Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- General Editor's Preface
- Editor's Introduction to the 2002 edition
- Foreword to the 1952 edition
- Acknowledgements (to the 1952 edition)
- Preface: ‘An almost impossible event …’
- Introduction
- Part One Historiography and the Study of the Sources
- Part Two Historical Overview of the 1302 Campaign
- 3 The Terrain at Courtrai
- 4 The Two Armies
- 5 From the Bruges Matins to the Battle of the Spurs for freedom, equality and fraternity
- 6 11 July 1302
- General Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The Terrain at Courtrai
from Part Two - Historical Overview of the 1302 Campaign
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- General Editor's Preface
- Editor's Introduction to the 2002 edition
- Foreword to the 1952 edition
- Acknowledgements (to the 1952 edition)
- Preface: ‘An almost impossible event …’
- Introduction
- Part One Historiography and the Study of the Sources
- Part Two Historical Overview of the 1302 Campaign
- 3 The Terrain at Courtrai
- 4 The Two Armies
- 5 From the Bruges Matins to the Battle of the Spurs for freedom, equality and fraternity
- 6 11 July 1302
- General Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
There has been no complete and critical study of the terrain that deals with all problems arising from a reconstruction of the Battle of Courtrai. Almost all the material required was nevertheless gathered and examined in the valuable contributions presented by Sevens. However, the studies, which complement and correct each other, are not very well known. It thus comes as no surprise that several historians working after Sevens completely ignored his work.
Researchers who have examined the Battle of the Spurs were naturally very concise in dealing with the terrain. There were several solutions proffered on it that differ markedly from each other. For this reason there are now four viable reconstructions of the battlefield. The best known and most generally accepted reconstruction is that provided by Sevens and Fris, which is in reality a slight improvement on the map given by Moke, Köhler and Frederichs. Funck- Brentano established another version that was first accepted in 1892 by Sevens although he rejected it definitively in 1902. In 1931 the solution presented by Funck-Brentano was still seen as possible by Delfos.
Delfos did, however, propose another map. The most recent reconstruction of the battlefield has been proffered by Baron M. de Maere d'Aertrycke who did not follow his earlier opinions based on Sevens's studies. In order to avoid having to continually refer back to the four proposed solutions, they have been reproduced here in simple sketch form. In a concise summary of the versions, which sources the above historians relied upon will also be shown.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Battle of the Golden Spurs (Courtrai, 11 July 1302)A Contribution to the History of Flanders' War of Liberation, 1297–1305, pp. 127 - 151Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2001