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ns 2000 years ago 9 the canadian national vimy memorial is just outside the town history edit prehistory edit archaeologists found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the scarpe basin the archaeological sites of mont saint vaast in arras and biache saint vaast were stone age settlements of the mousterian culture they were evidenced by the finds of stone tools these tools show signs of the levallois technique a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of stone knapping developed by forerunners to modern humans during the paleolithic period 170 000 years ago very little was found to document the bronze age and early iron age in the arras area 10 antiquity foundation edit arras was founded on the hill of baudimont by the belgic tribe of the atrebates who named it nemetocenna in reference to a nemeton that probably existed there citation needed in the scarpe valley archaeologists excavations and data recovery revealed late iron age settlements these buildings believed to be farms were found near the municipalities of arras hamblain les prés and saint pol 11 the town was later renamed nemetacum atrebatum by the romans under whom it became an important garrison town 12 13 no traces of any amenities such as a forum theatre or basilica have been identified 14 one discovery has been one of the rare sanctuaries devoted to the oriental god attis in france 15 medieval and early modern period edit before the middle ages edit the ordination of saint vaast in the 4th century nemetacum was renowned for its arts and crafts as well as textiles trade throughout the whole empire between 406 and 407 the city was taken and destroyed by germanic invaders in 428 the salian franks led by clodion le chevelu took control of the region including the current somme department roman general aetius then chose to negotiate for peace and concluded a treaty fœdus with clodion that gave the franks the status of foederati fighting for rome the town s people were converted to christianity in the late 4th century by saint innocent who was killed in 410 during a barbarian attack on the town in 499 after the conversion of clovis i to catholicism a diocese évêché in french was created in arras the roman catholic diocese of arras and given to saint vaast also known as saint vedast in english who remains the diocesan patron saint saint vaast then established an episcopal see and a monastic community it was suppressed in 580 to found the roman catholic diocese of cambrai from which it would reemerge 5 centuries later early middle ages edit in 667 saint aubert bishop of cambrai decided to found the abbey of saint vaast which developed during the carolingian period into an immensely wealthy benedictine abbey the modern town of arras initially spread around the abbey as a grain market during the 9th century both town and abbey suffered from the attacks of the vikings who later settled to the west in normandy the abbey revived its strength in the 11th century and played an important role in the development of medieval painting successfully synthesizing the artistic styles of carolingian ottonian and english art 16 high middle ages edit li congié by jean bodel a trouvère that lived in arras in the 12th century fragment of the tapestry the history of st piatus and eleuterius from 1402 treasury of tournai cathedral the only surviving tapestry that is known with certainty to have been woven in arras in 1025 a catholic council was held at arras against certain manichaean dualistic heretics who rejected the sacraments of the church in 1093 the bishopric of arras was refounded on territory split from the diocese of cambrai in 1097 two councils presided over by lambert of arras dealt with questions concerning monasteries and persons consecrated to god in this time arras became an important cultural centre especially for the group of poets who came to be known as trouvères one particular society of such poets was later called the puy d arras 17 the wool industry and trade edit the town was granted a commercial charter by the french crown in 1180 and became an internationally important location for banking and trade the wool industry of arras established in the 4th century became of great importance during the middle ages already in the 3rd century romans had lauded the quality of wool from tournai and arras by the 11th century arras was the leading city and trading hub of the wool industry this prominence would eventually shift towards areas north of arras and cities such as lille douai and saint omer followed by ypres and eventually bruges and ghent would become the centres of the wool industry and trade however by the 14th century arras still was renowned and drew considerable wealth from the cloth and wool industry and was particularly well known for its production of fine tapestries so much so that in english and italian the word arras arazzi in italian was adopted to refer to tapestries in general 16 the patronage of wealthy cloth merchants ensured that the town became an important cultural centre with major figures such as the poet jean bodel and the trouvère adam de la halle making their homes in arras late middle ages edit the ownership of the town was repeatedly disputed along with the rest of artois during the middle ages possession of arras passed to a variety of feudal rulers and fiefs including the county of flanders the duchy of burgundy the spanish branch of the house of habsburg and the french crown in 1430 joan of arc jeanne d arc in french was imprisoned in the region of arras the town was the site of the congress of arras in 1435 an unsuccessful attempt to end the hundred years war that resulted in the burgundians breaking their alliance with the english after the death of duke charles the bold of burgundy in 1477 king louis xi took control of arras but the town s inhabitants still loyal to the burgundians expelled the french this prompted louis xi to besiege arras in person and after taking it by assault he had the town s walls razed and its inhabitants expelled to be replaced by more loyal subjects from other parts of france in a bid to erase the town s identity completely louis renamed it temporarily to franchise in 1482 the peace of arras was signed in the town to end a war between louis xi and maximilian i of austria ten years later the town was ceded to maximilian it was eventually bequeathed to the spanish habsburgs as part of the spanish netherlands 18 19 renaissance edit main article french renaissance arras in 1572 the entry of king louis xiv and queen maria theresa in arras on 30 july 1667 arras remained under habsburg rule from 1493 until 1640 when it was captured by the french the spanish ceded it by the peace treaty in 1659 and it has since remained french the union of arras was signed here in january 1579 by the catholic principalities of the low countries that remained loyal to king philip ii of habsburg it provoked the declaration of the union of utrecht later the same month modern period edit during the war of the spanish succession in 1712 arras was bombarded by an anglo dutch army under arnold van keppel the earl of albemarle french revolution edit main article french revolution maximilien de robespierre a french lawyer and politician from arras and one of the best known and most influential figures of the french revolution was elected fifth deputy of the third estate of artois to the estates general in 1789 robespierre also helped draft the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen 5 unreliable source arras born lawyer and politician maximilien de robespierre during the french revolution the city of arras was first presided over by french reformer dubois de fosseux erudite squire secretary of the arras district arrondissement in french and future president of the pas de calais department around the same time competing against aire sur la lys calais and saint omer arras won the prefecture of pas de calais from september 1793 to july 1794 during the reign of terror the city was under the supervision of joseph lebon who implemented food restrictions ordered 400 executions and destroyed several religious monuments including the arras cathedral and the abbey of st vaast arras demography and economic activity remained the same throughout the french revolution while lille s grew exponentially in 1898 under the influence of mayor émile legrelle some of arras ramparts were demolished to build vast boulevards establish a new sewage system and replace the old railway station from 1846 world wars edit world war i edit hôtel de ville arras on 26 may 1917 grand place of arras in february 1919 during most of the first world war arras was about 10 kilometres 6 2 miles away from the front line and a series of battles took place around the city and nearby including the battle of arras 1914 the battle of arras 1917 and the second battle of the somme component of 1918 s hundred days offensive on 31 august 1914 german light cavalry uhlans arrived in tilloy lès mofflaines and an army patrol made a foray into arras on 6 september 1914 3 000 soldiers led by general hans jürgen von arnim barracked within the city and in the citadel shortly after louis ernest de maud huy s soldiers partly repelled the german army troops and trenches were dug in the faubourgs d arras on 7 october 1914 the city hall burned on 21 october 1914 the belfry was destroyed and so was arras cathedral on 6 july 1915 20 in 1917 a series of medieval tunnels beneath the city linked and greatly expanded by the new zealand tunnelling company became a decisive factor in the british forces holding the city particularly during that year s battle of arras 21 the nearby canadian national vimy memorial by the end of world war i 1918 the city was so heavily damaged that three quarters had to be rebuilt the reconstruction was extremely costly yet it proved to be a success and allowed the city to expand the town is approximately 11 km 6 8 mi south of the canadian national vimy memorial built in 1936 on hill 145 the highest point of the vimy ridge escarpment 22 23 it is dedicated to the battle of vimy ridge assault part of the 1917 battle of arras and the missing first world war canadian soldiers with no known grave it is also the site of two wwi canadian cemeteries 23 on 9 april 2017 the 100th anniversary of the battle of vimy ridge arras mayor frédéric leturque thanked canadians as well as australians and british new zealanders and south africans for their role in the first world war battles in the area 24 25 world war ii edit in the early stages of the second world war during the invasion of france in may 1940 the city was the focus of a major british counterattack arras saw an allied counterattack against the flank of the german army the german forces were pushing north towards the channel coast in order to entrap the allied forces that were advancing east into belgium the counterattack at arras was an allied attempt to cut through the german spearhead and frustrate the german advance although the allies initially made gains they were repulsed by german forces and forced to withdraw to avoid encirclement arras was then occupied by the germans and over the years 1941 44 218 french resistance members were executed in ditches around the arras citadel on 3 september 1944 the city was entered and liberated by the british guards armoured division contemporary period edit town twinning edit ipswich edit in september 1993 ipswich and arras became twin towns 26 ipswich marked this relationship by dedicating a public square known as arras square 27 it is surrounded by ancient house the buttermarket centre and st stephen s church reciprocally arras has dedicated a public square to ipswich known as ipswich square place d ipswich this square is identifiable by the presence of a british red telephone box 28 geography edit arras in the pas de calais la scarpe by arras born painter charles desavary arras in the summer location and area edit arras is located in northern france in the hauts de france region hauts de france is divided into five departments nord pas de calais somme oise and aisne arras is in the south east part of the pas de calais department and forms the arras district arrondissement d arras in the artois a former province of northern france by car it is 182 kilometres 113 miles north of paris 110 kilometres 68 miles east of the english channel 152 kilometres 94 miles south of brussels and 335 kilometres 208 miles south of amsterdam the city s total area is 11 63 km 2 4 5 sq mi the lowest point in the city is at 52 metres 171 feet above sea level and the highest is at 99 metres 325 feet geology edit the soil of arras is primarily composed of chalk a soft white porous sedimentary rock that formed what is called the european stratigraphic unit that chalk group deposited during the late cretaceous period 90 million years ago it used to be extracted to construct the most prestigious buildings and houses of arras as a result residents once nicknamed the city la ville blanche the white town the arras area soil is also composed of clay which was used to produce bricks build less noble buildings and embellish façades clay is mostly found in the lieu dit of la terre potier in the western part of the city the level of earthquake hazard in the arras area is low as it is in the whole pas de calais department hydrography edit two rivers flow through arras the scarpe and the crinchon both are left tributaries of the 350 kilometres 220 miles long scheldt river l escaut in french the crinchon is a rather small river of 19 kilometres 12 miles flowing through arras underground while the scarpe is 102 kilometres 63 miles long of which two thirds has been turned into canals the source of the scarpe is at berles monchel near aubigny en artois it flows through the cities of arras douai and saint amand les eaux the river ends at mortagne du nord where it flows into the scheldt climate edit arras mainly has a western european oceanic climate köppen climate classification cfb affected by the north atlantic current as it is close to the english channel la manche in french there is frequent rain in all seasons and temperatures throughout the year are mild as it is near the sea temperature variations tend to be moderate but there are some brief cold spells as it is subject to both oceanic and continental influences so the climate can also be referred as semi oceanic known as a climat océanique dégradé in french summer days are usually moderately warm and agreeable with temperatures between 13 and 23 c 55 and 73 f occasionally rising above 30 c 86 f with a fair amount of sunshine some years have even witnessed some unusual long periods of harsh summer weather such as the heat wave of 2003 where temperatures exceeded 30 c 86 f for weeks reaching 38 c 100 f on some days and rarely even cooling down at night spring and fall have rather warm days and fresh nights but remain quite unstable winter d...