Battle of Courtrai, July 11, 1302

The Battle of Courtrai occurred on 11 July 1302 between a French army under the command of Robert, Count de Artois, and a Belgian urban militia. The mounted French gentlemen were unable to defeat the well-trained Flemish militia infantry on a battlefield unsuitable for cavalry. The room for maneuver was very limited. To the north the flooded Lys River and to the west the buildings of the city of Courtrai were not impediments but would make the advance of the cavalry very difficult. The French began the battle well by employing the infantry first, but then, by impatience and / or arrogance, tried to resolve everything with the cavalry; to make the cavalry worse, it followed the same infantry advance line, because as we saw above there was not much to vary the access; and there was a lack of coordination between the field army and the castle garrison as to the best opportunity for such a sortie.