But such struggles as these left a deep and immovable sentiment of hatred in the minds of the vanquished.  Louis de Male longed for the re-establishment and extension of his authority; and had the art to gain over to his views not only all the nobles, but many of the most influential guilds or trades.  Ghent, which long resisted his attempts, was at length reduced by famine; and the count projected the ruin, or at least the total subjection, of this turbulent town.  A son of Artaveldt started forth at this juncture, when the popular cause seemed lost, and joining with his fellow-citizens, John Lyons and Peter du Bois, he led seven thousand resolute burghers against forty thousand feudal vassals.  He completely defeated the count, and took the town of Bruges, where Louis de Male only obtained safety by hiding himself under the bed of an old woman who gave him shelter.  Thus once more feudality was defeated in a fresh struggle with civic freedom.

The consequences of this event were immense.  They reached to the very heart of France, where the people bore in great discontent the feudal yoke; and Froissart declares that the success of the people of Gheut had nearly overthrown the superiority of the nobility over the people in France.  But the king, Charles VI., excited by his uncle, Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, took arms in support of the defeated count, and marched with a powerful army against the rebellious burghers.  Though defeated in four successive combats, in the latter of which, that of Roosbeke, Artaveldt was killed, the Flemings would not submit to their imperious count, who used every persuasion with Charles to continue his assistance for the punishment of these refractory subjects.  But the duke of Burgundy was aware that a too great perseverance would end, either in driving the people to despair and the possible defeat of the French, or the entire conquest of the country and its junction to the crown of France.  He, being son-in-law to Louis de Male, and consequently aspiring to the inheritance of Flanders, saw with a keen glance the advantage of a present compromise.  On the death of Louis, who is stated to have been murdered by Philip’s brother, the duke of Berri, be concluded a peace with the rebel burghers, and entered at once upon the sovereignty of the country.

CHAPTER V

From the succession of Philip the bold to the county of Flanders, to the death of Philip the fair

A.D. 1384—­1506

Thus the house of Burgundy, which soon after became so formidable and celebrated, obtained this vast accession to its power.  The various changes which had taken place in the neighboring provinces during the continuance of these civil wars had altered the state of Flanders altogether.  John d’Avesnes, count of Hainault, having also succeeded in 1299 to the county of Holland, the two provinces, though separated by Flanders and Brabant, remained from that time under the government of the same chief, who soon became more powerful than the bishops of Utrecht, or even than their formidable rivals the Frisons.