supported him, became so intolerable to Artaveldt, that he resolved to assail them at all hazards, unappalled by the fate of his father-in-law, Sohier de Courtrai, who lost his head for a similar attempt, and notwithstanding the hitherto devoted fidelity of his native city to the count.  One only object seemed insurmountable.  The Flemings had sworn allegiance to the crown of France; and they revolted at the idea of perjury, even from an extorted oath.  But to overcome their scruples, Artaveldt proposed to acknowledge the claim of Edward iii. of England to the French crown.  The Flemings readily acceded to this arrangement; quickly overwhelmed Count Louis of Cressy and his French partisans; and then joined, with an army of sixty thousand men, the English monarch, who had landed at Antwerp.  These numerous auxiliaries rendered Edward’s army irresistible; and soon afterward the French and English fleets, both of formidable power, but the latter of inferior force, met near Sluys, and engaged in a battle meant to be decisive of the war:  victory remained doubtful during an entire day of fighting, until a Flemish squadron, hastening to the aid of the English, fixed the fate of the combat by the utter defeat of the enemy.

A truce between the two kings did not deprive Artaveldt of his well-earned authority.  He was invested with the title of ruward, or conservator of the peace, of Flanders, and governed the whole province with almost sovereign sway.  It was said that King Edward used familiarly to call him “his dear gossip”; and it is certain that there was not a feudal lord of the time whose power was not eclipsed by this leader of the people.  One of the principal motives which cemented the attachment of the Flemings to Artaveldt was the advantage obtained through his influence with Edward for facilitating the trade with England, whence they procured the chief supply of wool for their manufactories.  Edward promised them seventy thousand sacks as the reward of their alliance.  But though greatly influenced by the stimulus of general interest, the Flemings loved their domestic liberty better than English wool; and when they found that their ruward degenerated from a firm patriot into the partisan of a foreign prince, they became disgusted with him altogether; and he perished in 1345, in a tumult raised against him by those by whom he had been so lately idolized.  The Flemings held firm, nevertheless, in their alliance with England, only regulating the connection by a steady principle of national independence.

Edward knew well how to conciliate and manage these faithful and important auxiliaries during all his continental wars.  A Flemish army covered the siege of Calais in 1348; and, under the command of Giles de Rypergherste, a mere weaver of Ghent, they beat the dauphin of France in a pitched battle.  But Calais once taken, and a truce concluded, the English king abandoned his allies.  These, left wholly to their own resources, forced the French and the heir of their count, young Louis de Male, to recognize their right to self-government according to their ancient privileges, and of not being forced to give aid to France in any war against England.  Flanders may therefore be pronounced as forming, at this epoch, both in right and fact, a truly independent principality.