The Battle
After the Flemish unsuccessfully tried to take Kortrijk on July 9 and 10, the two forces clashed on July 11 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 servants to place wood in the streams but did not 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 infantry and the tactically sound position of the Flemish militia, the French cavalry were an easy target for the heavily-armed Flemish. When they realized the battle was lost, the surviving French fled, only to be pursued over 10 km (6 mi) by the Flemish.
Prior to the battle, the Flemish militia had either been ordered to take no prisoners or did not care for the military custom of asking for a ransom for captured knights or nobles; modern theory is that there was a clear order that forbade them to take prisoners as long as the battle was as yet undecided (this was to avoid the possibility of their ranks being broken when the Flemish infantry brought their hostages behind the Flemish lines). Robert II of Artois was surrounded and killed on the field. (According to some tales he begged for his life but the Flemish refused, claiming that "they didn't understand French".)
Read more about this topic: Battle Of The Golden Spurs
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