©Nohcab Calais and England: a long history
This is our geography and our history! Calais is 30 kilometers facing the English coast. Its history has therefore often been related to Great Britain. A look back at links and facts, between "cordial understanding", successes and sometimes tensions.
The Burghers of Calais
This famous work recalls a story which marks the beginning of the unique relationship between Calais and England. The Burghers of Calais, this evokes The Hundred Years War, just like Joan of Arc, Agincourt or Crécy.
So let's refresh our memories...At the start of the conflict, the troops of King Edward III of England began in 1346 the siege of Calais, a stronghold surrounded by walls and equipped with a port. After 11 months of siege, the starving people of Calais asked to capitulate, but Edward III demanded that six notables hand over their lives and the keys to the city as a token of submission. Six men, led by Eustache de Saint Pierre, devote themselves and head for the gallows... before being pardoned by the wife of the King of England. Thus began 211 years of English presence, until 1558.
The Monument to the Burghers of Calais
©Nohcab The Pale of Calais
The English possessions extended about twenty kilometers around Calais, a territory called the "Pale of Calais". By hiking on the trails to the west of Calais XXL, near Saint-Tricat, Bonningues-les-Calais or Hames-Boucres, we walk on what was for 2 centuries a piece of England!
In Calais, during these two centuries, the English developed the port activity with the prosperous trade of wool and textiles. The English Calais, a fortified city, was articulated in the triangle port - Notre Dame church - castle (nowadays the citadel). The parade ground was the heart of it.
Some sumptuous residences have disappeared over the centuries, including the palace where Henry VIII welcomed other sovereigns such as Charles V and Francis I.
The main testimony of this English presence is Notre-Dame church, one of the few examples of English religious architecture on the continent. As a reminder of this influence, the peaceful and fragrant park bordering the church has taken the name of Tudor garden.
©Nohcab THE PORT OF CALAIS IS GROWING IN IMPORTANCE
France regained possession of Calais in 1558, after 211 years of English presence.. The port has taken an important place in a northern European context where trade is increasing and diversifying. Maritime activity is developing but tensions between European nations are recurring. The port of Calais therefore also has a military role, and is severely impacted by the blockade imposed on England by Napoleon I. A harmful consequence locally, the port of Calais no longer has any relations with English ports... At the fall of the Empire, a King returns to the throne of France, it is Louis XVIII. He was in exile in England... and returned to France via Calais in April 1814.
©nohcab IN THE 19TH CENTURY, ECONOMIC RELATIONS DEVELOPED
After the fall of Napoleon, relations between Calais and England took a clear economic turn. In 1816, 3 Englishmen (Clark, Webster and Bonington) landed at the port of Calais. They worked in the mechanical lace industry in Nottingham. They took with them, in spare parts and in all discretion, a lace loom, in smuggler mode! These were the beginnings of Calais lace, which will transform the destiny of many people ! On the port side, passenger transport between Calais and Dover will develop at the beginning of the 19th century. Another great story begins, that of the main port between the European continent and Great Britain. Over the decades, companies related to the British market or of English origin will establish themselves in Calais, including Meccano, the famous toy.
©F. Collier FRANCE AND THE UNITED KINGDOM, ALLIES
From the first months of the 1914-1918 War, the Germans had the northern ports among their objectives: it was "the race to the sea". Facing England, Calais was targeted, but the Germans were kept a few dozen kilometers away.
Calais and its surroundings will become a large rear base behind the front. The Belgian, French and English armies are very present there. Supplies, hospitals, storage of equipment, the port of Calais is an anthill. Trains leave for the front, ships make the connection with England, whose soldiers transit through the port. Protecting this essential maritime route is part of the missions of the Dover PatrolAlthough Calais was not involved in the land fighting, its role as an inter-allied base should not be neglected.
The citadel defended Calais during the German invasion of May 1940. The French troops were supported by a British contingent. Their resistance allowed them to slow down the Germans on their way to Dunkirk where the Dynamo evacuation operation was being prepared. During the German Occupation, the sky over Calais was a permanent battlefield between airmen. The Calais Memory Museum is a witness to this dark era. And when we talk about Franco-English relations, they are symbolized by the links between Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill during the Second World War. A statue in the Parc Richelieu illustrates the two Great Men.
©nohcab RELATIONS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
In the second half of the 2th century, vehicle and passenger traffic between the ports of Dover and Calais exploded! It would reach almost 20 million in the 1990s... not counting the traffic absorbed by the major Franco-English project of the period, the construction of the Channel Tunnel (1987-1993). It was inaugurated on May 6, 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II and President François Mitterrand. While relations of all kinds between Calais and England remain lively, they must also deal with a new international context, between the global issue of population migration and the United Kingdom's exit (Brexit) from the European Union.
©Eurotunnel