This book is intended as a commemoration of the seven hundredth anniversary of the famous victory in 1302 of the militias of the Flemish towns, principally Bruges, over the chivalry of France, the knights flaunting their golden spurs at the poorly dressed artisans. As Nicholas stated in his Medieval Flanders, ‘the battle of Courtrai (the more familiar French version of the town’s name) has entered legend as a milestone in the Flemish national struggle and as the first battle in which urban infantry defeated cavalry led by nobles.’ It is not surprising therefore that Fegley should wish to mark this notable anniversary. It is less clear who are the intended readers of this book. It is based almost entirely on secondary sources of a fairly general nature and a selection of web sites including one which it is rightly claimed provides ‘an excellent short history of the suasage.’ The opening chapters go over the background to the conflict between the ‘Metropolis in the North’ and its overlord Philip the Fair, the King of France. While the description of a medieval urban society and its politics is of value, the general discussion of the growth of feudalism seems out of place. The treatment of the battle itself is lively but makes little attempt to analyse events or place them in the context of medieval military history. The book concludes with some discussion of the ‘legacy’ of the battle and of modern Flanders rather in the manner of a guidebook. The book does not fit easily into either the category of scholarly monograph or that of popular history but as the only text in English on the topic brings a notable incident in the history of warfare to a wider audience.
University of Surrey Roehampton