PLATE XIV.
THE TAKING OF OUDENARDE, BY FRANCIS ATREMEN.
Froissart tells us that Francis Atremen, Peter du Bois, Peter le Nuitre, and other captains of the Artevelde party, having returned from the siege of Ypres, “were daily and nightly imagining how they could annoy their enemies.” Among their various plans the favourite one was the taking of Oudenarde, which had successfully resisted all their former attempts. The men of Oudenarde holding the Ghent men in contempt, were grown somewhat careless; and the governor, Gilbert de Lienegen, being absent, no doubt causing the watch and general discipline to be still more lax, Francis Atremen and his followers stormed the place by surprise, with ladders, as represented in the Illumination. The operation was much facilitated by the ditches being dry, the inhabitants having emptied them of water to get the fish. The captors pillaged the town, sending out all the women and children in the meanest dress they had, who were forced to take refuge in Mons, Arras, and other places.
The Battle of Rosebecque.