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Calais |
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Calais (kälā`), city (1990 pop. 78,836), Pas-de-Calais dept., N France, in Picardy, on the Straits of Dover. An industrial center with a great variety of manufactures, it has been a major commercial seaport and a communications center with England since the Middle Ages. A major cross-channel ferry and hovercraft port, it is near the site of the Channel Tunnel Channel Tunnel, popularly called the "Chunnel," a three-tunnel railroad connection running under the English Channel, connecting Folkestone, England, and Calais, France. The tunnels are 31 mi (50 km) long. There are two rail tunnels, each 25 ft (7. ..... Click the link for more information. linking France with England. It was fortified (13th cent.) by the counts of Boulogne. In 1347, after a siege of 11 months, Calais fell to Edward III of England. A bronze monument by Rodin commemorates the famous episode of the six burghers who offered their lives to save the town; they were spared when Edward's queen, Philippa, interceded. The city remained in English hands until it was recovered (1558) by the French under François de Lorraine, the duke of Guise. It was the scene of much fighting (1940, 1944) in World War II. A Gothic church survived. CalaisSeaport (pop., 1999: 77,333) on the Strait of Dover, northern France. Originally a fishing village built on an island, it was improved by the count of Flanders in 997 and fortified by the count of Boulogne in 1224. Calais was taken in 1347 by Edward III of England, and after 1450 it was the only remaining English possession in France. The 2nd duke de Guise took Calais from the English in 1558. In World War II it was a main objective in the German drive to the sea in 1940. It is an important passenger port and is near the French terminus of the Channel Tunnel. The city is famous for its lace and embroideries. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Calais was the place of general rendezvous, and at Calais he had named to each of his recruits the hostelry of "Le Grand Monarque," where living was not extravagant, where sailors messed, and where men of the sword, with sheath of leather, be it understood, found lodging, table, food, and all the comforts of life, for thirty sous per diem. Off that place, one of the three had inquired at what time they would reach Calais. As for the latter, he had been considerably neglected during his mother's absence by Mademoiselle Genevieve, her French maid; for that young woman, contracting an attachment for a soldier in the garrison of Calais, forgot her charge in the society of this militaire, and little Rawdon very narrowly escaped drowning on Calais sands at this period, where the absent Genevieve had left and lost him. |
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Calais
