Nord-Pas-de-Calais ; Picard: Nord-Pas-Calés; West Flemish: Nôord-Nauw van Kales); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais borders the English Channel (west), the North Sea (northwest), Belgium and Picardy (south). Until the 17th century, the history of the North was largely in common with the history of Belgium, that of a land that "for almost a thousand years served as a battlefield for all of Europe." The majority of the region was once part of the historical Southern Netherlands, but gradually became part of France between 1477 and 1678, particularly during the reign of king Louis XIV. The historical French provinces that preceded Nord-Pas-de-Calais are Artois, French Flanders, French Hainaut and (partially) Picardy. These provincial designations are still frequently used by the inhabitants. The former administrative region was created in 1956 under the name "Nord" and maintained that name until 1972 when "Pas-de-Calais" was added. This remained unchanged until its dissolution in 2016.
Lille is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord department, and the main city of the European Metropolis of Lille.
The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the French departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais (Artois). Also within this area were semi-independent fiefdoms, mainly ecclesiastical ones, such as Liège, Cambrai and Stavelot-Malmedy.
Walloon Brabant is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on the province of Flemish Brabant and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut. Walloon Brabant's capital and largest city is Wavre.
The County of Artois was a historic province of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659.
The Burgundian Netherlands were those parts of the Low Countries ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy during the Burgundian Age between 1384 and 1482. Within their Burgundian State, which itself belonged partly to the Holy Roman Empire and partly to the Kingdom of France, the dukes united these lowlands into a political union that went beyond a personal union as it gained central institutions for the first time.
Jean de Waurin or Wavrin was a medieval French chronicler and compiler, also a soldier and politician. He belonged to a noble family of Artois, and witnessed the Battle of Agincourt from the French side, but later fought on the Anglo-Burgundian side in the later stages of the Hundred Years' War. As a historian, he put together the first chronicle intended as a complete history of England, very extensive but largely undigested and uncritical. Written in French, in its second version it extends from 688 to 1471, though the added later period covering the Wars of the Roses shows a strong bias towards Burgundy's Yorkist allies. Strictly his subject is Great Britain, but essentially only England is covered, with a good deal on French and Burgundian events as well.
French Flanders is a part of the historical County of Flanders, where Flemish—a Low Franconian dialect cluster of Dutch—was traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day northern French region of Hauts-de-France, and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Lille, Douai and Dunkirk on the northern border with Belgium. Together, with French Hainaut and Cambrésis, it makes up the French Department of Nord.
Louis II, also known as Louis of Male, a member of the House of Dampierre, was Count of Flanders, Count of Nevers, and Count of Rethel from 1346 to 1384, and also Count of Artois and Count of Burgundy from 1382 until his death. He was the son of Count Louis I of Flanders and the Countess of Burgundy and Artois, Margaret I of Burgundy, the youngest daughter of the King of France, Philip V the Tall.
The Archdiocese of Cambrai is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Cambrai, Douai, and Valenciennes within the département of Nord, in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The current archbishop is Vincent Dollmann, appointed in August 2018. Since 2008 the archdiocese has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lille.
Antonius Sanderus was a Flemish Catholic cleric and historian.
Under the French monarchy, the Courts of Accounts were sovereign courts specialising in financial affairs. The Court of Accounts in Paris was the oldest and the forerunner of today's French Court of Audit. They oversaw public spending, handled finances, protected crown estates, audited the accounts of crown officials, and adjudicated any related matters of law.
The Mint of Navarre and Béarn was formed through the merger of the Mint of Navarre in Saint-Palais, whose construction was originally authorized by Charles the Bad in 1351, and placed under the authority of the Chambre des Comptes of Navarre on 4 January 1527, with the two Mints of Béarn in Pau and Morlaàs, in Béarn, in 1562.
Gijsbert, Gijsbrecht or Gysbrecht van Veen was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and engraver. He is known for his portrait paintings and reproductive engravings.
Philippus Masius or Philippe Maes, knight,, lord of Bodeghem and Ophem, was a diplomat and public servant in the Spanish Netherlands.
The Burgundian State was a polity ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy from the late 14th to the late 15th centuries, and which ultimately comprised not only the Duchy and County of Burgundy but also the Burgundian Netherlands. The latter, acquired piecemeal over time and largely through inheritance, was, in fact, their principal source of wealth and prestige. The Dukes were members of the House of Valois-Burgundy, a cadet branch of the French royal House of Valois, and the complex of territories they ruled is sometimes referred to as Valois Burgundy. The term "Burgundian State" was coined by historians and was not in contemporary use; the polity remained a collection of separate duchies and counties in personal union under the Duke of Burgundy.
Arnt van der Dussen, also known as Rinaldo Boteram, born in Brussels between 1417 and 1418, and died in the same city between 1484 and 1502, was a Brabant tapestry maker and merchant.
Vieux-Lille is a district in the north of Lille. It is the district with the most pre-19th-century buildings. It still boasts many cobbled streets and traces of the canals that crisscrossed the city in centuries gone by. It is home to 20,000 inhabitants.
The history of Lille dates back to the 11th century when Baudouin V of Flanders endowed the recently founded collegiate church of Saint-Pierre with a charter in 1066.
Hesdin Castle located in present-day Vieil-Hesdin in northern France, was an important seat of the Counts of Artois, and hosted various high-ranking guests such as the kings of France, the Counts of Flanders, and the Dukes of Burgundy. Renowned for its magnificent gardens and mechanical wonders, the castle was a prominent site until its destruction by Emperor Charles V in 1553.
