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Battle of the Golden Spurs

The Battle of the Golden Spurs was fought on July 11, 1302, near Kortrijk in Flanders.

The reason for the battle was a French attempt to annex the country of Flanders. In 1300, the French king Philip IV appointed Jacques de Châtillon as governor of Flanders and took the Count of Flanders, Gwijde van Dampierre and his two sons, hostage. This instigated considerable unrest among Flemish urban guilds, who were quite influential.

After being exiled from their homes by French troops, the citizens of Brugge went back to their own city and murdered every Frenchman they could find there on 18 May 1302. They identified the French by asking them to pronounce a Flemish phrase schild en vriend. Everyone who had a problem pronouncing that, was killed.

The French king could not let this go unpunished, so he sent a powerful force of 10,000 men, led by Count Robert II of Artesia . The Flemish response consisted of two groups; one was led by Willem van Gullik , grandson of Count Gwijde, and Pieter de Coninc , one of the leaders of the uprising in Brugge. The other was headed by Gwijde van Namen, son of Count Gwijde. The two groups met at Kortrijk and totalled about 10,000 men, far less organised and disciplined than the professional French army.

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

The layout of the field, crossed by numerous streams, made it difficult for the French cavalry to break through the Flemish lines. Hindered by their own infantry and by fallen horses, the French knights were an easy target for the heavily-armed Flemish. When they realised the battle was lost, the surviving French fled, only to be pursued by the Flemish. Having little experience, the Flemish soldiers didn't realise it was possible and even customary to hold important people for ransom. They simply killed whoever they caught.

The large numbers of golden spurs that were collected from the French knights gave the battle its name. The spurs were hung in the Church of Our Lady in Kortrijk to commemorate the victory.

The battle showed that mounted knights were not invincible and so marked the beginning of their decline in European warfare. 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 Flemisch federations' official holiday.

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

References

J.F. Verbruggen, The Battle of the Golden Spurs: Courtrai, 11 July 1302 ISBN 0851158889

Battle of the Golden Spurs

A contemporary account from the Annales Gandenses (Annals of Ghent)

The Battle of Courtrai


Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45