84: The Battle of Bouvines

 For seven years the kingdom of France had peace under the strongest monarch in its history. Philippe II’s successful campaign to retake Normandy destroyed the Angevin Empire and reduced the King of England’s holdings to the southwest in Poitou and Gascony. For the first time in over a century the King of France was the most powerful man in France. It had been a long road; Philippe II had started his reign by contending with local lords. In two and a half decades he was defeating rival monarchs.

            Victory over Jean brought stability to France at a time when its major neighbors were struggling with political crises. Jean had never been popular in his domains. His reputation never recovered from the murder of his nephew Arthur of Brittany. Revolt by English nobles hampered his attempts to lead a campaign of reconquest on the mainland. Jean also had to deal with uprisings in Ireland and Wales, though he managed to subdue his enemies in all of these cases. When he wasn’t putting down upstart vassals, the King of England spent the next several years building up his navy and reforming the levy system to prepare for a potential French invasion of the island.

            To make matters worse for Jean, he also faced a crisis in the church when the Archbishop of Canterbury died. The King of England wanted to name a loyalist to the position, but the Canterbury Cathedral clergy claimed the exclusive right to choose his successor. The clergy then sent their man to Rome for approval by Pope Innocent III. Innocent III rejected both the king and priests’ choices, and instead picked a man named Stephen Langton. Though he was born in England, Langton had traveled to France where he studied and eventually lectured at the University of Paris. There he made friends with Innocent III who in turn made him a cardinal.

            Jean was furious when he found out about the pope’s decision. First, Jean believed it was his right to participate in the election of the archbishop. Second, he believed that Langton’s time in Paris meant he was too close to his arch-rival Philippe II. Jean rejected Innocent III’s choice and barred Langton from returning to his homeland. When negotiations broke down in 1208, Innocent III placed an interdiction on the Kingdom of England, barring priests from performing all rites except baptism and hearing last confessions. Jean responded by seizing the property of priests loyal to the papacy. The following year Innocent III excommunicated the King of England.

            England was not the only country bordering France that faced political and religious challenges. The Holy Roman Empire was at this time possibly even more unstable. On 28 September 1197, the 32 year-old Emperor Heinrich VI fell ill, probably with malaria, and died on the island of Sicily. It was generally assumed that his son Friedrich II would inherit the throne. However, Friedrich was just 3 at the time. Moreover, a faction of northern German aristocrats worried that the Emperor was too powerful and wanted to pick a weaker candidate who was less likely to abuse them. This candidate was Otto of the House of Welf.

Otto had a number of advantages over Friedrich II. First, he wasn’t still wetting his bed, as far as we know. Second, he had substantial support from his uncle, the King of England and from the powerful Pope Innocent III. Jean wanted a family member to become the Emperor so the two could form an alliance against France. Innocent III also supported Otto because His Holiness wanted to reassert secular power throughout Italy and believed he could extract concessions from Otto in exchange for papal support. Since Friedrich II was the son of the Norman Queen Constance of Sicily, the boy had a claim to the wealthy island kingdom and territories in southern Italy. Between the Holy Roman Empire’s dominance of the north and the Kingdom of Sicily dominating the south, the ascension of Friedrich II threatened to place the pope between hammer and anvil. Ultimately, Constance took her son out of the running for Emperor, but Innocent III still threw his support behind Otto. After a brief civil war with a rival claimant, Otto IV became the first Emperor of the House of Welf.

While Otto IV held the title of Emperor of the Romans, his rule was always on shaky ground. Many southern princes opposed him, and as the first member of a new dynasty he was naturally accused of usurping the throne. Finally, Pope Innocent III managed to extract significant concessions from the new emperor: all German bishops would be elected in accordance with church law and the Emperor could not block any decisions by the papacy in clerical disputes. Otto IV had effectively given over authority of the Catholic Church in Germany to the pope, which was a major issue. Bishops at this time were also secular lords and drew large amounts of money from their estates. Unable to place loyalists in positions of power, Otto IV was looking less like a powerful leader and more like a figurehead every day.

Otto IV decided the best way to prove he was a serious ruler was by breaking every oath he had sworn and going to war with the pope. This turned out to not be a good idea. On 18 September 1210, Innocent III excommunicated the Emperor, turning loyal Catholics across his realm against him. Papal forces alongside the Kingdom of Sicily and loyal Italian states held off the Emperor’s invasion. Finally, while Otto IV was leading a failed campaign in Italy, the King of Denmark decided to invade northern Germany.

Put yourself in the pointy leather shoes of a German noble. Your damned Emperor broke his promises to God, the church and his people, is hundreds of miles away warring against Christ’s vicar on Earth and not at home fulfilling his duty to protect your lands from the Danes running amok. The German aristocracy was understandably upset, with many openly revolting. Sensing an opportunity, Philippe II and Innocent III backed Friedrich II for the imperial throne, and the boy was elected in 1211 at Nuremburg. Otto IV appeared ready to lose everything.

One final realm that was under strain was the County of Flanders. The Count of Flanders had at various times been the vassal of the King of France and the Emperor as the French and Germans vied for influence over the region. After Philippe II expelled the Angevins from northern France, the County of Flanders became his next target for domination. Previously, in 1202, The Count of Flanders, Baldwin IX departed for the Fourth Crusade. The Fourth Crusade was supposed to fight against Muslims in the Middle East but got entirely sidetracked when the Crusaders decided to sack Constantinople. Afterwards, Baldwin IX briefly became the first Latin Emperor of Constantinople before he was captured and executed by Bulgarians.

The County of Flanders was technically in the hands of Baldwin IX’s brother, the weak regent Philip of Namur, though everyone knew who was really in charge. Philippe II summoned the regent and Baldwin IX’s two daughters, moving them to Paris where they were under his control. Historian Jim Bradbury recounts that Philip of Namur was so humiliated at his subjugation that he walked the streets of, “Valenciennes with a rope round his neck, proclaiming ‘I ought to die as a dog.’”

            Philippe II next moved to consolidate his position in Flanders by paying off its nobility. He then arranged for Fernando of Portugal, son of King Sancho I, to marry Baldwin IX’s daughter Joan and become the new count. Fernando and Joan married in an elaborate ceremony in Paris in 1212. Philippe II knighted his new vassal and Fernando performed homage in turn.

Things were going splendidly, until prince Louis decided he would seize lands from the new count, claiming that they were part of his mother’s dowry. The king was likely as shocked as anyone that his son would war against an ally, though he did not return the lands after they had been taken. Fernando knew he could not fight the French and so he accepted the loss of territory, enraging his Flemish subjects. Realizing he needed support, Fernando turned to the Emperor and the King of England for help while simultaneously exiling French lords.

By 1213 all of France’s rivals were in disarray. Their realms suffered from civil strife and their rulers were unpopular. In each case Philippe II was at least partially responsible; more than partially, in the case of England and Flanders, he had destabilized both for his own benefit. The King of France could not likewise claim he was overturning the old order in the Holy Roman Empire, but his actions were a major reason that Germany fell into civil war.

Philippe II had masterfully struck out against all his enemies and dealt them significant blows. There was a danger in this, as the Emperor, the King of England and Count of Flanders all realized that Philippe II was the main source of their pain. Likewise, each in turn realized that defeating Philippe II would likely solve their internal problems. Jean wanted to retake the lands he had lost and reforge the Angevin Empire. Fernando needed to defeat the pro-French faction in Flanders and reassert his authority over the county. Meanwhile, Otto IV believed that defeating Philippe II would demonstrate his power to the German aristocracy.

King, Count and Emperor all had a mutual enemy, they just needed someone to bring them together. That man was the exiled Renaud, Count of Boulogne. Renaud had been a childhood friend of Philippe II, but when the two grew up he initially fought for the Angevins. His primary lands in Boulogne had strong connections to England; furthermore his wife Ide, held lands in the island kingdom. Renaud later joined his boyhood friend and even received another county from him. Yet, Renaud’s connections to England always threatened to cause a rift between the two.

Things reached a head in 1211 when the King of France summoned his old friend to court to answer a legal dispute between himself and the bishop of Beauvais. Renaud chose not to appear before Philippe II, perhaps because he believed he would not get a fair hearing; the bishop of Beauvais was Philippe II’s cousin, after all, and part of House Dreux, a strong ally to House Capet. The King of France punished Renaud’s insubordination by seizing his lands. Afterwards, Renaud went into exile in England. There, he served as the link, bringing together Jean, Fernando and eventually Otto IV together in a grand alliance against Philippe II.

            Even as the three powers coordinated their plans to bring down France, Philippe II was getting ready to invade England. He had assembled a massive fleet and ordered his son Louis to lead the invasion of England. Yet, just as the French were ready to set sail things took a dramatic turn. First, the Count of Flanders refused to honor his feudal obligations and join the invasion. Second, the pope ordered Philippe II not to attack England. Right at that moment a papal legate was accepting Jean’s vassalage. In an extraordinary move, Jean accepted Innocent III as his overlord and declared the Kingdom of England to be a papal fief.

            Infuriated, Philippe II turned his wrath on Flanders. French land forces rapidly took town after town. Meanwhile the fleet, which had been ready to assault England, instead sailed to Flanders, landing at Damme, where they took to shore and began pillaging. With the French ravaging the Flemish countryside, an English fleet was able to pull into Damme and destroy the French ships. This was a disaster for the invasion force and Philippe II ordered a full retreat. As the French left Flanders, Fernando retook his territory and expelled the pro-French nobility, replacing them with his own loyalists.

            In 1214 the allied powers launched their attack on France. Jean was the first to strike. Between his villainous reputation, consistent military defeats and excommunication by the pope, Jean’s English subjects openly despised him, with most refusing to join in the campaign. Instead, Jean raised a mercenary army which took off from Portsmouth and landed at La Rochelle on 15 or 16 February. When he arrived, Jean unloaded the vast reserves of cash he had brought with him to hire even more soldiers in his bid to reconquer Western France.

This initial movement was enormously successful for the English king. Some lords defected to Jean due to legitimate grievances with Philippe II, others because they wanted to play the two kings off each other to gain the best position. Still more switched loyalties in the face of Jean’s large army parading through their lands. Only Brittany held out, as they had never forgiven Jean for murdering their duke. Still, Jean’s forces managed to capture Nantes before he turned towards Angers, the ancestral stronghold of House Plantagenêt. On 17 June, Angers capitulated. Two days later, Jean besieged the castle of La Roche-au-Moine, which stood between him and the County of Maine. After two weeks of fighting, Jean had a gallows built in plain view of the castle and threatened to hang anyone who still resisted him. Yet, the defenders held on, knowing that help was coming and perhaps realizing that the treacherous King of England would probably execute them anyway for their initial resistance.

            Philippe II sent Prince Louis south to counter the English while he remained in the north to guard the crownlands from the looming invasion from the Holy Roman Empire. Louis approached La Roche-au-Moine with a smaller force than Jean, as Philippe II could not afford to part with the lion’s share of his army. Yet, this force was more than enough to handle the King of England. As the French arrived, Jean’s camp feared that the entire French army had marched out to meet him and panicked. Jean’s southwestern allies told him that they could not hope to beat a full army in pitched battle; meanwhile the King of England’s core army were mercenaries who were always unreliable in desperate situations.

            Louis approached the castle to find that the English had already fled. Across the open fields they had left behind everything: siege engines, tents, even their baggage train. If the chronicles are reliable, a number of English soldiers even drowned in the Loire as they fled from the approaching French force. Emboldened, the prince chased after them. Such a bold move by an inferior force only convinced Jean and the rest of the southwest that the full might of the Kingdom of France had descended upon them. Town after town switched allegiances back to Philippe II. Jean sped to La Rochelle, having lost everything he had won in the previous months.

            The allied invasion of France was a poorly-coordinated campaign, even by medieval standards. Jean went in far too early, while Otto IV moved with remarkable slowness. On 23 March the Emperor called upon his vassals from his base in Aachen, over a month after the King of England first landed at La Rochelle. If Otto IV believed he could summon a grand coalition he was soon disappointed, as only four dukes joined his cause. After spending months sending out messengers and holding a base of power against his rival Friedrich II, the Emperor marched out on the 12 July. Despite the lackluster support from the German nobility, the Holy Roman Empire was the most powerful country in Western Europe at this time. When Otto IV linked up with the Flemish forces under Count Fernando and the English and French forces under Renaud of Boulogne he could be confident that their army would be larger than anything that the King of France could assemble. The united forces then headed southwest towards Paris.

            Philippe II raised what was likely the largest army ever assembled in French history up to that point, though it was still smaller than the allied coalition. The King of France sent out scouts and shadowed the enemy force, looking to get the most ideal position. In medieval times pitched battles were rare, and armies usually tried to intimidate their opponents into concessions. Philippe II likely hoped that he could get his forces into a defensive position, which would force the allies to withdraw. However, the allies were committed to a fight. The Emperor needed a decisive victory to prove himself. If he went home with his tail between his legs, then he would lose what little respect the German nobility had for him. The Count of Flanders could not afford to have the coalition break up because if it did then Philippe II would be left with a massive army, no opposition and the County of Flanders ripe for the taking. For Emperor and Count there was no turning back.

            For roughly a week the opposing armies danced around each other, and even swapped positions as the allies moved south and Philippe II moved north. The French king opened up the path to Paris to his enemies, though they could not yet move on the capital as they risked losing their path of retreat. Still, Philippe II’s unwillingness to engage filled the allies with confidence. Some openly proclaimed that the King of France was a coward who was too scared to fight against such a superior force. Perhaps the only dissenting voice was Renaud, who warned the great lords that his old friend and sovereign was no coward. Philippe II became the sole king of France at 15 years old and for 33 years he had been in a near-continuous state of warfare. In those three decades he had crushed his upstart vassals, destroyed the Angevin Empire and was one of the leaders of the Third Crusade. The Count of Boulogne tried to convince his fellows that Philippe II was both a lion and a fox. In response, his compatriots labelled Renaud a coward. The allied force was so assured of their victory that the Count of Flanders distributed ropes to his men which they could use to tie up the captives they took after crushing the French.

            Under Philippe II’s guidance, the army moved westward towards a more open plain, where the legendary French cavalry would have free rein. On 27 June 1214 they arrived at the village of Bouvines. The head of the army began to pass through the town and across the bridge over the River Marcq. Even though army engineers widened the bridge it would still take time for Philippe II’s six to seven-thousand man army to cross with all of their horses and baggage, so the king decided to climb a small hill and eat his lunch. From his high vantage point the King of France could observe the surrounding countryside in case his army came under attack; not that he believed that would happen. It was a Sunday, and the Catholic Church forbid fighting on the Lord’s Holy Day. In hindsight, Philippe II was somewhat naïve; after all, Otto IV had recently been excommunicated for warring against His Holiness.

            While Philippe II rested the front of the allied force assaulted the French rear. Leading the stragglers was Guérin de Glapion, the bishop-elect of Senlis. While Guérin was a man of God, he remained a warrior and valuable military strategist. While the church forbid their priests from shedding blood, Guérin had cleverly gotten around this interdiction by wielding a mace and bashing his enemies to a pulp rather than cutting or stabbing them with a sword; probably not what the church had intended, but technically he was following their edicts. The bishop-elect watched the skirmish from a hill. While only a small number of allied soldiers had reached the French he saw beyond them more contingents with banners flying and warhorses in full armor. It was a hot midsummer day; no knight would armor their horse unless they were preparing for immediate battle.

            Recognizing the danger, the warrior-bishop mounted his horse and rode to where his king rested under a tree, eating bread dipped in wine. Guérin told Philippe II of the situation, and the king sent orders to his men crossing the bridge to double-back. As they did, Philippe II entered the nearby church of Saint Peter, where he gave a short prayer, saying, “Lord, I am but a man, but I am king.” Then he mounted his horse, rode to the head of his army and organized them for battle.

            The army’s rear was still catching up with the main host while the vanguard was returning over the bridge, but the disciplined French soldiers found their positions. The Duke of Burgundy commanded the cavalry that comprised the right flank, with his lieutenant, bishop-elect Guérin. Robert II, Count of Dreux, led the Bretons and local militias on the left. The king commanded the center with urban militia raised from the Île de France and Normandy, supplemented by an elite corps of the most battle-hardened knights. Pennants bearing the standards of knights from across the north waved in the breeze, the most striking of which was the scarlet oriflamme of the Kingdom of France, and Philippe II’s own standard: a silver fleur-de-lys on a blue background. As the army assembled, Philippe II exhorted his men to repulse the invaders. He condemned his foes as un-Christian for forcing a battle on a Sunday and because many of them were excommunicated. He then embraced his leading men and told them, “In God is all our hope.”

For Philippe II, this was just as much of an all-or-nothing gamble as it was for his opponents. With the river to their west and the allies blocking their path to the French heartland they had no easy means of retreat. To ensure his men did not even think of running away, Philippe II ordered the bridge across the Marcq destroyed. The day would bring victory or death.

            As the allied force assembled on the battle-plain, Otto IV surveyed his opponents. The Emperor scowled and sarcastically asked his followers who told him that the French were fleeing. He had hoped to catch the French off-guard and destroy half of their army while the other half were on the other side of the river. Otto IV was disappointed but understood there was no turning back at this moment.

            The allied host split into three flanks. The Flemish took the left, under their Count Fernando. Renaud and the Earl of Salisbury led the Anglo-German knights on the right flank. The Emperor commanded the German infantry in the center, alongside his own contingent of elite knights. In contrast to the red oriflamme of France and the king’s fleur-de-lys, the Emperor had one gigantic standard. In the center of the army was a golden-covered cart, carrying a large pole, whose top sported a golden eagle with outspread wings. Atop this was Otto IV’s banner, sporting a fanged dragon.

            The two armies stared each other down from across the plain. The French army was noticeably smaller than the allied host; not overwhelmingly so, but enough that Philippe II ordered his host to thin their lines. The French spread out to the left and right, so as not to be surrounded by the larger host. It was standard battle tactics, though it meant that with fewer reserves the allies could more easily break through them. Philippe II’s only hope was that his forces were of such better quality that it would make up for their smaller numbers.

            For a moment, all was silence. Then the clergy accompanying the French began chanting hymns of deliverance. Guérin ordered a cavalry charge. Trumpets cut through the stillness as the clergyman, mace in hand, led 300 of his fellows towards the opposing Flemish. Bradbury writes, that the Flemish cavalry initially did not take the charge seriously, “because it was made by men of lower social rank,” who were less armored. Instead of meeting their charge, the Flemish held their ground and waited. After the first assault, one of the Flemish rode out and yelled, “Death to the French!” before being immediately cut down.

            After a series of French charges and retreats, Fernando ordered the entire Flemish cavalry forward. The French met them with equal fury, though the better-disciplined French broke through the Flemish at multiple points. After the French broke the Flemish formations they began picking them off. The Count of Flanders was unhorsed and captured as the allied left shattered. Guérin himself knocked the Earl of Salisbury down with his mace, capturing the leading English noble at the battle.

            Meanwhile, the Emperor ordered a general advance towards the enemy center. The French militia fought bravely, but they were no match for the German knights. To save his center, Philippe II led his knights in a charge that stemmed the German tide but put himself and the army leaders in danger. One German soldier hit Philippe II with a spear in his upper chest and the King of France fell from his horse, with the shaft still protruding from his armor. One of Philippe II’s loyal knights saved him and offered the king his own horse, which Philippe II leapt upon and rejoined the battle.

            At this time the French left under Robert II, Count of Dreux engaged the allied right under Renaud of Boulogne. Robert II recognized that he needed to hold off the enemy advance while aiding the center, and had his men advance at an angle. The Bretons fought furiously and the mercenaries of the allied right broke and fled, leaving only Renaud and his knights. With only a token enemy in front of him, the Count of Dreux turned his forces right to smash into the German center. At this the main allied host collapsed. The Emperor led a panicked retreat and was even unhorsed when a French knight stabbed his charge in the eye. Yet, Otto IV mounted another horse and fled the field. In his wake, the French captured the golden eagle and broke off its wings.

            The battle was all but over. The Germans and English had fled and the Flemish leadership was captured. All that remained of the coalition was Renaud and an elite group of 700 infantrymen. Renaud and his troops desperately fought on. His pikemen formed a ring that held off any who approached. At a command, knights spilled out from the ring and assaulted the French, then retreated back into the protective ring of spears. These hit-and-run tactics were spirited, but ultimately futile against the full might of the royal army.

            Renaud himself charged against his enemies to no avail. A French sergeant stabbed Renaud’s horse, at which point the mount fell over. One soldier approached the exiled count and was about to stab him, when Guérin commanded that Renaud be captured instead. The few traitorous knights that survived were captured while the non-noble infantry were all slaughtered.

            The Battle of Bouvines was a stunning victory for the Kingdom of France and Philippe II personally. The royal army defeated a larger force of Germans, Flemish, English and rebellious French. All of the major enemy leaders were captured, save for Otto IV, though Philippe II was untroubled. As Otto IV fled, Philippe II told his men that they would never see his face again. Rather than pursue the fleeing Germans, the French took to sacking their camp, hauling away gold, silk and other luxuries. Meanwhile, Philippe II returned to the church of Saint Peter and gave thanks. He understood that this was the greatest victory that any French king had won up to that point, and he approached it with humility.

            By the battle’s end, the French had captured 130 knights, five counts and an earl. Philippe II was not a petty man, declaring of those who fought against him that, “if he has done me wrong in order to serve his lord, I hold no ill toward him.” Nearly all of the prisoners of war were treated well and allowed to return to their lands after their families paid a ransom. Those who Philippe II believed had betrayed him, such as Renaud and Fernando, were placed in cages atop carts, each pulled by two horses and paraded through towns for the common folk to jeer at.

            The king returned to his capital at the head of a Roman-style triumph, his knights proudly sporting battered but polished armor marching down the streets to the cheer of the crowds while his enemies were carted in behind them. Philippe II sponsored feasts for an entire week as his people celebrated the victory. Almost 49 years previously, a Parisian crone had declared to the student Gerald de Barri that the newborn babe Philippe II would deliver France from her enemies; half a century later her words came true.

            Paris was caught up in such rapture you wouldn’t think that the war was still ongoing. In truth, it was all but over, but Jean still camped at La Rochelle with what forces remained to him. The King of England no doubt hoped that Otto IV would strike a decisive blow against Philippe II in the north, allowing Jean to renew his campaign. Instead, Philippe II crushed the coalition and turned his attention towards the southwest.

            The King of France knew better than to stretch himself too thin, a lesson he no doubt learned after picking apart the Angevins. Rather than conquer Jean’s lands he offered to return things to how they were before the war. The King of England recognized that he would get no better deal and agreed. In October, Jean sailed back to England, utterly humiliated.

            Philippe II’s victory gave him overwhelming power because all of his enemies were brought low. His primary rival Jean returned to England more hated than he had ever been. His barons rose up against him, forcing him to flee his own capital. Royalist and rebel forces met at Runnymede in 1215 and there Jean was forced to sign a sweeping charter of rights, known to history as Magna Carta. This document is often considered one of the most important in legal history and the development of democracy as it placed significant restrictions on the power of the monarch. At the time, the English barons were not looking to create a modern egalitarian state. Quite the contrary: they were looking to restore the traditional privileges of the Anglo-Saxon nobility before the Normans had instituted a stronger monarchy under the Conqueror.

            Jean resented giving up his powers and immediately prepared for war. During the ensuing conflict, known as the First Barons’ War, Prince Louis invaded England and nearly took the throne. Louis failed to conquer England, but the island nation was left in a weakened state and would not seriously trouble France for a while. Jean died of dysentery while campaigning and the English nobles chose his 9-year old son Henri III to replace him.

            Otto IV fled back to Germany a broken man. The aristocracy had wholly turned against him, as had the church. Otto IV holed up in Braunschweig while Friedrich II replaced him as emperor. Otto IV died of ill health on 19 May 1218, a broken man. No member of House Welf became Emperor after him.

            Philippe II initially showed mercy to Renaud, perhaps because they had been childhood friends. He held him captive, but had him treated to comforts befitting his station. Then Philippe II’s servants learned that Renaud had tried to send a message to Otto IV to launch a new campaign against France. Outraged, Philippe II kept him in irons in Péronne. Bradbury writes that Renaud, “was chained to a heavy log, which two men had to lift every time he wanted to go to the toilet. Unaided, he could only move half a pace in his chains.” At one point Philippe II visited his former friend and recounted all the treacheries Renaud had committed against him. Renaud remained in that prison for 12 years until his death in 1227.

            Fernando suffered a similar fate as Renaud. For his treachery, Philippe II held him in prison for 12 years. In 1227 Fernando was released by Philippe II’s grandson, King Louis IX, though he would never again rule Flanders. Prison had taken a toll on his health and Fernando died in 1233 of illness at the age of 45.

            The Battle of Bouvines was one of the most important battles in Western European history. Philippe II’s decisive victory meant the downfall of an emperor, a king and a count. For the first time a French king had defeated an emperor in pitched battle, proving that the Kingdom of France was now on par with the Holy Roman Empire after having been its inferior for centuries. Furthermore, Otto IV’s replacement Friedrich II was Philippe II’s ally, one who never went to war with France during his entire 30-year reign.

            England was in disarray. The nobility had enough of Continental adventures and imposed restrictions on the monarchy. When Philippe II became king three decades prior the King of England held more territory in France than he did. Now, the Angevin Empire was destroyed and the English held on to a small rump state in the southwest.

            The rich county of Flanders again fell under French sway as Philippe II appointed loyalists to rule the country. Within France, the nobility fell in line behind their king, either out of love or because they recognized that he could not be beaten.

            The Battle of Bouvines did not arise out of nowhere. This battle was the culmination of decades of political maneuvering as Philippe II sought to reverse the existing power dynamic within his kingdom. After expelling the Plantagenêts from France, Jean made one final attempt to remake the Angevin Empire and failed spectacularly, despite drawing support from the Holy Roman Empire, the County of Flanders and some disaffected French nobles.  

This final victory in the conflict between House Capet and House Plantagenêt sealed Philippe II’s legacy as one of France’s greatest kings. No French monarch up to that point had ever been so successful in war. One would have to go back to Francia and Charles the Bald, perhaps even Charlemagne, to find Philippe II’s equal. He had united his kingdom more than at any previous time. He had reduced the English monarch to a secondary power and uplifted France to parity with the Empire. It was an incredible journey for a young man who had spent his early reign subduing upstart barons. Once a major northern lord, Philippe II was now the most powerful king in Western Europe. For nearly six centuries afterwards the King of France would be one of the most powerful figures in Europe.

Sources:

Encyclopedia Brittanica

Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: Kings of France 987-1328, 2007.

Jim Bradbury, Philip Augustus: King of France 1180-1223, 1998.

Kings and Generals: Bouvines 1214 - Anglo-French War DOCUMENTARY