Douai

Town in the Nord département of France, 30 km/19 mi south of Lille on the River Scarpe and the Sensée Canal; population (1999) 42,800, Douai-Lens 518,700. It has metallurgical industries, car manufacturing, and printing. There is a mining school here, as well as higher education institutions. An English Roman Catholic college was founded here in 1568 by English Catholics in exile, led by William Allen. The Douai-Reims Bible, published by the college between 1582 and 1610, influenced the translators of the King James version.

Features The site of the town has been occupied since Roman times. It has a 15th-century town hall and a fine 14th–15th-century belfry. Its university was founded in 1562 but was moved to Lille in 1887. The college for English Roman Catholics was moved to Reims between 1578 and 1593. It was closed at the French Revolution but refounded in England at Ushaw and Ware. Douai also had English Franciscan and Benedictine foundations, and Irish and Scots colleges. The town was taken by Marlborough in 1710 in the War of the Spanish Succession and was returned to France in 1713. The town suffered greatly in both world wars.