Situated on the road of invasion, at the intersection of the highways
leading to Amiens, Arras, Cambrai and Soissons, Bapaume, in the course
of past centuries, was several times besieged, destroyed or plundered.
The town dates from the early Middle-Ages, and owes its origin to a
fortified Castle built at the exit of the immense Arrouaise Forest,
which at that time extended from the Ancre to the Sambre, and was
infested by robbers and cut-throats. Mention of this particularity
is found in an eleventh century heroic poem "En Aroaise a mauvaise
ripaille."
[Illustration: BAPAUME. THE RUE D'ARRAS, SEEN FROM THE PLACE
FAIDHERBE.]
Under the protection of the Castle, the town grew rapidly, and soon
became an important city, made wealthy by the trading between France
and Flanders. Conquered by Louis XI., it afterwards fell into the hands
of the Spaniards, and was transformed into a fortified town by Charles
Quint. Recaptured by Francis I., it was lost again, and retaken only in
1641. Several years later, the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) ceded it
definitely to France.