The county of Saint-Pol (or Sint-Pols) was a county

County

A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

 around the French city of Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise

Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise

Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The population of the canton is 14,939.-History:The county of Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, usually referred to as just Saint-Pol, was originally a stronghold of the Counts of Flanders and was established as a county...

 (Sint-Pols-aan-de-Ternas) on the border of Artois

Artois

Artois is a former province of northern France. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras , Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.-Location:...

 and Picardy

Picardy

This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...

, formerly the county of Ternois.

For a long time the county belonged to the county of Flanders, and then from the early 11th century until the end of the 12th century it remained in the hands of the Campdavaine family, before passing to the Châtillon family then the Luxemburg family.

The best-known count was Louis of Saint-Pol, the constable of Saint-Pol. He was extradited to Louis XI of France

Louis XI of France

Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....

 by Charles the Bold, and in 1475 Louis beheaded him for high treason. Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

 destroyed the city in 1537. The county was annexed to France in 1659 by the Treaty of the Pyrenees

Treaty of the Pyrenees

The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed to end the 1635 to 1659 war between France and Spain, a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years' War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, a river island on the border between the two countries...

.