Editing Cambrai (section)

===The French Revolution===
<!--[[File:A Thanksgiving Service Attended by Canadian Troops Being Held in the Cambrai Cathedral.jpg|thumb|Canadian Soldiers at a Thanksgiving ceremony at Cambrai Cathedral WWI]]-->

The city suffered from the [[French Revolution|Revolution]]: [[Joseph Le Bon]], sent by the [[Comité de salut public]], arrived in Cambrai in 1794.{{cn|date=February 2025}} He was to set up an era of "terror", sending many to the [[guillotine]], until he was tried and executed in 1795.{{cn|date=February 2025}} One of his most famous victims was [[François III Maximilien de la Woestyne, 3rd Marquess of Becelaere]].

Most of the religious buildings of the city were demolished in that period: in 1797, the [[Old Cambrai Cathedral|old cathedral]], which had been dubbed the "wonder of the low countries", was sold to a merchant on 6 June 1796 who left only the tower,<ref group=d>p.410</ref> after exploiting the cathedral as a stone quarry. The main tower was left standing until 1809, when it collapsed<ref group=d>p.424</ref> in a storm. However the cathedral's archives have been preserved (they are now at the Archives Départementales du Nord in [[Lille]]) and a [[Cambrai Cathedral|new cathedral]] was later provided.{{cn|date=February 2025}}