On 15 June 1297 the French invaded Flanders, six months after Count Guy of Flanders had formally renounced his homage to Philip le Bel. Philip advanced towards Lille and summoned Charles d’Artois to bring the French field army from Gascony to help in the siege. The departure of Charles lifted the pressure on English garrisons in the duchy, but it seems Philip had decided he could not fight a war on two fronts.
There was little to prevent the French invasion. Edward I had spent lavishly on constructing a ‘grand alliance’ of most of the princes of Western Europe, in the hope they would surround the French and attack them from all sides. The plan misfired as some of Edward’s expensive allies went into action at different times, while others failed to move. Only the Count of Bar attempted to halt the invasion of Flanders, and might have succeeded if the King of Germany, Adolf of Nassau, had responded to Edward’s request to move up in support. Adolf contented himself with sending a paltry sum of six hundred livres to help the war effort.
Outnumbered, Count Guy was forced onto the defensive. He had managed to hire some German mercenaries, and was also supported by two of the German princes on Edward’s payroll, the Count of Katzenelenbogen (try saying that quickly) and Waleran of Valkenburg. Waleran had previously distinguished himself at the Siege of Vendôme, where he picked up the Duke of Vendôme and threw him into a canal, where he drowned.
A number of skirmishes were fought on the outskirts of Lille, and on 16 June a Flemish-German force was defeated by the French at the bridge of Commines. Meanwhile Edward was frantically trying to scrape together an army in England. After years of war and taxation, the English were fed up and had no interest in a campaign in Flanders. When Edward summoned the men of three English counties to muster at Winchelsea on 28 June, only a certain Miles Pichard turned up, and he was a household knight. In desperation, Edward was forced to turn to recruitment in Wales.
Four days after Commines, there was a much larger engagement at Veurne; also called the Battle of Bulskamp, since it was fought on the plain of Bulskamp south of Veurne. It appears the outcome was decided by treachery. As soon as the armies were engaged, the Viscount of Veurne and the Sire de Ghistelles defected to the French.
Upon seeing this, Jean de Gavre turned to the allied commander, William of Julich, and advised him to flee:
“Dear friend, we will all be torn to pieces here; those men betrayed us, we’d better retreat and avoid a disaster.”
To which William responded: “I will never flee! None shall ever say I escaped out of fear! It would be a shame for me and my race. I like fighting better.”
Having put his personal honour before the safety of the army, William led the charge. A straight fight raged on the plain of Bulskamp, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. At last the allies were forced to flee, after five Flemish nobles were killed and eighteen knights and squires taken prisoner. Among the dead were Jean de Gavre and the valiant but misguided William of Julich. The survivors burnt Veurne and then retreated to Lille. Three days later, Edward set sail from Winchelsea with five thousand Welsh archers.
No comments:
Post a Comment