Calais
Calais () is a town 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.
The population of the city (
commune) at the
1999 census was 77,333 inhabitants (74,800 as of February
2004 estimates). The 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.
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 following the
Battle of Crécy.
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. The municipal charter of Calais, previously granted by the
Countess of Arlois, was reconfirmed that year by Edward.
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.
In
1363 the town was made a
staple port. It had become a
parliamentary borough sending
burgesses to the
House of Commons of the
Parliament of England by
1372. However it remained part of the
diocese of Thérouanne.
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
Kingdom of England, with its representatives sitting in the English
Parliament. Over one of its gates carried the inscription:
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 domestic 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 around Calais, known as the
Calaisis, 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 Britain.
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. In May
1940, it was a key objective of the invading
German forces and became the scene of a last-ditch defence 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. Despite heavy preparations for defense against an amphibious assault, the Allied 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.
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Pier and lighthouse on the Calais seafront |
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
Coquelles 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 to take advantage of the
border trade. Such day trippers are colloquially known as "
booze cruisers" and have been the target of considerable attention from the
UK Customs and Excise authorities.
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Calais Hotel de Ville (townhall) at night |
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 cast 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, 21 miles (33 km) away.
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Duisburg,
Germany*
Official Website*
Info about the port and city (in French)*
Port of Calais*
Visiting the city of Calais (Guide in English with PDF map)
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General information on calais
