(2) Hesdin – France

 

 

 

Hesdin was a fief of the counts of Artois, vassals of the Counts of Flanders until 1180. When Philip, count of Flanders gave Artois as dowry to his niece Isabel de Hainault when she married Philip Augustus of France in 1180, Hesdin and the other seigneuries passed to France. Hesdin in the Northwest of France was founded in 1554 by Charles V. In the sixteenth century the city played an important role in the wars between France and the Spanish Netherlands, which was part of the Spanish Kingdom. Though subsequently the territory passed to the Dukes of Burgundy, Hesdin remained one of a handful of French strongholds, until in 1553 Emperor Charles V ordered the utter destruction of the old fortified town on a rise of ground and built the present town the following year, some 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) from the original site, on the banks of the Canche.
In 1639 the French laid siege to Hesdin and under Louis XIII, it was recaptured for France.

Du Siege De Hesdin 1639 / the siege of Hesdin 1639