Meanwhile Otto moved toward the Netherlands in March. He lost time rounding up his German forces, and dallied at Aachen to marry (10 May) the daughter of Henri de Brabant. When Otto finally began to campaign in June, he only had three of the principal German vassals with him plus his own Saxon troops. By 12 July he reached Nivelles, where he met with the dukes and other allies. These finally increased his forces to a reasonable size. However, by then it was too late to conduct a coordinated campaign according to his John Lackland's plan. By late June, Philippe II had mobilized his forces in northern France and was well aware of Otto IV's plans. As it turned out, Otto's new father-in-law felt it in his own best interests to keep the French king secretly advised of the coalition's intentions.

Otto IV had a very powerful army. The comte de Flandre brought a sizable cavalry unit. William Longsword, earl of Salisbury, and John Lackland's half brother, had a large contingent of mercenaries paid for with English money. These formed one division of the coalition army. It consisted of infantry and many hired knights.

When he saw that the German invasion was near at hand, Philippe II called up all his vassals and allies, proclaiming the ban in eastern, central, and northern parts of France. He could not draw on the western territories that were either occupied by or threatened by John. Philippe II had great numbers of top quality knights, but most of the infantry would have been rather mediocre levies.

Philippe II assembled his army at Péronne toward by early July, and took the offensive into Flanders, thinking the emperor was in front of him. Philippe II reached Tournai on 25 July, where he learned that Otto was to his south at Valenciennes. Philippe II decided to withdraw so as not to let Otto's army get behind the French line's of communications back toward Paris. About the same time, Otto learned of Philippe II's position, and moved north. On 26 July Otto was moving through Saint Amand, heading north toward Tournai, possibly intending to engaged Philippe to the west of the city.

Hearing of the location of the French army from his spies, but not of its true size, Otto decided to attack rather than use the opportunity to capture Paris. Otto marched his army northwestward, reaching a point only nine miles south of Tournai as the French were abandoning the town. Otto pursued Philippe II, hoping to catch him with part of the French army on each side of the bridge at Bouvines. Reportedly, the duc de Brabant's secret messengers kept Philippe II alerted to emperor's plans. Still, what happened seemed to have caught the French king by surprise.

The Battle of Bouvines (27 July 1214)

The Sunday morning of 27 July found Philippe II's force stretch out over a long distance to the west of Tournai. French engineers had been sent ahead to widen the bridge at Bouvines, so the army could cross it more rapidly. The French advanced section, of mainly infantry and baggage, had crossed the only bridge over the Marcq River in the area, at the hamlet of Bouvines. Philippe II, himself, stopped with his main force of heavy cavalry (knights and sergeants) on the east side of the bridge at Bouvines. It was late morning, when to the east, the French rearguard was attacked by the advance guard of the emperor's coalition army, which had marched rapidly from Mortagne, south of Tournai. The emperor was anticipating to find the French in retreat, and his host was moving in such an array as to engage quickly an unprepared enemy in march configuration. As the French rearguard fended off the attacks of the allied advanced elements, Otto IV was all the more convinced that he had the French at a disadvantage and in retreat.

Philippe II's rearguard of mounted sergeants was under the command of Adam viscomte de Melun. One of Philippe II's most experienced military leaders, the Hospitaller and bishop-elect Guérin de Senlis, rode in a position where he could monitor the rear of the French march column. When Guérin saw the imperial army rapidly approaching in full battle array, he hurried to report the to the king, who was watching his cavalry starting to cross the bridge at Bouvines. Philippe immediately recognized the potential for disaster, since there would be no way to get the rear third of his army across the bridge before it was destroyed. The French king ordered the entire army to turn around and form for battle, and directed the infantry to come back across the bridge at full speed.

Meanwhile Otto's troops smashed into viscomte Melun's detachment, forcing the French horse arbalesters and the Champenois sergeants to return to their aid. Then the duc de Bourgogne [Burgundy] departed from the main cavalry column, and threw his knights into the growing holding action. The enlarged French rearguard managed to delay the imperial army's vanguard for the necessary time it took for the main French cavalry to form up in battle array.

Otto IV, who had thought that he was pursuing, was surprised to encounter the French army drawn up in order of battle. In turn, the emperor had to form his own army hastily for a pitch battle, because if he turned around or tried to retreat he would surely have been destroyed. The imperial army was forced to align itself in respect to the positions being taken by the French.

Philippe II appears to have aligned his army at an angle across the road, on a bit of rolling terrain above the marshy river bank. He left his right flank area open so the retreating rearguard could form there. Remarkably, The French king seemed to have arranged for the orderly placement of each of the returning detachments. One after the other, he had them successively to extend his line northward, to the left. By the time the duc de Bourgogne approached the bridge in a fighting retreat he could see his suzerain's army completing its deployment into line of battle.

For his part, Otto ordered each of his arriving units off to the right, extending his lines to match the French. The eye witnesses attest to Otto's astonishment at finding a powerful fighting force rather than a column of stragglers before him. The deployment procedure took at least an hour, during which the French infantry managed to get across the bridge and hurriedly into line supporting the nobility. The duc de Bourgogne used the time to rest and refresh his sorely taxed knights, who now took up their honored place on the right of the French line. The time was around noon, or early afternoon. The sun was at the back of the French forces.

Thus, two of the largest military forces in early thirteenth-century France came face-to-face, each in two lines about 2,000 yards wide. To get a picture of the scene one must recall that a medieval host was composed of a heterogeneous crowd of separate detachments raised by a wide variety of vassals and communities. Some minor barons might be liable to bring 10 or 20 mounted knights and twice the number in sergeants. Others would have private armies of 100 knights and their retainers. Various abbeys and bishops would have their mounted knights and foot troops under their own banners. Towns of all sizes would send their communal militia variously armed and experienced in combat.

The French army was arrayed as the necessity of rushing from line of march back into line of battle dictated. The fully armored knights were across the entire field. [There is some interpretation that the French knights had to form in a single ranks, versus the preferred two so as to not be outflanked by the larger coalition army. The mounted, and more lightly armored, sergeants were in multiple ranks.] For command purposes, the medieval hosts grouped into the usual three 'battles' -- a center, with a right wing and a left wing. The French communal militia bands of crossbowmen arrived in time to pass through the cavalry, and take up a position in front of the center. The French levied pikemen formed behind the cavalry on each wing.

The French nobles were arrayed from right to left as follows: first the knights from Champagne, the host of Eudes de Bourgogne, the knights from Champagne, the followings of the Counts of St. Pol, Beaumont, Montmorency, and Sancerre and smaller feudal contingents; in the center the seventy available Norman knights (the rest still deployed in the south, facing king John Lackland), and the vassals from the Isle-de-France; on the left the retainers of Robert, comte de Dreux; Guillaume, comte de Ponthieu; Pierre, comte d'Auxerre; the bishop of Beauvais; and Thomas de St. Valery; plus many units from northwest France. The king, himself, stood in the front, center under the oriflamme and his personal blue ensign with the golden lilies.

The imperial army drew up with its main infantry body in the front line of the center, and the emperor's personal cavalry in the second. The imperial infantry in the center was composed of German and Netherlander pikemen, considered the best in Europe. Beside his Saxon warriors, the emperor placed the chivalry of Brabant, Limburg, Holland, and Namur. Behind his second line of infantry, Otto placed the great Iiperial silken dragon flying from the pole on which was a carved imperial eagle with golden wings. The entire imperial standard was mounted on a gold covered 'war chariot'. This he guarded with his personal retinue.

On the left Otto deployed the knights of Flanders and Hainault, commanded by comte Ferdinand, in the first line with their regional infantry in support. On his right wing, Otto relied on the army of the comte de Boulogne, a small body of Flemish knights, and the mercenaries under William Longsword [earl of Salisbury]. They also had infantry in support including crossbowmen as well as pikemen.

The French opened the battle as Guérin led 300 horse sergeants from Soissons in a charge against the Flemish cavalry of noble knights. Gradually the Burgundy knights joined in. The entire French right and Imperial left wings became enmeshed in a general melée of mounted knights slashing at each other with sword and axe. The comte de Flandre was captured.

Center Push

In the center, Otto sent his large body of pole-armed infantry forward. The assault was toward the position of Philippe II, among the French infantry of commune militia, which had formed in front. The German and Flemish pole-armed infantry soon disposed of the French militia and reached the line of French knights. Though they greatly outnumbered the knights, such lightly armored urban militia was no match for the veteran knights in full armor. In the general struggle, king Philippe was pulled from his saddle and briefly threatened. However, seeing the distress signal executed by the king's banner carrier, the French knights in the center battle rapidly joined around Philippe II, who had remounted and continued the fight. The French knights slaughtered the hostile foot swarming about the French monarch. The Fleming foot melted away, and the French nobility reached the position held by Otto and the chivalry of Saxony, Brabant and Limburg.

The knights on the French left wing detected an advantage as the coalition's right wing partly exposed their own right flank in the concentrated effort against the French center. Thus, an advance of the French left managed to deliver a decisive blow, destroying the coalition's heavy cavalry on the right and capturing it leader, the earl of Salisbury. One of the senior coalition leaders, Hugh de Boves, fled.

The coalition's largely mercenary infantry, on the right, led by Renaud de Damartin, continued to fight as they expected no mercy from the French knights or Philippe II. Renaud continued to resist with a few knights executing sorties from a protective circle of pole-armed mercenary infantry. Eventually the French knights and infantry killed the mercenaries and Renaud surrendered.

Back at the center, French chivalry reached the outnumbered but fresh Saxon and Brabantine knights, another wild melée ensued. Otto fought courageously among his retainers, wielding his war axe, while receiving multiple blows in return from a crowd of Frenchmen. Suddenly his horse was killed, throwing him to the ground. A few French knights nearly captured him before the Saxon guard surrounded their sovereign. A noble gave the emperor his horse, on which Otto fled the scene. Apparently he was so shaken up by the beating and near capture that he did not stop riding until he was back in Valenciennes.

Emperor Otto's departure essentially destroyed the coalition's resolve. The Saxons and Westphalians manfully covered the retreat, until most of the remaining nobles were captured. On the imperial right, the comte Renaud formed his pikemen into a tight circle, and sheltered his remaining knights inside until the whole Brabancon force was gradually worn down and Reginald captured. The Netherlanders rode off, along with the already flying mercenaries.

The battle, fought on flat terrain favorable to cavalry action, lasted about 3 hours. Emperor battered imperial insignia was captured and taken to Paris.

The earl of Salisbury was quickly exchanged for the son of the comte de Dreux. Frederick of Hohenstaufen was crowned as emperor at Aachen in 1215. Ferrand remained in French prison until 1227, six years before his death. Renaud languished in prison for the rest of his life, which ended with suicide. John Lackland and Philippe agreed to a six-year truce at Chinon in 1214. However, the English king was humiliated and his fate is described in the summary below. For some time, Flanders would remain under the French orbit.

Campaign of Bouvines Part 2: The 'War' of Bouvines (1202-1214)

Phase One of the Campaign of 1214
Phase Two of the Campaign of 1214
Summary and Analysis of Strengths
Battlefield Today

Battle of Bouvines Part 1: The 'War' of Bouvines (1202-1214)

Preface and Background
Emergence of the Angevin 'Empire'
Preliminaries and Initial Operations
Papal, Empire, and Flemish Factions
John Lackland's Coalition Against Philipp II