Douai formerly Douay, town, northern France, in Nord Department, on the Scarpe River, in Flanders, near Belgium. It is a coal-mining and manufacturing center; products include chemicals, metal goods, transportation equipment, and processed food. Although badly damaged in World Wars I and II, the city retains many old structures, some restored after 1945. Among them are a Gothic belfry (late 14th century), with a noted carillon of 49 bells; the Church of Saint Peter (16th-18th century); and the Carthusian monastery of La Chartreuse, containing an art museum.
Probably situated on the site of a Roman fortress, Douai was held by the counts of Flanders from the 7th century until 1384, when it was taken by the dukes of Burgundy. It later passed to the Habsburgs and in 1713 was awarded to France by the Treaty of Utrecht. Several famous seats of learning were established in Douai during the 16th and 17th centuries. Philip II of Spain established a university there in 1562 (transferred to Lille in 1887), and six years later the English cardinal William Allen opened a seminary for English Roman Catholics. Allen was one of many Roman Catholic alumni of the University of Oxford who fled to Douai from England following the adoption by the Church of England of the Thirty-nine Articles. The Douai-Reims (older spelling, Douay-Rheims) Bible, an English translation of the Latin Vulgate, was begun in the town by members of the seminary; the Old Testament was published in Douai in 1609. The seminary was suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution. Population (1999) 42,796.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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