Battle of Bouvines - 24th July 1214

By Steve Cast

The Battle of Bouvines was a significant turning point in the conflict between England’s Angevin Empire in western France and the ambitions of the Capetian dynasty.  The origins of this dated back to 1204 when Philip II of France successfully seized Angevin lands in Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine, Poitou and Touraine.  King John decided to seek allies in Flanders and Germany, most notably Henry I of Brabant whose daughter had married Otto IV of Brunswick, King John’s nephew.

English Feudal Archers

On 15^th February 1214 John landed at La Rochelle and dispatched William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, to bring the coalition into action.  Next, John moved north and spent the beginning of the campaign subduing Poitou and incorporating a large number of Poitevan knights into his army.  He then moved into Brittany and captured Nantes in mid-June.  To block John’s advance Philip ordered an army under the command of his son Prince Louis to intercept John as he was besieging La Roche-au-Moine in Anjou.  When the two armies met, John’s newly acquired Poitevan knights refused to fight their French overlord.  Enraged, John withdrew from the campaign.

The English Line

Philip marched into Flanders reaching the city of Tournai on 26^th July.  That same day, seemingly unaware of the French king’s proximity, Otto ordered his army to encamp at Mortagne, which was only 7 miles south of Philip.  When Philip discovered how close they were he held a council of war to consider attacking Otto but he was advised that the ground near Mortagne was not suitable for mounted combat so he decided to withdraw west to Lille.  The following morning Philip’s army broke camp and marched in column toward Lille along the Roman road.

To get to Lille Philips army had to cross the Bridge at Bovines and as the French were breaking camp on Sunday morning Otto ordered his army to pursue them marching on a parallel Roman road that joined the Tournai–Lille road just east of the bridge at Bouvines in the hope of attacking them whilst they were crossing it.

Frenchies!

Philip was initially unaware of the enemy’s position and was only informed whilst he was eating lunch near Bouvines.  By the time he had learned that his rearguard had engaged with the leading elements of the imperial army the majority of the French army had already crossed the bridge.  Fearing that he would lose his rearguard Philip decided to turn his army around and fight.

And so to the game which was fought twice on 6th and 13th March, largely because the Allied army managed to have the Holy Roman Emperor captured in both games, forcing an early end to the night in the first week but contributed to the Allied downfall later in the second night!

Game was run by Steve using his own rules and 6mm figures and terrain.