The Battle of Bouvines
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Bouvines--from an archaic French word pertaining to cattle--is a French town that could fairly be described as "sleepy," even today having never topped 800 in population.
And in 1214 it was likely sleepier still. (The 1793 population--nearly six centuries later--was 300.) Yet, it was in this backwater that the Battle of Bouvines--the final battle of the Anglo-French War of 1213-1214, which involved two important countries plus the Holy Roman Empire--took place.
The army of the Kingdom of France, made up of numerous counties (led by counts), duchies (led by dukes), and lordships (can you guess who led them?) and fielding 7,000 men, was commanded by the French King Philip II, known as Philip Augustus.
The war itself was started by Pope Innocent III, who formed an alliance against Philip which was enthusiastically joined by King John of England, who had lost a number of French holdings a decade earlier, and wanted them back. Also on the Allies' side--and leading the 9,000 troops at Bouvines--was the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV. A number of other entities--Flanders, Brabant, Holland, Lorraine, and so on--also joined the Alliance.
The battle took place on July 27, 1214. Otto's troops were spread out in a long, straggling line, making them easy pickings for the charges made by the well-disciplined French knights on the Allies' left wing. Otto, in the center, made a concentrated thrust and nearly killed Philip, but the French knights made an effective counterattack. Otto himself fled the field, leaving his knights to lose the Imperial eagle standard. Only the right held strong, until all of the leading knights there were either killed, or captured, or driven from the field.
This victory by the French brought an end to the war, and to the hopes of King John to regain his lost territory. He had his own troubles at home, and the following year was forced by his disgruntled lords to sign a guarantee of certain rights known as the Magna Carta. Otto, meanwhile, was deposed as emperor after the battle.
France on the other hand, became ever more powerful.