Le Cateau

Le Cateau or Le Cateau-Cambrésis , town (1993 est. pop. 7,789), Nord dept., N France, in French Flanders. It has textile, metallurgical, and ceramic industries. The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559) returned the last English foothold on the continent to France. Le Cateau was the scene of much fighting in World War I. A museum contains much of the work of Matisse , who was born there.

Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis kätō´-käNbrāzē´ , 1559, concluded at Le Cateau, France, by representatives of Henry II of France, Philip II of Spain, and Elizabeth I of England. It put an end to the 60-year conflict between France and Spain, begun with the Italian Wars , in which Henry VIII and later Mary I of England had intermittently sided against France. The terms were a triumph for Spain. France restored Savoy, except Saluzzo, to Duke Emmanuel Philibert , acknowledged Spanish hegemony over Italy, and consented to a rectification of its border with the Spanish Netherlands. Calais , however, was confirmed in French possession by England. Henry II's sister, Margaret, was given in marriage to Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy; Henry's daughter, Elizabeth of Valois, was given to Philip II of Spain.