Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, 2nd Count of Bucquoy (Czech: Karel Bonaventura Buquoy, Spanish: Carlos Buenaventura de Longueval, Conde de Bucquoy, full name in French: Charles Bonaventure de Longueval comte de Bucquoy, German: Karl Bonaventura Graf von Buquoy) (9 January 1571, Arras – 10 July 1621, Nové Zámky) was a military commander who fought for the Spanish Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War and for the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
Jean Bodel (c. 1165 – c. 1210), also spelled Jehan Bodel, was an Old French poet who wrote a number of chansons de geste as well as many fabliaux. He lived in Arras.
The Hindenburg Line (Siegfriedstellung, Siegfried Position) was a German defensive fortification built during the winter of 1916–1917 on the Western Front in France during the First World War. The line ran from Arras to Laffaux, near Soissons, on the Aisne. In 1916, the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme left the German western armies (Westheer) exhausted and on the Eastern Front, the Brusilov offensive had inflicted huge losses on the Austro-Hungarian armies and forced the Germans to take over more of the front. The declaration of war by Romania had placed additional strain on the Imperial German Army and the war economy.
The Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line) built behind the Noyon Salient, was to replace the old front line as a precaution against a resumption of the Battle of the Somme in 1917. By devastating the intervening ground, the Germans could delay an Anglo-French offensive. A shortened front could be held with fewer troops and with tactical dispersal, reverse-slope positions, defence in depth and camouflage, German infantry could be conserved. Unrestricted submarine warfare and strategic bombing would weaken the Anglo-French as the German armies in the west (Westheer) recuperated. On 25 January 1917, the Germans had 133 divisions on the Western Front but this was insufficient to contemplate an offensive.
Brussels tapestry workshops produced tapestry from at least the 15th century, but the city's early production in the Late Gothic International style was eclipsed by the more prominent tapestry-weaving workshops based in Arras and Tournai. In 1477 Brussels, capital of the Duchy of Brabant, was inherited by the house of Habsburg; and in the same year Arras, the prominent center of tapestry-weaving in the Low Countries, was sacked and its tapestry manufacture never recovered, and Tournai and Brussels seem to have increased in importance.
The only millefleur tapestry to survive together with a record of its payment was a large heraldic millefleur carpet of very high quality made for Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy in Brussels, of which part is now in the Bern Historical Museum. Sophie Schneebalg-Perelman's attribution to Brussels of The Lady and the Unicorn at the Musée de Cluny may well be correct.
The Nivelle offensive (16 April – 9 May 1917) was a Franco-British operation on the Western Front in the First World War which was named after General Robert Nivelle, the commander-in-chief of the French metropolitan armies, who led the offensive. The French part of the offensive was intended to be strategically decisive by breaking through the German defences on the Aisne front within 48 hours, with casualties expected to be around 10,000 men. A preliminary attack was to be made by the French Third Army at St Quentin and the British First, Third and Fifth armies at Arras, to capture high ground and divert German reserves from the French fronts on the Aisne and in Champagne. The main offensive was to be delivered by the French on the Chemin des Dames ridge (the Second Battle of the Aisne). A subsidiary attack was to be made by the Fourth Army (the Third Battle of Champagne). The final stage of the offensive was to follow the meeting of the British and French armies, having broken through the German lines, to pursue the defeated German armies towards the German frontier.
The Franco-British attacks were tactically successful; the French Third Army of Groupe d'armées du Nord (GAN, Northern Army Group) captured the German defences west of the Hindenburg Line (Siegfriedstellung) near St Quentin from 1 to 4 April, before further attacks were repulsed. The British Third and First armies achieved the deepest advance since trench warfare began, along the Scarpe river in the Battle of Arras, which inflicted many casualties on the Germans, attracted reserves and (specifically the four Canadian divisions of the First Army) captured Vimy Ridge to the north. The main French offensive on the Aisne began on 16 April and also achieved considerable tactical success but the attempt to force a strategically decisive battle on the Germans was a costly failure and by 25 April the main offensive had been suspended.
The Treaty of Arras was concluded at Arras on 23 December 1482, between King Louis XI of France and Archduke Maximilian I of Austria, thus ending the first phase of the War of the Burgundian Succession, that broke out in 1477 over the Burgundian inheritance, a collection of Valois-Burgundy domains that included the Burgundian Netherlands and several other possessions of the House of Valois-Burgundy.
Douai (UK: /ˈduːeɪ/ DOO-ay, US: /duˈeɪ/ doo-AY, French: [dwɛ] ; Picard: Doï; Dutch: Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Lille and 25 km (16 mi) from Arras, Douai is home to one of the region's most impressive belfries.
Artois (/ɑːrˈtwɑː/ ar-TWAH, French: [aʁtwɑ]; Dutch: Artesië; Picard: Artoé; English adjective: Artesian) is a region of northern France. Its territory covers an area of about 4,000 km and it has a population of about one million. Its principal cities include Arras (Dutch: Atrecht), Saint-Omer, Lens, and Béthune. It is the eponym for the term Artesian.
Lens (French pronunciation: [lɑ̃s] ; Picard: Linse) is a city in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of the main towns of Hauts-de-France along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras and Douai. The inhabitants are called Lensois (pronounced [lɑ̃swa]).
Matthias of Arras (c.1290–1352), sometimes spelled as Matthew of Arras (Czech: Matyáš z Arrasu, German: Matthias von Arras, French: Mathieu d'Arras) was a French architect, famed for his work on St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
Matthias was born in Arras, but little else is known about his early life. In 1344, he was summoned to Prague from the papal court of Avignon by Charles IV to lead works on the newly founded Saint Vitus Cathedral. He is also widely recognized as the architect of Karlstein Castle, although this fact is not fully authenticated. His involvement in the design of the New Town of Prague is also not completely certain.