County of Artois
County of Artois | |||||||||
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| ? – 1659 | |||||||||
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| Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire, then a fief of the Kingdom of France | ||||||||
| Capital | Arras (Atrecht) | ||||||||
| Government | Principality | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Established | before 898 | ||||||||
| April 28, 1180 | |||||||||
• Treaty of Guînes | 1212 | ||||||||
| 1493 | |||||||||
| 1659 | |||||||||
| September 21, 1792 1659 | |||||||||
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The County of Artois (French: comté d'Artois, Dutch: graafschap Artesië) was a Carolingian county (comitatus), established in Western Francia. In Roman times, Artois was situated in the Roman provinces of Belgica and Germania Inferior and inhabited by Celtic tribes, until Germanic peoples replaced them and made an end to roman imperial rule.
It lies in present Northern France, on the border with Belgium. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras (Atrecht), Calais (Kales), Boulogne-sur-Mer (Bonen), Saint-Omer (Sint-Omaars), Lens and Béthune. Present Artois forms the interior of the French département Pas-de-Calais.
History
It was established by the counts Odalric and Ecfrid of Artois, then integrated into the County of Flanders, first by Baldwin II of Flanders around 898, then by Arnulf I of Flanders. A new territorial principality was established by the division of the county of Flanders as a dowry given by Philip I of Flanders to his niece Isabelle of Hainaut at the time of her marriage to Philip II of France.
The Treaty of Guînes in 1212 gave Aire-sur-la-Lys, Saint-Omer and Guînes to Philip II. The rest of the county was acquired by the French Crown after the Flemish defeat at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 and the Treaty of Melun in 1226. Artois then became an appanage of Robert I of Artois, the son of Louis VIII of France.
After the death of count Robert II at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, a succession dispute arose between Robert's daughter, Countess Mahaut, and her nephew Robert III, who represented the claim of his father Philip, who had died at the Battle of Furnes in 1298. The dispute was settled in favour of Mahaut.
Upon the death of Mahaut in 1329, Artois passed to her daughter by Otto IV, Count of Burgundy, Jeanne of Burgundy. The widow of Philip V of France, Jeanne left Artois to their eldest daughter, Joan (the wife of Eudes IV, Duke of Burgundy) when she died in 1330.
On the death of Joan and Eudes' grandson Philip I in 1361, Artois reverted to the second daughter of Jeanne, Margaret, and after her death, to her son, Louis II of Flanders. Louis' daughter Margaret III married Philip the Bold in 1369.
On the death of Louis II in 1384, Artois became part of the vast, complex territory of Burgundy. Seized by Louis XI of France and established as a seneschalate, then officially ceded to the king by the Treaty of Arras in 1482, it passed to the Habsburgs in the 1493 Treaty of Senlis. It reverted to French rule in the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 and became a titular county in the peerage of France; the most notable of these pairs was the future Charles X of France.
See also
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1 until 1648; 2 until 1659; 3 until 1678.
Circles est. 1500: Bavarian, Swabian, Upper Rhenish, Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Franconian, (Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512: Austrian, Burgundian, Upper Saxon, Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | ||||||
