Douai in the context of "Archdiocese of Cambrai"

Picard (/ˈpɪkɑːrd/ PIK-ard, also US: /pɪˈkɑːrd, ˈpɪkərd/ pih-KARD, PIK-ərd, French: [pikaʁ] ) is a langue d'oïl of the Romance language family spoken in the northernmost of France and parts of Hainaut province in Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian Wallonia along the border between both countries due to its traditional core being the districts of Tournai and Mons (Walloon Picardy).

The language or dialect is referred to by different names, as residents of Picardy call it simply Picard, but in the more populated region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais it is called Ch'ti or Ch'timi (sometimes written as Chti or Chtimi). This is the area that makes up Romance Flanders, around the metropolis of Lille and Douai, and northeast Artois around Béthune and Lens. Picard is also named Rouchi around Valenciennes, Roubaignot around Roubaix.

The English College (French: College des Grands Anglais) was a Catholic seminary in Douai, France (also previously spelled Douay, and in English Doway), associated with the University of Douai. It was established in 1568, and was suppressed in 1793. It is known for a Bible translation referred to as the Douay–Rheims Bible. Of over 300 British priests who studied at the English College, about one-third were executed after returning home.

The dissolution of the college at the time of the French Revolution led to the founding of Crook Hall near Lanchester in County Durham (which became St Cuthbert's College), and St Edmund's College, Ware. It is popularly believed that the indemnification funds paid by the French for the seizure of Douai's property were diverted by the British commissioners to complete the furnishings of George IV's Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

The University of Douai (French: Université de Douai; Dutch: Universiteit van Dowaai) was a historic university in Douai, France. With a medieval tradition of scholarly activity in the city, the university was established in 1559, and lectures began in 1562. It ceased operations from 1795 to 1808. In 1887, it was relocated 27 km away to Lille, where it became the University of Lille.

From the mid-16th century onward, the University of Douai had a Europe-wide influence as a prominent center of Neo-Latin literature, significantly contributing to the dissemination of printed knowledge. With 1,500 to 2,000 registered students and several hundred professors, it was the second-largest university in France during the late 17th and 18th centuries. Studies in mathematics and physics at the Douai Faculty of Arts fostered advancements in artillery practice. The Douai Faculty of Theology was a key center for Catholic scholarship, playing a crucial role in shaping religious doctrines and engaging in political controversies across Europe. Its scholars also contributed to the development of new approaches in the humanities.

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]).

The 6 arrondissements of the Nord department are:

1. Arrondissement of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, (subprefecture: Avesnes-sur-Helpe) with 151 communes. Its population was 225,391 in 2021.
2. Arrondissement of Cambrai, (subprefecture: Cambrai) with 116 communes. Its population was 158,753 in 2021.
3. Arrondissement of Douai, (subprefecture: Douai) with 64 communes. Its population was 244,710 in 2021.
4. Arrondissement of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), (subprefecture: Dunkirk) with 111 communes. Its population was 371,736 in 2021.
5. Arrondissement of Lille, (prefecture of the Nord department: Lille) with 124 communes. Its population was 1,260,060 in 2021.
6. Arrondissement of Valenciennes, (subprefecture: Valenciennes) with 82 communes. Its population was 350,643 in 2021.

The Battle of Arras, also known as the Second Battle of Arras, was a British offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front. The British achieved the longest advance since trench warfare had begun, surpassing the record set by the French Sixth Army on 1 July 1916 in the First day on the Somme. The British advance slowed in the next few days and the German defence recovered. The battle became a costly stalemate for both sides and by the end of the battle, the British Third Army and the First Army had suffered about 160,000 casualties and the German 6th Army about 125,000.

For much of the war, the opposing armies on the Western Front were at a stalemate, with a continuous line of trenches from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. The Allied objective from early 1915 was to break through the German defences into the open ground beyond and engage the numerically inferior German Army (Westheer) in a war of movement. The British attack at Arras was part of the Anglo-French Nivelle Offensive, the main part of which was the Second Battle of the Aisne 50 mi (80 km) to the south. The aim of the French offensive was to break through the German defences in forty-eight hours. At Arras the Canadians were to capture Vimy Ridge, dominating the Douai Plain to the east, advance towards Cambrai and divert German reserves from the French front.

The years 1579–1588 constituted a phase of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) between the Spanish Empire and the United Provinces in revolt after most of them concluded the Union of Utrecht on 23 January 1579, and proceeded to carve the independent Dutch Republic out of the Habsburg Netherlands. It followed the 1576–1579 period, in which a temporary alliance of 16 out of the Seventeen Provinces' States–General established the Pacification of Ghent (8 November 1576) as a joint Catholic–Protestant rebellion against the Spanish government, but internal conflicts as well as military and diplomatic successes of the Spanish Governors-General Don Juan of Austria and Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma split them apart, finally leading the Malcontent County of Artois, County of Hainaut and city of Douai to sign the Union of Arras on 6 January 1579, reverting to Catholicism and loyalty to the Spanish crown.

In response, most of the remaining rebel provinces and cities would forge or later accede to the Union of Utrecht, a closer military alliance treaty that would go on to become the most important fundamental law of the United Provinces, who on 26 July 1581 proclaimed the Act of Abjuration, a de facto declaration of independence from Spain. While the nascent polity was struggling to find a new sovereign head of state, including Matthias of Austria, Francis of Anjou, William "the Silent" of Orange and Robert of Leicester, before giving up and deciding to become the Dutch Republic by the instruction of 12 April 1588, the Duke of Parma continued his successful military and diplomatic offensive, bringing ever more provinces and cities in the southern, eastern and northeastern parts of the Netherlands back into royalist hands.