current basilica started at the beginning of the thirteenth century in the prevalent [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] style of that period. Other buildings were added to the religious core of the city, including new commercial areas, hospitals and artisans quarters.  The thirteenth century also saw the building of the medieval defensive wall, several new churches and cloisters, and the beguinage. The city became one of the “[[Good Cities|bonnes villes]]” ("good cities") of the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]].

[[File:20100706 tongeren98.JPG|thumb|upright|Het Plein ("The Square") with a "[[Perron (columnar monument)|Perron]]", the historic symbol of being one of the "[[Good Cities]]".]]

===From seventeenth century until contemporary age===
In 1677, the city was burned almost entirely by [[Louis XIV]]’s troops, a [[Franco-Dutch War|catastrophe]] from which Tongeren never completely recovered. The rebirth of the city dates from after 1830.

In 1977 the neighbouring municipalities of Berg, [[Diets-Heur]], Henis, 's-Herenelderen, Koninksem, Lauw, [[Mal, Tongeren|Mal]], Neerrepen, Nerem, Overrepen, Piringen, Riksingen, [[Rutten, Belgium|Rutten]], Sluizen, Vreren and Widooie merged into Tongeren.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/themas/13374 |title=Tongeren |website=Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed|date=1990 |access-date=17 October 2020|language=nl}}</ref>

Tongeren is currently the judicial capital of the province of Belgian Limburg.