Lords of the Mark

In summer 1297 Count Eberhard von der Mark and other German princes marched into Flanders to help Edward I and Count Guy Dampierre fight the French. Their task was to defend the city of Ypres in western Flanders:

“The same count Eberhard, with a company of chosen allies, knights and squires, chief amongst whom was the Count of Weldege, brought aid to Edward, king of England and Guy, Count of Flanders, and entered Ypres and held it, not without considerable peril to themselves.”

Chronik der Grafen von Mark (Chronicle of the lords of the Mark)
The contribution of the Germans is another neglected side-plot of the war in Flanders. Most, if not all of them, were on Edward's payroll. Count Eberhard had taken a fee of £500 English sterling and surrendered two of his castles in Germany to the king as a guarantee of service. Another German prince, Walerand of Falkenburg, took a smaller fee of 350 livres tournois.

They certainly earned their money. When King Philip invaded Flanders in the summer, only the Germans and the loyal followers of Count Guy stood in their way. Edward was unable to sail from England in time, while the King of Germany, Adolf of Nassau, was distracted by a revolt at home. Adolf sent all the help he could, but it wasn't enough to stem the tide.

Philip's forces stormed into Flanders. While the main French field army laid siege to Lille, smaller divisions spread out to waste the Flemish countryside. They set about burning townships, mills and farms and slaughtering the peasantry. In response a combined force of Germans and Flemings attempted to halt the French advance at Comines, a river crossing near Lilles.

The result, as the French chronicler Nangis gleefully reported, was a smashing French victory:

“Gui, count of, Saint-Paul; Raoul, Lord of Nesle, Constable of France; Gui, his brother, marshal of the army, with some others, having moved away from the army of four leagues, delivered combat to the enemies on the banks of the river of the town of Comines, put more than five hundred in rout, killed many, and captured their tents. They brought prisoners with them to the King of France many of the King of Germany's stipendiates, men of arms and famous knights.”

The surviving Germans fled back to Ypres, where they fired the suburbs to stop the victorious French capturing the town. A nightmarish battle followed, as the Germans and Flemish citizenry fought desperately to repel Philip's shock troops amid smoke and flame and the rubble of collapsing streets. As the fight raged, bands of looters took advantage to pillage houses and churches. The town of Vlamertinghe, a borough just outside Ypres, was burnt and gutted by Flemish thieves.

In spite of the utter chaos – or perhaps because of it – the French could not storm the town. After a bitter struggle, Philip's troops were driven back and forced to retreat. They left a smoking ruin behind them: for instance, the complete destruction of Vlamertinghe was mentioned for years after in the accounts of the chapter of St Peter of Lille. The French, however, had been kept out.