ARRAS

'Arras' () is a town and commune in northern France, ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Pas-de-Calais ''département''. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is nonetheless characterized as a ''Picarde'' dialect. Unlike many French words, the final "s" in the name should be pronounced.

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Contents

History

Ecclesiastical history

Bishopric of Arras (Atrebatum)

Councils of Arras

Sights

Transport

Miscellaneous

In literature

Births

See also

Sources and external links

History

Originally settled by the Celtic tribe of the ''Atrebates'', it later became a Roman garrison town known as ''Atrebatum''.
It is located in the former Dutch and French province of Artois. For many centuries, Arras was on the border between France and the Low Countries and it frequently changed hands before firmly becoming French in the late 17th century, the fortifications upgraded by Vauban helping keep it in French hands. The town was closely linked to the trade of Flanders and later became an important centre for sugar beet farming and processing as well as a prosperous market centre.
The Union of Atrecht (the Dutch name for 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.

During the First World War, Arras was near the front and a long series of battles fought nearby are known as the Battle of Arras in which a series of medieval tunnels beneath the city, unknown to the Germans, became a decisive factor in the French holding the city. The city, however, was heavily damaged and had to be rebuilt after the war. In the Second World War the town was occupied by the Germans and 240 suspected French Resistance members were executed in the Arras citadel.

Ecclesiastical history

Bishopric of Arras (Atrebatum)

The diocese comprises the Department of Pas-de-Calais. On the occasion of the Napoleonic Concordat, the three Dioceses of Arras, Saint-Omer and Boulogne were united to make the one Diocese of Arras. It was a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Paris from 1802 to 1841, in which year Cambrai again became an archdiocese and Arras returned to it as suffragan.
At the beginning of the sixth century St. Remi (Remigius), Archbishop of Reims, placed in the See of Arras St. Vedastus (St. Vaast) (d. c. 540), who had been the teacher of the Merovingian king Clovis after the victory of Tolbiac. His successors, Dominicus and Vedulphus, are also both venerated as saints. After the death of the latter, the See of Arras was transferred to Cambrai, and it was not until 1093 that Arras again became a diocese.
Among the bishops of Arras are Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Councillor of the emperor Charles V, Bishop of Arras from 1545 to 1562, later Archbishop of Mechelen and Viceroy of Naples; François Richardot, a celebrated preacher, Bishop of Arras from 1562 to 1575; Monseigneur Parisis (d. 1866), who figured prominently in the political assemblies of 1848.
Two famous relics were long greatly venerated at Arras: the "sacred manna", said to have fallen from heaven in 371 during a severe famine, and the "holy candle", a wax taper said to have been given to Bishop Lambert in 1105 by the Blessed Virgin, to stop an epidemic. Not far from Arras, the city of Saint-Omer, a diocese till the Revolution, perpetuates the memory of St. Audomare, or Omer, bishop of Thérouanne, the apostle of the Morini in the sixth century. Its cathedral, a Gothic monument of the fourteenth century, was built over the saint's tomb. The ruins of St. Vaast at Arras, and of St. Bertin at Saint-Omer, keep alive the memory of two celebrated abbeys of the same name; the Abbey of St. Bertin (founded in the seventh century) gave twenty-two saints to the Church.
The Diocese of Arras at the end of 1905 contained 955,391 inhabitants, 52 parishes, 690 churches of the second class, and 53 vicariates formerly with state subventions.

Councils of Arras

In 1025 a council was held at Arras against certain Manichaean (dualistic) heretics who rejected the sacraments of the Church. The Catholic Faith in the Blessed Eucharist was proclaimed with special insistence.
In 1097, two councils, presided over by Lambert of Arras, dealt with questions concerning monasteries and persons consecrated to God.

Sights

The centre of the town is marked by three large squares, the ''Grande Place,'' the ''Place des Héros,'' and the ''Petite Place''. These are surrounded by buildings largely restored to their pre-war World War I conditions. Most notable are the Gothic town hall (rebuilt in a slightly less grandiose style after the war) and the 19th-century cathedral.
The original cathedral of Arras, constructed between 1030 and 1396, was one of the most beautiful Gothic structures in northern France. It was destroyed in the French Revolution.
Many of Arras's most notable structures, including the museum and several government buildings, occupy the site of the old Abbaye de Saint-Vaast. The abbey's church was demolished and rebuilt in fashionable classical style in 1833, and now serves as the town's cathedral. The design was chosen by the one-time Abbot of St Vaast, the Cardinal de Rohan, and is stark in its simplicity, employing a vast number of perpendicular angles. There is a fine collection of statuary within the church and it houses a number of religious relics.
Vimy Memorial is a memorial just north of the town honouring a major World War I battle, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which marked the first time Canada fielded an entire army of its own. Four Canadian divisions fought there on Easter weekend 1917. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the broader Allied offensive in April known as the Battle of Arras. Vimy was the only victory the Allies would enjoy during their 1917 spring offensive. The Basilica of Notre Dame de Lorette, overlooking the nearby village of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, likewise stands before one of France's largest World War I necropolises.

Transport

Arras is served by the LGV Nord high speed railway.

Miscellaneous

In literature

Arras is a setting in several famous works of French literature:

★ In Edmond Rostand's play ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', the fourth act takes place during the French siege of Arras in 1640 during the Thirty Years' War

★ In Victor Hugo's novel ''Les Misérables'', Arras is the scene of Champmathieu's trial

★ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote a story called ''Pilote de Guerre'' (English title: ''Flight to Arras'')
Arras is also mentioned the the novel Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison, Canadian soliders are depcited looting the town during World War 1

Births

Arras was the birthplace of:

★ Audefroi le Bâtard, trouvère who flourished at the end of the 12th century

★ Adam de la Halle (1237?-1288) trouvère, poet and musician, was probably born in Arras

★ Matthias of Arras (1290?-1352), architect, famed for his work on St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague

★ Antoine de Févin (c.1470-1511 or 1512), composer of the Renaissance.

★ Charles de l'Écluse (1526-1609), doctor and pioneering botanist

★ Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), French revolutionary leader

★ Joseph le Bon (1765-1795), was a politician

★ Eugène François Vidocq (1775-1857), one of the first modern private investigators

★ Gabriel Hanot (1889-1968), journalist (the editor of ''L'Équipe'')

★ Violette Leduc (1907–1972), author

★ Jean-Christophe Novelli (born 1961), chef and restaurateur

See also

★ Battle of Arras, for a list of battles so named.

★ St. Vaast's Abbey

Sources and external links

★ diocese & Councils

★ A lot of information and pictures about Arras

★ Arras city council website

★ Visiting Arras

★ Demographic statistics of Arras

★ Arras in Old Picture Postcards

★ Fortifications of Arras