ABSTRACT
In Lissewege, a small village near the town of Bruges in Flanders, stands the statue of a warrior who fought against the French in the battle of the Golden Spurs on 11 July 1302. Willem van Saeftinghe was a lay brother in the Cistercian abbey in Lissewege. He responded to a call to arms from the Flemish rebels against the French occupiers in May–July 1302 and stole a horse from his abbey. He rushed to the battlefield in Courtrai where he exchanged his horse for a goedendag (a type of short club-like pike) and fought very valiantly, killing several French knights. In the thick of the battle, Willem van Saeftinghe struck down with one blow the warhorse of the French commander-in-chief, Count Robert of Artois, who was then slain by other warriors. 1 Willem’s heroic deeds are mentioned in both contemporary chronicles and official documents. He was described by chroniclers as a very tall man who was as strong as an ox. One particular document, an account of 1300–1301, suggests that Willem may have been a former Templar. 2 Other contemporary sources, chronicles as well as city accounts, give clearer evidence of the involvement of Templars, and also of the Hospitallers, in the Flemish rebellion of 1302 against the French.
