A short history of Belgium

by Léon van der Essen

At the time that the battle of Worringen strengthened the position of Brabant in Central and Eastern Belgium, a new king, Philip IV, called Philip the Fair, ascended the throne of France. His policy was to continue and complete the plans of Philip August, the strengthening of the central power at the expense of the grand vassals, and the subjection of Flanders to the crown.

The ruling count in Flanders at this time was Guy de Dampierre, whose family came originally from Champagne. Guy had become one of the most powerful princes of Belgium. Supported by the French King, he had successfully brought to an end a struggle with the hostile dynasty of the D’Avesnes in Hainaut, had annexed the county of Namur, and had won real influence in Liège, Luxemburg, and Gueldre. Philip the Fair soon began to fear the growing might of his vassal and decided to crush it.

The internal struggles in Flanders offered him an opportune pretext. In the beginning, it was only the wealthy, the merchants and owners of property, who exercised political power in the commune and who controlled the offices. Later on, the laboring classes, forming themselves into corporations, became powerful and claimed the right to control the administration of the communal finances and a share in the public offices. The wealthy—the patricians—resisted, endeavoring to maintain their preponderance. The result was a violent civil war between patricians and craftsmen, between rich and poor. Everywhere leaders appeared in support of the poor: at Liège, Henry of Dinant; at Louvain, Peter Coutereel; in Flanders, Yoens, Ackerman, Artevelde. Generally speaking, after the fourteenth century the craftsmen triumphed, but everywhere only after bloody revolts. Once victorious, the laboring classes in many cities expelled the patricians from all public offices and admitted them only when enlisted in some corporation of craftsmen. In this manner the democratic régime was established in place of the former aristocracy.

Nowhere were those democratic struggles so violent as in Flanders. There the three powerful communes of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres tyrannized over the smaller cities and the country. In order to crush the supremacy of the patricians, who were the masters in these three cities, Count Guy de Dampierre supported the claims of the craftsmen. In their turn, the patricians appealed for help to the King of France, feudal lord of their count. Thus two parties sprang into existence: the party of the poor, who, faithful to the Count, adopted his banner with the device of the Lion of Flanders, and took the name of Clauwaerts (“men of the [lion’s] claw”); and the party of the wealthy patricians, protected by King Philip, who, owing to the presence of a fleur-de-lis in the royal French banner, were called Leliaerts (“men of the lily”).

On the cry for help by the latter, King Philip invaded Flanders, defeated the army of the Count, took his vassal prisoner, and treated the country as a conquered land.

But the arrogance of the French and especially of the governor, Jacques de Chatillon, excited the anger of the craftsmen. Those of Bruges secretly recalled the Clauwaerts who had been expelled from the city. Under the leadership of a weaver, Peter de Coninck, a revolt was planned. On a summer day of 1302, in the early hours of the morning, the conspirators entered Bruges, surprised the French and their sympathizers, and killed them. This event is spoken of as Matines brugeoises, “The Matins of Bruges.”

Exasperated, King Philip decided to avenge the revolt and the offense against his authority. A mighty army again invaded the country. Immediately the sons of the Count, John of Namur and William of Gulick, together with Peter de Coninck, organized resistance. The struggle was no longer a merely economic one between patricians and their French protectors on one side and the poor, as partisans of the Count, on the other. It was now a really national struggle, for defeat of the Flemish communes would mean the annexation of Flanders by France.

Under the walls of Courtrai, in the meadows of Groeninghe, the soldier-citizens of Bruges, assisted by many contingents of craftsmen from other parts of the country, met the flower of the French knighthood. The apparently impossible happened. The communes, fighting for the very existence of their country, defeated the army of the most powerful king in Christendom.

That victory is called the “battle of the Golden Spurs,” because nearly six hundred golden spurs, belonging to the French knights, were found on the battlefield and suspended, as a token of thanks to God, in the vault of the basilica of Courtrai.

The consequences of the battle of the Golden Spurs cannot be overestimated. From a political point of view it presents the same importance as the battle of Bouvines. It liberated Flanders from French influence and gave the first blow to the hegemony of France in Europe. In Rome, Pope Boniface VIII, a fierce enemy of King Philip, arose in the middle of the night in order to receive and rejoice over the news.