County of Artois

The County of Artois was a historic countship and province, founded in 1237 CE. It was initially part of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and later became a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659. Its capital was Arras. Artois was annexed by the County of Flanders in 898, then came to France in 1180 as a dowry, and was again made a separate county in 1237. It remained part of the Spanish Netherlands until its conquest by the French during the Thirty Years War, with its annexation acknowledged in the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.