Bouchain (; ) is a
commune in the
Nord department in northern
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
It lies halfway between
Cambrai
Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river.
A sub-pref ...
and
Valenciennes
Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...
. Bouchain, seat of the early medieval County of Ostrevent, was taken by
Arnulf I, Count of Flanders, in the 10th century and eventually subsumed into the
County of Hainaut
The County of Hainaut ( ; ; ; ), sometimes spelled Hainault, was a territorial lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire that straddled the present-day border of Belgium and France. Its most important towns included Mons, Belgium, Mons (), n ...
.
During the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...
, when the town was fortified, Bouchain was besieged twice. On 12 September 1711 it was seized from the French after a
34 day siege by the Grand Alliance led by the
Duke of Marlborough. It was again besieged, and recaptured by French forces, on 19 October 1712 after an
18 day siege.
Population
International relations
It is twinned with
Halesworth
Halesworth is a market town, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in north-eastern Suffolk, England. The population stood at 4,726 in the 2011 Census. It lies south-west of Lowestoft, on a tribut ...
and
Eitorf.
Heraldry
See also
*
Communes of the Nord department
The following is a list of the 647 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):
References
Communes of Nord (French department)
Vauban fortifications in France
French Hainaut
{{Valenciennes-geo-stub