Saint-Omer

France

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Saint-Omer, town, Pas-de-Calais département, Hauts-de-France région, northeastern France. It lies along the canalized Aa River and is 22 miles (36 km) southwest of the Belgian frontier.

The town grew around a monastery and a chapel, founded in the 7th century by St. Omer and his companions. The last king of the Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Childeric III, died there in 755 after being deposed by the first ruler of the succeeding Carolingian dynasty, Pippin III (the Short). Saint-Omer was fortified by the counts of Flanders in the 10th century and eventually passed to the Spanish crown. The capture of it in 1677 by Louis XIV of France was ratified the following year by the Treaty of Nijmegen. The old town has a number of fine 17th- and 18th-century houses. The 13th–15th-century basilica of Notre-Dame (formerly a cathedral) contains numerous works of art. The Sandelin Museum, housing a collection of ceramics and Flemish paintings, is in an elegant 18th-century building. The town was heavily damaged during World Wars I and II.

Saint-Omer is the centre of an active truck-gardening region. Industry is dominated by the manufacture of crystal glass, paper and packaging materials, food products, and electronics. The town is also an administrative and commercial centre and is home to a campus of the Opal Coast University. Pop. (1999) 15,747; (2014 est.) 14,164.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Maren Goldberg.