ABSTRACT
The battle of Courtrai has entered legend as a milestone in the Flemish national struggle and as the first major battle in which urban infantry defeated cavalry led by nobles. Germanic Flanders was never to be part of France. The political crisis of Flanders was exacerbated by a plague and famine between 1315 and 1317. The truce of Sint-Baafs-Vijve between England and France was sealed on 9 October 1297 and was extended to 6 January 1300. Much of the confusion in the historiography of the Flemish textile industry is over the word 'drapers', who were small operators who gave work to individual cloth makers but were not members of the merchant oligarchy that ruled the city. Flanders remained dependent on foreign imports. The economic rise of England also forced changes. While in the thirteenth century foreign merchants had visited England and bought their wool by inspecting it personally on the abbey estates, the kings were now centralizing their customs service.
