Video - Battle of the Golden Spurs

**SimonL** · January 01, 2007, 06:25 AM

Hello. Because I kind of missed the option to replay the Battle of the Golden Spurs, I decided to make a custom battle of it, and a video of it too.

Info

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 either been ordered to take no prisoners or did not understand (or care for) the military custom of asking for a ransom for captures knights or nobles; [1] Robert of Artois was surrounded and killed on the field.