a historic region in northern France. Chief city, Arras. Much of Artois lies within the department of Pas-de-Calais. Its name comes from the Atrebates, a Celtic tribe who settled the region in antiquity.
The territory of Artois belonged to the counts of Flanders from the middle of the ninth to the 12th century. At the end of the 12th century it entered the domain of the French king. Artois, with county status, became the appanage of the brother of the French king Louis IX in 1237. From 1384 to 1477, Artois was part of the dukedom of Burgundy; from 1493 it was a possession of the Austrian Hapsburgs (although it was feudally dependent on France until 1526); and in 1556 it reverted to the Spanish king Philip II. Artois was an economically backward province of the Netherlands, and during the 16th-century revolution in the Netherlands it was a stronghold of Spanish rule. By the peace treaties of the Pyrenees (1659) and Nijmegen (1678), Artois was annexed to France. During World War I, Artois was the site of major battles in 1914, 1915, and 1917.