Artois

Artois, an ancient province of France, which comprised the modern department of Pas de Calais, with part of the Somme and the Nord. Louis IX. made it into a county for his brother Robert in 1237. In 1384 it went by marriage to the Dukes of Burgundy, and from them to Austria in 1477. It was reconquered by France in 1640, and this conquest was confirmed in 1678. The capital was Arras, which is now the chief town of Pas de Calais.