Editing Picardy (section)

==History==
[[File:Carte de Picardie.svg|thumb|left|Map of the historical extent of Picardy]]
The historical [[provinces of France|province]] of Picardy stretched from [[Senlis]] to [[Calais]] via the main parts of the [[Oise]] and [[Aisne]] departments, the whole of the [[Somme (department)|Somme]] department and the west of the [[Pas-de-Calais]] department. The province of [[Artois]] ([[Arras]] area) separated Picardy from [[French Flanders]].

=== Middle Ages ===
From the 5th century, the area formed part of the [[Francia|Frankish Empire]] and, in the feudal period, it encompassed the six countships of [[County of Boulogne|Boulogne]], [[Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais|Montreuil]], [[Ponthieu]], [[County of Amiens|Amiénois]], [[Vermandois]] and [[Laon]]nois.<ref name="dunbabin4">Dunbabin.France in the Making. Ch.4. The Principalities 888–987</ref> In accordance with the provisions of the 843 [[Treaty of Verdun]], the region became part of [[West Francia]], the later [[Kingdom of France]].

The name "Picardy" derives from the Old French ''pic,'' meaning "[[Pike (weapon)|pike]]", the characteristic weapon used by people from this region in ancient times.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/picardy |title=picardy {{!}} Origin and meaning of picardy by Online Etymology Dictionary |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en |access-date=18 March 2020 |archive-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501172930/https://www.etymonline.com/word/Picardy |url-status=dead}}</ref> The term "Picardy" was first used in the early 13th century,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.eupedia.com/france/picardy.shtml |title=Eupedia |last=Maciamo |website=Eupedia |language=en |access-date=18 March 2020}}</ref> during which time the name applied to all lands where the [[Picard (language)|Picard]] language was spoken including territories from Paris to the [[Netherlands]].<ref name="PlanholClaval1994">{{cite book |author1=Xavier De Planhol |author2=Paul Claval |title=An Historical Geography of France |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C19glZh7zfoC&pg=PA172 |access-date=25 March 2012 |date=17 March 1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-32208-9 |page=172}}</ref> In the [[Latin Quarter]] of Paris, people identified a "Picard Nation" (''Nation Picarde'') of students at [[Sorbonne University]], most of whom actually came from [[County of Flanders|Flanders]].<ref name="britannica">
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. History of Picardy.
</ref>
During the [[Hundred Years' War]], Picardy was the centre of the [[Jacquerie]] peasant revolt in 1358.

Beginning in 1419, the Picardy counties ([[county of Boulogne|Boulogne]], [[county of Ponthieu|Ponthieu]], [[county of Amiens|Amiens]], [[county of Vermandois|Vermandois]]) were gradually acquired by the [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundian]] duke [[Philip the Good]], acquisitions confirmed by King [[Charles VII of France]] at the 1435 [[Congress of Arras]]. In 1477, King [[Louis XI of France]] led an army and occupied key towns in Picardy.{{sfn|Potter|1993|p= 37}} By the end of 1477, Louis would control all of Picardy and most of [[County of Artois|Artois]].{{sfn|Potter|1993|p= 39}}

=== Modern era ===
In the 15th century, the ''government'' (military region) of Picardy was created. This became a new administrative region of France, separate from what was historically defined as Picardy. The new Picardy included the [[Somme (department)|Somme]] ''[[département]]'', the northern half of the [[Aisne]] ''département'' and a small fringe in the north of the [[Oise]] ''département''.

In 1557, Picardy was invaded by Habsburg forces under the command of [[Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy]].<ref name="Tucker518">''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East'', Vol. II, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 518</ref> After a [[Battle of St. Quentin (1557)|seventeen-day siege]],<ref name="Tucker518" /> [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|St. Quentin]] would be ransacked,<ref name="Tucker518" /> while [[Noyon]] would be burned by the Habsburg army.<ref>George A. Rothrock, The Huguenots: A Biography of a Minority, (Nelson-Hall, Inc., 1979), 48.</ref>

In the early 18th century, an infectious disease similar to [[English sweat]] originated from the region and spread across France. It was called ''Suette des picards'' or [[Picardy sweat]].<ref name="Hecher1844">{{cite book |author=T. F. C. Hecher |title=The epidemics of the Middle ages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMfGlF2oOdQC&pg=PA315 |access-date=25 March 2012 |year=1844 |publisher=G. Woodfall and Von |pages=315–318}}</ref>

[[Sugar beet]] was introduced by [[Napoleon I]] during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in the 19th century in order to counter the United Kingdom which had seized the sugar islands possessed by France in the [[Caribbean]]. The [[sugar industry]] has continued to play a prominent role in the economy of the region.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.french.co.uk/france/regions/picardy/ |work=French.co.uk |title=Picardie}}</ref>

One of the most significant historical events to occur in Picardy was the series of battles fought along the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] during [[World War I]]. From September 1914 to August 1918, four major battles, including the [[Battle of the Somme]], were fought by British, Commonwealth, French and German forces in the fields of Northern Picardy.<ref name="Philpott2010">{{cite book |author=William Philpott |title=Three Armies on the Somme: The First Battle of the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MXGNxVINkAC |access-date=25 March 2012 |date=5 October 2010 |publisher=Random House Digital, Inc. |isbn=978-0-307-26585-2 |pages=3–4}}</ref>

=== Picardy today ===

[[File:Pierre Puvis de Chavannes - "Ludus Pro Patria" - Walters 3716.jpg|right|thumb|This painting by [[Pierre Puvis de Chavannes]] recalls the "Golden Age" in the history of the province of Picardy.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[The Walters Art Museum]] |url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/20168 |title=Ludus Pro Patria}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.]]
In 2009, the Regional Committee for local government reform proposed to reduce the number of [[Regions of France|French regions]] and cancel additions of new regions in the near future. Picardy would have disappeared and each department would have joined a nearby region. The Oise would have been incorporated in the [[Île-de-France (region)|Île-de-France]], the Somme would have been incorporated in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Aisne would have been incorporated in the Champagne-Ardenne. The vast majority of Picards were opposed to this proposal and it was scrapped in 2010 (see newspaper: "Courrier Picard").

Today, the modern region of Picardy no longer includes the coastline from Berck to Calais, via Boulogne (Boulonais), that is now in the [[Nord-Pas-de-Calais]] region but does incorporate the ''pays'' of [[Beauvaisis]], Valois, Noyonnais, Laonnois, Soissonnais, Omois among other [[departments of France]]. The older definition of Picardy survives in the name of the [[Picard language]] which applies not only to the dialects of Picardy proper but also to the [[Romance languages|Romance]] dialects spoken in the [[Nord-Pas de Calais]] [[région|region]], north of Picardy proper, and parts of the [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[province of Hainaut]].