Battle of the Golden Spurs

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Battle of the Golden Spurs
Part of the French invasion of Flanders
Date July 11, 1302
Location Kortrijk, Flanders
Result Flemish victory
Combatants
Flanders France
Commanders
Willem van Gulik
Pieter de Coninc
Guy of Namur		 Robert II of Artois
Strength
9,000 8,000
Casualties
100 est. 1,000 est.

The Battle of the Golden Spurs (Dutch: De Guldensporenslag, French: "bataille des éperons d'or") was fought on July 11, 1302, near Kortrijk in Flanders. The battle is also called The Battle of Courtrai after the French name for Kortrijk.

Contents

[edit] Background

The reason for the battle was a French attempt to subdue the county of Flanders, which was formally part of the French kingdom and added to the crown lands in 1297, but resisted centralist French policies. In 1300, the French king Philip IV appointed Jacques de Châtillon as governor of Flanders and took the Count of Flanders, Gwijde van Dampierre, hostage. This instigated considerable unrest among the influential Flemish urban guilds.

After being exiled from their homes by French troops, the citizens of Bruges went back to their own city and murdered every Frenchman they could find there on May 18 1302, known as the Brugse Metten. According to legend, they identified the French by asking them to pronounce a Dutch phrase, schild ende vriend (shield and friend), and everyone who had a problem pronouncing this shibboleth was killed. However, the [sx] sound in schild that makes it difficult for French-speakers to say had not yet developed in the 14th century, so this story is unlikely to be true.[1]

The French king could not let this go unpunished, so he sent a powerful force, led by Count Robert II of Artois. The Flemish response consisted of two groups; one was led by Willem van Gulik, grandson of Count Gwijde, and Pieter de Coninc, one of the leaders of the uprising in Bruges. The other was headed by Gwijde van Namen, son of Count Gwijde, with the two sons of Gwijde van Dampierre; the two groups met near Kortrijk.

[edit] Forces

The Flemish were primarily town militia who were well equipped and organised; the urban militias of the time prided themselves on their regular training and preparation. They numbered about 9,000, including 400 nobles. The biggest difference from the French and other feudal armies was that the Flemish force consisted solely of infantry.

The French were by contrast a classic feudal army made up of a core of 2,500 nobles cavalry, including knights and squires. They were supported by 1,000 crossbowmen, 1,000 pikemen and up to 3,500 other light infantry, totaling around 8,000.[2] Contemporary military theory valued each knight as equal to roughly ten infantry.[3]

[edit] The Battle

After the Flemish unsuccessfully tried to take Kortrijk on July 9 and July 10, the two forces clashed on 11 July in an open field near the city.

The layout of the field, crossed by numerous ditches and streams, made it difficult for the French cavalry to charge the Flemish lines. They sent the servants to place some wood in the streams but didn't wait for this to be done. The large French infantry force led the initial attack, which went well, but French commander Count Robert II of Artois recalled them so that the noble cavalry could claim the victory. Hindered by their own infantry and the tactically sound position of the Flemish militia, the French cavalry were an easy target for the heavily-armed infantry. When they realized the battle was lost, the surviving French fled, only to be pursued over 10 km by the Flemish.

Prior to the battle, the Flemish militia had been ordered to take no prisoners; Robert of Artois was surrounded and killed on the field.

[edit] Aftermath

The large numbers of golden spurs that were collected from the French knights gave the battle its name[4]; at least a thousand noble cavaliers were killed, some contemporary accounts placing the total casualties at over ten thousand dead and wounded. The French spurs were hung in the Church of Our Lady in Kortrijk to commemorate the victory, and were taken back by the French two years later after the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle.

Some of the notable casualties:

[edit] Consequence

The battle was one in a string during the 14th century that showed that knights could be defeated by disciplined and well equipped infantry. It is also a landmark in the development of Flemish political independence. It is considered one of the main reasons that Dutch is the language spoken in Flanders today. The day is remembered every year in Flanders as the Flemish Community's official holiday.

The battle is romanticised in 1838 by Flemish writer Hendrik Conscience in his book "The Lion of Flanders" (Dutch: "De leeuw van Vlaanderen").

[edit] Peasant uprising

Another unusual feature of this battle is that it is often cited as one of the few successful uprisings of peasants and townsmen, given that at the time most peasant uprisings in Europe were quelled.

The uprising originated from the people themselves, without being provoked by a lord (the Flemish count and his most important lords were in French captivity). Only when the uprising became widespread, the count's relatives who still were free rushed in to aid. But in the first place this was a struggle of people against a lord (the French king), not the struggle between two lords.[5]

Barbara Tuchman describes this as a peasant uprising in A Distant Mirror. Though the winning army was well armed, the initial uprising was nonetheless a folk uprising. Eventually, however, the Flemish nobles did take their part in the battle — each of the Flemish leaders were of the nobility or descended from nobility, and some 400 of noble blood did fight on the Flemish side.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Born on the 11th of July.. Language Log. Retrieved on 2006-07-12.
  2. ^ Rogers, Clifford J. "The Age of the Hundred Years War." Maurice Keen, ed. Medieval Warfare: A History 136–160. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
  3. ^ TeBrake, William H. A Plague of Insurrection: Popular Politics and Peasant Revolt in Flanders, 1323–1328. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
  4. ^ KORTRIJK : Battle of the Golden Spurs.. Belgium Travel Network. Retrieved on 2006-03-04.
  5. ^ The Battle of Courtrai or the Battle of the Golden Spurs — July 11th 1302. De Liebaart. Retrieved on 2006-03-04.
  1. Verbruggen, J.F. The Battle of the Golden Spurs: Courtrai, 11 July 1302 ISBN 085115888
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