work of the Renaissance
period. The present archbishop's palace, adjoining the cathedral,
occupies the site of an old Benedictine convent.

Cambrai is the seat of an archbishop and a sub-prefect, and has
tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of
trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of
France. Its educational institutions include communal colleges,
ecclesiastical seminaries, and schools of drawing and music. The library
has over 40,000 volumes and there is a museum of antiquities and objects
of art. The chief industry of Cambrai is the weaving of muslin
(_batiste_) and other fine fabrics (see CAMBRIC); wool-spinning and
weaving, bleaching and dyeing, are carried on, as well as the
manufacture of chicory, oil, soap, sausages and metal boxes. There are
also large beet-sugar works and breweries and distilleries. Trade is in
cattle, grain, coal, hops, seed, &c.

Cambrai is the ancient Nervian town of _Camaracum_, which is mentioned
in the Antonine Itinerary. In the 5th century it was the capital of the
Frankish king Raguacharius. Fortified by Charlemagne, it was captured
and pillaged by the Normans in 870, and unsuccessfully besieged by the
Hungarians in 953. During the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries it was the
scene of frequent hostilities between the bishop and his supporters on
the one hand and the citizens on the other; but the latter ultimately
effected their independence. In 1478 Louis XI., who had obtained
possession of the town on the death of Charles the Bold, duke of
Burgundy, handed it over to the emperor, and in the 16th century Charles
V. caused it to be fortified with a strong citadel, for the erection of
which the castles of Cavillers, Escaudoeuvres and many others were
demolished. From that date to the peace of Nijmwegen, 1678, which
assigned it to France, it frequently passed from hand to hand by capture
or treaty. In 1793 it was besieged in vain by the Austrians. The League
of Cambrai is the name given to the alliance of Pope Julius II., Louis
XII., Maximilian I., and Ferdinand the Catholic against the Venetians in
1508; and the peace of Cambrai, or as it is also called, the Ladies'
Peace, was concluded in the town in 1529 by Louise of Savoy, mother of
Francis I., and Margaret of Austria, aunt of Charles V., in the name of
these monarchs. The bishopric of Cambrai dates from the 5th century, and
was raised in 1559 to the rank of an archbishopric, which continued ti