Send Gift Baskets to Saint-Quentin, France

As the capital of Viromandui (Celtic Belgian people who occupied the region), the Romans founded the city in the Augustan era to replace the oppidum of Vermand (11 km away). “Augusta Viromanduorum,” Augusta of the Viromandui, was the name given to it by the Roman emperor Augustus. Fords across the Somme can be seen at the site. Vermand (whose name comes from Veromandis) may have become the capital of the civitas during the late Roman period; Saint-Quentin has very little from the fourth century.

Based on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Quentin, a Roman Christian who came to evangelize the region and was martyred in Augusta, a major monastery, now the Basilica of Saint-Quentin, developed during the early Middle Ages.

Vermandois County was centered in Saint-Quentin since the 9th century. As early as the 10th century, the counts of Vermandois (descended from the Carolingian, then Capetian families) were mighty. During the second half of the 12th century (a very early date), the “bourgeoisie” organized themselves and obtained a municipal charter, which granted the commune considerable autonomy.

Saint-Quentin became a royal domain at the beginning of the 13th century. During that time, the city was booming because of its wool textile industry (city “drape”). Due to its location on the border of the kingdom of France, between the Champagne fairs and the cities of Flanders (wine export, etc. ), it was also an important center of commerce. Moreover, its location in the heart of an agricultural region allowed it to trade grain and guède (woad), a high-value blue dye.