Flanders was vexed by a problem of over-population, for
which neither the continuous exodus of emigrants nor the systematic reclaiming
of marsh-lands offered a permanent solution. At an early date her middle-classes
discovered the grand principle of modern industry: that by manufacturing for
foreign markets the production of wealth can be accelerated to an indefinite
degree, and the most prolific communities maintained in affluence upon a
sterile or restricted territory. The superfluous labour of the Flemish
countryside flocked into towns, at the bidding of Flemish capital, and found
remunerative employment in the weaving trade. From 1127 onwards these towns
were bargaining with the Counts of Flanders for emancipation. Bruges, Ypres,
Lille and Ghent were only the most successful among forty thriving communities
which, at the close of the twelfth century, enjoyed a large measure of
self-government but found their liberties threatened by the King of France. To
meet the danger the Flemish communes embarked on the stormy sea of politics. At
first they fought the King, in the name of the Count, and made their first
appearance as a military power on the disastrous field of Bouvines (1214),
which cost Count Ferrand his liberty and the communes the flower of their
militia.
The successors of Ferrand sank deeper and deeper into dependence on
the Capets, until the communes were forced in self-defence to assume the
leading role. At Courtrai (in 1302) they turned the tables on the Crown, and
took an ample vengeance for Bouvines, by a terrible slaughter of French knights
and men-at-arms, demonstrating to a startled Europe that feudal tactics were
obsolete, and that pikemen on foot were a match for the best mailed cavalry.
Cheated by a treacherous Count of the due fruits of their victory, the Flemish
communes nursed their resentment and waited for new opportunities, while
consoling themselves with savage persecution of the nobles, the clergy, and all
others whom they suspected of French sympathies. The ambition of Edward III
came at length to their assistance; under the leadership of Jacques van Artevelde,
a merchant-prince and demagogue of Ghent, they signed a treaty with the English
King for the invasion and conquest of France (1339).
