Artois (French pronunciation: [aʁtwa]; adjective Artesian; Dutch: Artesië) is a former province of northern France. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras (Dutch: Atrecht), Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.
Artois occupies the interior of the Pas-de-Calais département, the western part of which constitutes the former Boulonnais. Artois roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Arras, Béthune, Saint Omer, and Lens, and the eastern part of the Arrondissement of Montreuil. It occupies the western end of the coalfield which stretches eastward through the neighbouring Nord département and across central Belgium.
Originally a feudal county itself, Artois was annexed by the county of Flanders. It came to France in 1180 as a dowry of a Flemish princess, Isabelle of Hainaut, and was again made a separate county in 1237 for Robert, a grandson of Isabelle. Through inheritance, Artois came under the rule of the dukes of…
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