Estaires (; ) is a commune in the Nord department of the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. The town gives its name to a type of chicken bred in the area: the Estaires chicken. Geography Estaires is located in French Flanders, in the Lys valley at an altitude of 16 m. The Meteren Becque flows into the Lys at this point. It stands 30 km west of Lille, 17 km from Hazebrouck and 14 km from Armentieres. It is twinned with Wielun in Poland. History The town stands on the site of a Roman Gaul city called Minariacum which features in the Antonine Itinerary, in the area of the town now known as Pont d'Estaires. Its earlier name is probably Celtic, but the etymology is obscure. It was positioned strategically on the road linking Castellum Menapiorum (Cassel) to the capital of the Atrebates peoples, Nemetacum Atrebatum (Arras), at the narrowest crossing of the Lys. Converted to Christianity in the ninth century by St Vaast, the city took the name of Stegers from the Old Dutch steger meaning a berth or mooring. It was part of the County of Flanders from its inception as was most of the Lys plain and was a lordship manor. The Lys formed a language border; to the north they spoke flemish and to the south picard (Romance Flanders). The town's name is the romanised Estaires, but the Estairois spoke both. In the Middle Ages the town developed through textile production. However it also suffered from the many conflicts between the Flemish, French, English, and also the Burgundians, Austrians and Spaniards. Flanders was strongly Catholic, but advent of Lutheran thought in the sixteenth century led to religious unrest. In 1566, the Geuzen Revolt broke out, affecting Estaires. Catholic iconography was destroyed by the Calvinists. In Estaires, on the day of Corpus Christi, the Geuzen mockingly processed with a donkey under a canopy in place of a priest. This episode remains part of the town's heritage and the Estairois are nicknamed Donkeys. The town became French in 1769 following the exchange of several enclaves with the Netherlands. At that time it was a flourishing textile producer, as was Armentières. The industrial base of the town was destroyed during the First World War. It was taken by the Germans in the spring of 1918 and was reconquered by the Allies towards the end of the war. Almost the