SHF 2-199 sync
How the count of Flanders raised the siege of Ghent and of the battle fought between himself and his men on the one side, and the Ghenters on the other.
During the siege of
Ghent, as conducted by the
count, there were many skirmishes outside the town, for the
lord of Enghien, the
seneschal of Hainault, and the
Hase de Flandres sometimes found defenceless persons whom they never ransomed, and other times they were so strongly repelled that they did not even have time to look behind them. Then in the town of
Ghent six thousand able companions gathered with
Rasse van Herzeele,
Arnould de Clerk and
Jean de Lannoy as their captains. They departed
Ghent without any bother from the besieging army, and marched towards
Aalst, which was a chartered town then and well fortified; the
count had stationed a garrison of several knights there and when they heard of the impending assault, they left by the
Brussels gate or else they would have been killed.
Aalst was then burnt to the ground by the
Ghenters, gates and all, and they gathered a good haul of plunder. From there they moved on to
Dendermonde, which is a strong town; however, by assault they conquered it.
Sir Philippe de Masmines met his end there and the
Ghenters became masters of the town but not of the castle, for the
lord of Widescot and his companions held out against them valiantly. From there the
Ghenters proceeded to
Geraardsbergen which had only recently turned to the
count through the efforts and treaties made by the
lord of Enghien. I do not know whether it occurred by treachery or not, but the
Ghenters forced their way in and many of those within were killed. After making these forays they returned to
Ghent with rich spoils and a good profit.
SHF 2-200 syncWhen the
count of Flanders realised that not only was he wasting his time lingering outside
Ghent, but that he and his men were there at great expense and effort, yet still could not prevent the
Ghenters from venturing out and laying waste to the land (they had conquered
Aalst,
Dendermonde and
Geraardsbergen), he resolved to leave that place, for winter was approaching. And so he departed and sent his men back to their homes to rest; he sent the
lord of Enghien and the
lord of Montigny back to the garrison at
Oudenaarde where there were, excluding the men-at-arms, two hundred fine
English archers on whom they were most dependent, and the
count himself went to
Bruges. These lords, who were residing at
Oudenaarde, made many fine assaults on the
Ghenters and were almost always in the fields so that nobody could travel to
Ghent or carry provisions or merchandise there without being pursued.
When winter had passed and March arrived, the
count of Flanders gathered all his men, summoning those of
Ypres,
Kortrijk,
Poperinghe,
Damme,
Sluys and the
Franc. He left
Bruges accompanied by the
Brugeois and came to
Male where he remained for some time, and he appointed the
lord of Enghien commander-in-chief of all his men-at-arms including the men of
Lille,
Douai and
Oudenaarde. The count's men numbered a good twenty thousand and they made preparations to march to
Gavere where
Jean de Lannoy was residing.
When
Jean knew of the arrival of the
count and the men-at-arms he sent a message to
Ghent, to inform
Rasse van Herzeele that he must send him aid because the count's men had taken to the field.
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