REIMS CIVITAS

Reims has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the CITY OR CIVITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the entire history of european integration and the future of Europe.

Reims is one of the most ancient cities of the history of European integration, signed in great part by Christianity. The Civitas Reims was founded centuries BC during the "La tène culture" age by Celts Remi tribe, whose name was used by the Romans when conquered the region and built a castra in 52 AD, near the confluence of the Vesle and Ains rivers, called Durocortorum and inhabited by Celts together with Italics. Reims was a station at the crossing point of the Aquitania way, starting in Cologne and passing through the civitas of Paris, Tours, Bordeaux and Toulouse to end in Narbonne, with the Flavia III way starting in Chalon-sur-Saône to connect the Britannia way and provinces over the English Channel.

Within the reform of Augustus (see Roman Empire), Reims was included into the Gallia Belgica province and obtained many public building, because it was one of the first christian community of Europe elevated Diocesi already in 260 AD! With the reform of Constantine I (see Christian Empire), Reims became part of the Galliarum Diocesi starting the evangelization of Gallia and Germany provinces under the bishopric founded in IV century AD. Before the falling of the Western Roman Empire, the city was already inhabited by Franks and included into the Neustria Reign founded in 511 AD and Reims became the official seat of crowning of the Merovingian dinasty: all began when king Clovis I was baptized by the bishop Saint Remigius in the church cathedral of Saint-Remi with "sacred oil" brough from heaven in a phial by a dove, a rite continued until the end of the French monarchy!

With the renovatio imperii of Charlemagne Reims was honoured by the Carolingian dinasty and with the 843 AD Treaty of Verdun elevated archibishop and "peer of the realm" of the France reign ruled by the emperor's families for more than a century, making the ancient Abbey the city symbol of thier power. The cathedral continued holding the kings crowning ceremony and when the kingdom passed to Capetingian dinasty was rebuilt with gothic style (became the symbol of Reims) and founded the Basilica of Saint-Remi (over the chapel where the patron was buried) as the largest Romanesque church in northern France. In that period Reims had become a centre of intellectual culture thanks to Archbishop Adalberon and his assistant, the future Pope Silvester II, who founded schools which taught the classical "liberal arts". Later, the city obtained a communal chart in 1139 AD under the protecton of the kings, remaining in the Catholic League during the French religious war in XVI century AD and always privileged coronation seat, directly connected to Paris and the near strategic provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. So Reims followed the history and destiny of the France kingdom.

In Modern era, Reims remained the principle bischopric in the northern France and a strategic fortress opposed to the Reich, together with Metz base for the Maginot Line built during the First World War and for that reason bombed with several damages to the cathedral and serveal buildings. In 1548 AD was founded the URCA (Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne), today a multidisciplinary ateneo developing innovative, fundamental, and applied research, for example in the wine industry that in Reims has a main centre for the Champagne production, or in the aviation field of the wool sector where Reims was leader during the Industrial Revolution.

Today Reims is rich of historical, cultural and architectural treasury hosting buildings sof many architectonic styles, from the Romanesque to Gothic, from Reinassance the Art-decò, such as Reims Cathedral, the adjacent Palace of Tau and the Abbey of Saint-Remi that are enlisted in the UNESCO Wordl Heritage. Reims is a medium size town in the north-east of France near the borders with Belgium and included in the Grand Est region, whose patron is Saint Remigius an ancient bishop of the city who crowned as Christian king the Merovingian dinasty.

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