The history of Flanders - Chapter 19
Boudewijn IX, 18th count of Flanders
Written by: Charles
Vanderhaegen - slightly modified and translated by Herman Boel - Edited
by David Baeckelandt July 2008
Published with kind permission of Charles Vanderhaegen.
The new Count takes office
Boudewijn IX,
count of Flanders, count of Henegouwen as Boudewijn VI, and emperor
of Constantinople as Boudewijn I, was born in Valenciennes
sometime in July 1171 (the precise date is not known) as son of
Boudewijn, count of Flanders (VIII), count of Henegouwen (V), count of
Namen, and of Margareta van den Elzas, sister to Filips van den Elzas.
He married on 13 January 1186, at the age
of 15, with the twelve year old Maria of Champagne, daughter
of
the count of Champagne, Hendrik I, and niece of the king of France.
From this marriage were born two girls: Johanna in 1199 or 1200 and
Margareta in 1202 (the precise dates are note known), the later
countesses of Flanders and Henegouwen.
As we saw in the previous chapter, his mother Margareta died on 15 November 1194. As she had inherited the county from her brother Filips van den Elzas, the land now went to her oldest son Boudewijn, who from that day onwards carried the name Boudewijn IX Count of Flanders.
When his father died on 17 December 1195, he inherited the title Count of Henegouwen, as Boudewijn VI, while his brother Filips got the county of Namen, on the condition he recognizes his brother Boudewijn as his liege lord.
When Boudewijn inherited the titles of Count of Flanders and Henegouwen, he was 24 years old. Due to the fact that he assisted his father in his political and military undertakings such as the war with Namur and the noble insurgence, he has quite some experienced in ruling counties.
The seal of Boudewijn IX, count of Flanders
With respect to his position as vassal of the king of France, his relation to France was of paramount importance. His father's relations with that countries were far from excellent. Remember that Boudewijn VIII enraged Filips Augustus, king of France, when he succeeded in preventing his plans to claim Flanders.
Later, in 1191, the two antagonists Boudewijn VIII and Filips Augustus had concluded peace with the treaty of Péronne, but the relations remained turbid. Boudewijn wanted to end this and repair the good relations between Flanders and France.
In juni 1196, six months after taking office, he went to Compiègne, after having informed Filips Augustus of his intentions and after receiving his approval, where he pledged his loyalty to the French king in the presence of archbishop Wilhelmus van Reims. This was an opportunity for both rulers to make a treaty. In the treaty Boudewijn guaranteed full military support to his liegeman, except against the German emperor, as the latter was liegeman of Henegouwen and Namen. In exchange Boudewijn got the castle of Mortagne, near Valenciennes and the castle of Doornik which had been part of France since 1187.
A treaty with England
This noble rulers, those medieval counts and marquis, the politicians of their time, were really of ill will and could not be trusted. Treaties were made and broken, promises were solemnly made and not kept, agreements were made but none of the parties thought of sticking to them.
The agreement between France and Flanders and only just been made, or things went wrong.
When Boudewijn claimed the two fiefs that were promised to him by the French king, that same king seemed suddenly unaware of his promise. Boudewijn realised by Filips Augustus' refusal to cede the promised fiefs, that the French king had not yet given up on his wish to add the Flemish region to the French domains. He felt obliged to safeguard his county's independence against the French king's ambitions and to break in his turn the agreement of Compiègne. Instead of keeping his promise to militarily assist the French king, he sought an ally who would assist him in a possible war against Filips Augustus.
This was not a difficult task. The only qualified ally was England with Richard Lionheart who, during his return to England after the third crusade, had been captured by Austrian duke Leopold VI and was only released after having paid a considerable ransom. He returned to Engelandin 1194 and immediately started planning a war against Filips Augustus.
When Boudewijn approached Richard and offered an allegiance, Richard agreed immediately. On 20 July 1197, after a two month negotiation, a treaty of military aid was signed between England and Flanders. The treaty stipulated that if one of the countries would become involved in a war against France, the king of England and the count of Flanders would assist each other militarily. Moreover, England would give financial aid to Flanders if this was deemed necessary for military reasons.
The seal of Richard I Lionheart, king of England 1189-1199
War with France
Shortly after the Flemish-English treaty was signed, a state of war was declared.
Richard took his army to Normandy and engaged Filips Augustus' troops, who were led by John of England (Flemish: Jan zonder land - John without land), Richard's brother who had replaced Richard during his absence. Filips August had taken advantage of John's impopularity and weakness to invade Normandy.
At about the same time, Boudewijn seized the city of Doomik. He agreed to a ceasefire if Doornik would cease the fortification works and no longer militarily and financially aid the French king. He then went to Dowaai which he took without mucj effort, and then went further south, conquering Vermandois, Bapaume and Péronne.
The siege of Atrecht went on a lot longer than Boudewijn had anticipated. This gave time to Filips Augustus to march against Boudewijn. When the French king and his army arrived at Atrecht, Boudewijn ceased the siege and took his army north, as if he gave in to the French king. This manoever misled the French king who pursued Boudewijn without realising he was lured into a military trap.
The pursuit seemed a success for Filips Augustus because a few days later, early August, he reached the city of leper. His soldiers needed a rest so Filips suggested to make camp on the vast plains west of Ieper. However, Fililps did not know that the vast fields were in fact an area of flooding, controlled by a number of sluices along the leperlee, a unnavigable tributary of the river IJzer.
Boudewijn had watched the French king and his army from a distance. As soon as they had made camp, Boudewijn ordered the sluices to be opened. The fields were flooded with water and in only a few hours' time the whole camp was turned into a mudpole. They were now an easy prey to the Flemish troops. Boudewijn sent a messenger to the French kinf with a peace proposal. Filips would be allowed to retreat on the condition that he would give up on any further military action against Flanders. Filips agreed and took his battered army back to Paris.
As usual keeping one's word was not an issue. As soon as Filips Augustus had returned in Paris, he invalidated the agreement with Boudewijn as it had been forced upon him by his rebellious vassal. When a messenger informed Boudewijn of this royal decision, he was not really impressed. On the contrary, as soon as the messenger had returned to Paris, Boudewijn marched with his army to Aire, southwest of Sint-Omaars, took the city without striking a blow and was even welcomed triumphantically.
He then took to Sint-Omaars. The inhabitants were not as pleased with Boudewijn's arrival as the people of Aire. The city was well-defended and Boudewijn did not succeed in seizing the city. Fortunately Amould, count of Guines, came to his assistance with an impressive collection of ballistics, catapults and a battering-ram which was higher than the city's defence walles. While the soldiers on he ground tried to punch through one of the walls, the battering-ram was pushed against the wall and the catapults shelled the city with heavy stones. Typical medieval warfare.
The taking of Sint-Omaars with the battering-ram of
the count of Guines
Sint-Omaars could not withstand such an attack. Shortly after the first attack the city gates were opened and Boudewijn took the city. Boudewijn was so happy with the glorious victory that he thanked Arnould for his military support with a case full of gold and silver coins that he had received from Richard Lionheart to cover his war expenses.
This did not end the war as it lasted for another two years with varying success for both parties. It did not come to a decisive battle. Peace was made thanks to the intervention of Pope Innocentius III. On 2 January 1200 the two parties gathered again in Péronne and once again reached an agreement. This time the frontier between France and Flanders could be established once and for all. Boudewijn kept Dowaai, Aire and Sint-Omaars while the French king kept Atrecht, Bapaume and Hesdin. How long this will last, will become clear further below.
A piece of German history
This treaty may have been as brittle as all previous ones, at least there was some peace on Flemish territory. The endless and mostly useless warfaring had made both parties, both Boudewijn and Filips Augustus, kind of war-weary.
Boudewijn was apparently quite confident with regard to the French king and his ambitions. He now turned eastwards and wanted to make sure that there would be no threat to his counties from that side. Bound by the military agreement he had made with England in 1197, he decided to take the side of England in the question of succession to the German throne in 1198, and defended the candidate of the House of Welf, Otto, instead of the French candidate, Filips of Swabia, from the house of Hohenstaufen.
The Welf were a mighty German family of rulers who, by the end of the 11th century, became adversaries for the German throne to the Hohenstaufen, better known as the Ghibellines, after their royal castle Waibling, northeast of Stuttgart. When Lotharius III of Saxony, who was crowned German emperor in 1133 by pope Innocentius II, remained without successor, he appointed his son-in-law, the Welf Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria and Saxony, his successor. The different German rulers (Reichsfürste) were afraid the Welf's power would expand and therefore preferred the candidate from the house of the Hohenstaufen, Koenraad III. This choice divided the empire into two hostile parties, the Welfs and the Ghibellines.
The parties were reconciled when Otto IV, supported by English king Richard Lionheart and Flemish count Boudewijn, was crowned German emperor by pope Innocentius III on 12 July 1198 in Aachen.
Later (in 1208) French candidate Filips of Swabia will be murdered, and Filips Augustus will defeat the English-German coalition in the famous battle of Bouvines on 27 July 1214. This battle means the end of the power of the Welf in the German emprire and will be the starting point of the supremacy by the Capetians in France.
Again an issue with Namur
Boudewijn will not live to see this, but in the meantime the reconciliation of 1198 will allow him to solve another problem that had surfaced.
During the war between Boudewijn and Filips Augustus, the latter had succeeded (in 1198) to capture Boudewijn's brother, Filips van Namen. Count Thibault of Bar of Barrois (the current Bar-Le-Duc in the French dép. Meuse) and Luxembourg, who had succeeded Hendrik de blinde (Henry the blind) in 1196, took advantage of this and regularly held razzias with his soldiers in the Namur county and pestered the local population.
He argued he did this because he contested the validity of the agreement of 1165 that had been confirmed by the archbishop in 1188. In this agreement Hendrik de Blinde appointed his cousin Boudewijn V of Henegouwen as his successor in Namur. Thibault actually claimed Namur and wanted it to return to the county of Luxembourg.
As Filips of Namen was unable to defend himself against Thibault, Boudewijn decided to defend his brother. In order to end the harassements and the suggested return of Namur to Luxembourg, Boudewijn contacted Thibault to come to a settlement which would stipulate what area belonged to whom and to assure peace in the area.
Thibault realised that we was no match for Boudewijn and admitted. Negotiations were held for many months, eventually leading to the Treaty of Dinant on 26 July 1199.
This settled the succession of Hendrik de Blinde permanently: Filips remained count of Namur, but the county itself was plit in two. The are east of the river Maas and south of the forest of Arche was given in concession to Thibault, while the whole area west of the river Maas remained an integral part of the county of Namur.
Boudewijn IX as legislator
Boudewijn IX was not only a shrewd general and a skilful diplomat, he also had a very clear view on the socio-economic situation in his realm. This manifests itself in a very exceptional document in his time: the so-called "woekerverbod" (Usury law) of 1199.
In 1196 and 1197 harvests all over the country were destroyed by continuous rain, storms and abnormally low temperartures. The result of two successive failed crops was a terrible famine that lasted until 1199.
As a consequence the scarcely available food was sold at exorbitantly high prices, so that many people in dire need took out loans at abnormally high interest rates. By the end of the 12th century the situation had resulted in a large number of usurers in the county and surrounding areas. Many debtors were not able to pay back their debts due to a piling up of interests. This caused much damage to the churches, resulted in the disinheritance of rich nobles and non-nobles and in the collapse of children and widows. A revolt seemed imminent.
Boudewijn was faced with a socio-economic problem that needed to be solved urgently. He could only solve it by putting a stop to the usurious interest rates and by restoring the reasonable balance between the financially powerful and the financially weak. Only an intervention by the highest authority could succeed in doing so. The highest authority was the count.
Sometime in 1199 (we do not
know the exact date) Boudewijn issued a decree with which he
forbade any loans against interests in his counties, Flanders and
Henegouwen. Furthermore, all interests on loans as of Christmas day
1197 were declared invalid and those already paid had to be reimbursed.
Possessions bought with usurious profits were to be sold and the sale
revenues to be given to those who paid the usury. As for the debtors,
they were given three years to settle their debts, one third in each
year.
We must note that the idea of interest as unwarranted usury
does not come from Boudewijn IX, but rather from canon law
which
has always considered borrowed money a sin.
It is interesting to note though that we are dealing with a lay legislator for the first time at the end of the 12th century. This is a socio-economic novelty which will spread very soon in all possible directions in the coming centuries.
This decree is not the only socio-economic measure taken by Boudewijn, but it was the most important one prior to accepting pope Innocentius III's call to participate in the fourth crusade. Boudewijn will leave for Palestine on 2 April 1202, but he will never reach the promised land.
Bibliography:
1. LEGLAY, Edward. "Histoire des comtes de Flandre", Librairie
de A. Vandale, Brussel 1843.
2. PREVENIER, W. in het Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek.
Deel 1. Blz. 224 t.e.m. 238, Paleis der Academieën, Brussel 1970.
3. WARNKOENIG, L.A. "Histoire de la Flandre", M. Hayez,
Brussel 1835.
4. PREVENIER, W. "Een economische maatregel van de Vlaamse
graaf in 1199", Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis, Gent 1965.