Today, Ename is a village and suburb of the city of Oudenaarde. However, in 965, the small rural settlement called villa Ehinham, donated to Godfrey of Verdun and his wife Mathilde Billung, was turned into an international trade settlement. At that time, a trade settlement was a new way to make money: as a landowner, you provide the infrastructure and the military protection to distribute and sell goods, and you receive 10 % of the price as a fee. Today, we know this system as VAT (value-added tax) but in the 10th century, it was a new way to generate income from property, besides agriculture.

The centre of villa Ehinham was situated around the 9th-century Saint Vedastus church in what is today Nederename. To create this trade settlement, a well-suited terrain was found along the river Scheldt, 1 km from the villa Ehinham. This terrain consists of an ancient river dune, with the river Scheldt going around the dune in an elongated loop, providing an excellent setting for a harbour and trade settlement. A stretch of the Roman road from Cologne to Boulogne, which still existed in the 10th century, connected Ename to Velzeke, while other Roman and early medieval roads allowed access to the hinterland of the trade settlement. The most important trade route was of course the river Scheldt, connecting to local and international suppliers.
In the previous blog post, we explained how Baldwin IV, the young count of Flanders (14 years old) reorganised the military organisation of the Flemish nobility at the end of 993, resulting in the count of Flanders building fortifications along the river Scheldt, in Ghent and Tournai. In between both strongholds, most probably a similar circular rampart was built in Oudenaarde in the area held by the lord of Petegem. Petegem was an existing Carolingian court and the lord of Petegem belonged to the inner circle of the count of Flanders.

This circular rampart was erected adjacent to a natural harbour, also located on a sand dune, next to already existing roads. This natural harbour provided the name of the place: “oude(n)aarde” or old (= existing) harbour. Probably, there was already some inhabitation at this harbour, as proven by recent excavations, so we assume that a church was founded in the circular rampart (we know from historical sources that this Saint Walburga church was founded between 994 and 1027). Most probably, this stronghold also contained wooden residential and official buildings (aula) and provided military protection of the harbour.

On the other side of the river, a counter initiative did follow quickly. In the summer of 994, the Ottonian emperor Otto III became 14 years, capable of ruling independently. In 995 or shortly before, count Godfrey of Verdun, who was imprisoned, was released. We can assume that Godfrey started a significant building programme in Ename shortly after, containing a castrum with a stone keep, a palace building with a chapel within the castrum, a stone version of the existing Saint Salvator church in the trade settlement and a new Saint Laurentius church in the rural settlement. This building programme can be seen on the virtual reconstruction of Ename around 1015 below. We see the walled castrum (left) with the keep and the aula (with Our Lady chapel), the trade settlement (middle) around the Saint Salvator church and the rural settlement (right) around the Saint Laurentius church.



The implementation of this outstanding building programme also contained a full reorganisation of the parcel structure in a rectangular grid. Most of it was probably implemented by the son of Godfrey, Herman of Ename, from 998 onwards. Enjoy this flyover over Ename in 1015, showing the rural settlement around the Saint-Laurentius church, the trade settlement and harbour next to the Saint Salvator church and the castrum with keep and palace building.


The harbour is situated in the lower part of the terrain where the warehouses are raised to protect them from accidental flooding (as known from other contemporary harbours such as Tiel). Traders from far away (Frisia, England, Germany, …) or from the Scheldt valley are coming to the market to sell their goods, as can be seen in this video of a Frisian ship entering the harbour of Ename. For example, Pingsdorf ware has been excavated that originates from the region around Cologne. Ships transporting goods from the Cologne region need a reinforced bottom to withstand the rapids nearby Cologne (such as the early hulk also known as the Utrecht ship). Local transport over the river used boats such as the punt.

The Saint Laurentius church was probably built as part of this building programme, starting around 995-998. There are reasons to assume that the church was not finished yet when Otto III died in January 1002. In the next blog post, we will focus on what we know about this Saint Laurentius church through the excavations and restoration that took place from September 1999 to November 2002.

