Know that if our borders were only four or six leagues away from you, we would offer you such support as is due to such good brothers, friends and neighbours, but you are too far from us, for the land of
Brabant is between us, which is why we must desist. Yet although you are besieged now, do not be discouraged; for God knows, as do all the chartered towns, that you are right in this war, which must give greater worth to your efforts." This is what the
Liégeois sent to the
Ghenters to comfort them.
SHF 2-198 syncThe
count of Flanders had laid siege to the town of
Ghent on the sides of
Bruges and
Kortrijk, for he could not have besieged nor even approached on the sides towards
Brussels and the
Quatre-Métiers owing to the rivers there, the
Leie and the
Scheldt. All things considered,
Ghent is one of the strongest towns in the world, and it would take well over two hundred thousand men to besiege it and block every passage and river; and what's more, the hosts would need to be close to the rivers or else in time of need they would not be able to provide support to one another, for there are a great many people in the town of
Ghent and all very determined folk. And in those days, as they took thought for their affairs, they found themselves as many as four score thousand men capable of bearing arms between fifteen and sixty years old.
When the
count had been at the siege of
Ghent for about a month and his men, the
lord of Enghien, the
Hase, his son, and the young
seneschal of Hainault had engaged in several skirmishes with the
Ghenters, which they sometimes won, as fortune dictated, he was advised to send the men from
Bruges,
Ypres and
Poperinghe to skirmish at a pass known as
Langerbrugge, which would be a great asset to them if they could conquer it, for through this pass they would enter the
Quatre-Métiers and come as close to
Ghent as they wanted. Thus these men were commanded to go to
Langerbrugge, and their commander was a most honorable and courageous knight named
Sir Josse d'Halewyn. Accompanying him were a good many knights and squires, but
Sir Josse was commander-in-chief. When the men of
Bruges,
Ypres and
Poperinghe had reached the pass called
Langerbrugge, they did not find it deserted, rather it was well manned by a large quantity of
Ghenters, including
Pieter van den Bossche,
Pieter de Wintere and
Rasse van Herzeele in front. There began a great and terrible skirmish, for as soon as the
count's men arrived, cannons and crossbows went off with force on both sides, killing and wounded many. The
Ghenters held their own, for they pushed their enemies back and won by force of arms the banner of the
goldsmiths of Bruges, which was cast into the water and soiled. Many of these goldsmiths, as well as other men, were slain or wounded, and most significantly of all
Sir Josse d'Halewyn was killed there, which was a great pity. Thus the men who had been sent there returned again without anything, so valiantly did the
Ghenters behave.
pb 61 v