Calais

This article is about the French city. Alternate meanings: Boreads (mythical), Calais, Maine, Calais, Vermont

Template:FRdot Calais is a city in northern France, located at 50°57N 1°52E. It is in the département of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sous-préfecture.

Population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 77,333 inhabitants (74,800 as of February 2004 estimates). Population of the whole metropolitan area (aire urbaine) at the 1999 census was 125,584.

Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34 km (21 miles) wide here, and is the closest French town to England. The white cliffs of Dover can easily be seen on a clear day.

The old part of the town, Calais proper (or Calais-Nord), is situated on an artificial island surrounded by canals and harbours. The modern part of the town, St-Pierre, lies to the south and southeast.

Contents

1 History 2 Economy 3 Sights 4 External links

History

The origins of Calais are obscure. It was founded as a fishing village some time prior to the 10th century. In 997, it was improved by the Count of Flanders and fortified by the Count of Boulogne in 1224. Its strategic position made it a key target for the growing power of the kingdom of England, and the town was besieged and captured by King Edward III of England in 1347, after a siege of eleven months. The angry king demanded reprisals against the town's citizens for holding out for so long and ordered that the town's population be killed en masse. He agreed to spare them on the condition that six of the principal citizens would come to him, bareheaded and barefooted and with ropes around their necks, and give themselves up to die. When they came, he ordered that they should be executed, but he pardoned them when his queen, Philippa of Hainault, begged him to spare their lives. He drove out most of the French, however, and settled the town with people from England, so that it might serve as a gateway to France. In 1360 the Treaty of Brétigny assigned Guines, Marck and Calais – collectively the "Pale of Calais" – to English rule in perpetuity, but this was only informally and partially implemented.

The town came to be called the "brightest jewel in the English crown" due to its great importance as the gateway for the tin, lead, cloth and wool trades (or "staples"). Its customs revenues amounted at times to a third of the English government's revenue, with wool being the most important element by far. Out of its population of about 12,000 people, as many as 5,400 were recorded as having been connected with the wool trade. The governorship or Captaincy of Calais was a lucrative and highly prized public office; the famous Dick Whittington was simultaneously Lord Mayor of London and Mayor of the Staple in 1407.

Calais was regarded for many years as being an integral part of England, with its representatives sitting in the English Parliament. Over one of its gates was inscribed:

Then shall the Frenchmen Calais win

When iron and lead like cork shall swim

This was, however, at odds with reality. The continued English hold on Calais depended on expensively-maintained fortifications, as the town lacked any natural defences. Maintaining Calais was a costly business that was frequently tested by the forces of France and the Duchy of Burgundy, with the Franco-Burgundian border running nearby. The duration of the English hold over Calais was to a large extent the result of the feud between Burgundy and France, under which both sides coveted the town but preferred to see it in the hands of the English rather than their deadly rivals. The stalemate was broken by the eventual victory of the French crown over Burgundy, and the incorporation of the duchy into France.

The end of English rule over Calais came on January 7, 1558 when the French, under Francis, Duke of Guise, took advantage of a weakened garrison and decayed fortifications to retake it. The loss was regarded by Queen Mary I of England as a dreadful misfortune. When she heard the news, she reportedly said "When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Calais' lying in my heart" (Holinshed's Chronicles, IV, 1808). The region now known as the Pas de Calais was renamed the Pays Reconquis ("Reconquered Country") in commemoration of its recovery.

The town was captured by the Spanish in 1596 in an invasion mounted from the nearby Spanish Netherlands but it was returned to France under the Treaty of Vervins in 1598.

During the 18th century, Calais achieved an unusual scientific claim to fame. When the metre was originally defined in terms of the size of the Earth, it was based on the distance from Calais to Perpignan. This is close to the longest continuous north-south line segment within France.

Calais was on the front lines of the conflict with the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1805, it hosted Napoleon's army and invasion fleet for his abortive invasion of England.

The British returned to Calais again during World War I, due to its proximity to the front lines in Flanders. It was a key port for the supply of arms and reinforcements to the Western Front. The town was virtually razed to the ground during World War II, when it was the scene of a last-ditch defence in 1940 that allowed the defeated British forces to be evacuated from nearby Dunkirk in the Battle of Dunkirk. 3,000 British and 800 French troops, assisted by Royal Navy warships, held out from 22 May to 27 May 1940 against two German panzer divisions. The town was flattened by round-the-clock bombing and only 30 of the 3,800-strong defending force were evacuated before the town fell.

During the ensuing German occupation, it became the command post for German forces in the Pas-de-Calais/Flanders region and was very heavily fortified, as it was generally believed by the Germans that the Allies would invade at that point. It was also used as a launch site for V1 flying bombs and for much of the war, the Germans used the region as the site for railway guns used to bombard the south-eastern corner of England. In the event, the invasion took place well to the west in Normandy on D-Day. Calais was very heavily bombed and shelled in a successful effort to disrupt German communications and persuade them that the Allies would target the Pas-de-Calais for invasion (rather than Normandy). The town, now largely in ruins, was liberated by Canadian forces in October 1944.

Economy

The city's proximity to England has made it a major port for centuries. It is the principal ferry crossing point between England and France, with the vast majority of cross-Channel being made between Dover and Calais. The French end of the Channel Tunnel is also situated in the vicinity of Calais, in Sangatte some 4 miles (6 km) to the west of the town.

The mainstay of the town's economy is, naturally, its port, but it also has a number of indigenous industries. The principal ones are lace making, chemicals, and paper manufacture. It possesses direct rail links to Paris (148 miles / 238 km to the south).

Due to the large difference in taxation between Britain and France on such items as alcoholic beverages and tobacco, massive shopping complexes targeted at British day-trippers have sprung up on and around Calais. Such day trippers are colloquially known as "booze cruisers" and have been the target of considerable attention from the UK Customs and Excise authorities.

Sights

Virtually the entire town was flattened in the Second World War, so there is little in Calais that pre-dates the war. For most visitors, the town is simply a place to pass through en route to other destinations.

The town centre is dominated by its distinctive hotel de ville (town hall), built in the Flemish Renaissance style (and visible well out to sea). Directly in front of the town hall is a copy of the statue The Burghers of Calais (French Les Bourgeois de Calais), by Auguste Rodin.

The German wartime military headquarters, situated near the train station in a small park, is today open to the public as a war museum.

Immediately to the west is the Côte d'Opale, an extremely scenic cliff-lined section of coast that parallels the White Cliffs on the English coast and is part of the same geological formation.

On clear days, the buildings of Calais can quite readily be seen with the naked eye from the English shore, twenty one miles away.

External links

• Official Website (http://www.mairie-calais.fr/)
• Info about the port and city (in French) (http://www.calais.cci.fr/)
• Port of Calais (http://www.calais-port.com/defaultuk.html)de:Calais

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