Battle of Gisors
The Battle of Gisors in the annals of Saint-Denis, 14th century.
| date | September 28, 1198 |
|---|---|
| place | near Gisors , France |
| output | Victory of Richard the Lionheart |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 200 knights + mercenaries |
300 knights + mounted servants and infantry |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
† approx. 20 knights |
The Battle of Gisors (also known as the Battle of Courcelles-lès-Gisors ) was a military clash in medieval France between the French King Philip II and his long-time adversary, the English King Richard the Lionheart . The battle took place on September 28, 1198 between Courcelles and Gisors ( Département Eure ).
prehistory
Since his early return from the Third Crusade in 1191, France's King Philip II was engaged in destroying the Richard’s domain and his Plantagenet dynasty, which occupied more than half of the territory of France (see: Angevin Empire ). In addition to the fact that the English King Richard the Lionhearted by Emperor Henry VI. Philipp took advantage of the internal quarrels of the Plantagenets and the efforts of their vassals to emancipate themselves from the Plantagenets. During these years Philip conquered several castles and annexed territories of Richard, including the Vexin , which had been controversial for generations and which successfully came under the control of the French crown with the capture of the castle of Gisors in 1193.
After Richard was ransomed from his captivity, he took up the fight against Philip in 1194 and allied himself with Count Baldwin IX. of Flanders , who was also in dispute with King Philip over rule over the Artois . In the same year Richard fended off an attack by Philip on the Vendômois near Fréteval ( Loir-et-Cher ) and then moved to Normandy , where he gradually recaptured castles occupied by Philip.
Because Richard had taken the castles of Courcelles and Burris in the Vexin, Philipp decided to attack his rival again and led his army from Mantes into the Vexin. When Richard was informed of this, he had his army, with which he was on the way to the Anjou , turn around in order to put Philip in a field between Courcelles and Gisors.
The fight
The course of the battle is narrated by the English chronicler Roger von Hoveden , who obtained his information from a letter from King Richard to the Bishop of Durham . Accordingly, Richard managed to defeat the enemy army despite being outnumbered. Richard himself is said to have lifted Philip's knights Mathieu de Montmorency-Marly , Alain de Roucy and Fulk de Gilerval from their saddles with a single lance , King Philip fled with his remaining army to Gisors. When he wanted to cross a wooden bridge over the Epte in front of the city , it collapsed under the weight of the armored horsemen. The king narrowly escaped death after he “could drink from the river”.
According to Hovden, the Lionheart victory was complete. Philip II of France lost almost a third of his army in Richard's captivity, including Mathieu de Montmorency.
In 13th century France, a French version of the course of the battle appeared in the tales of a Ménestrel from Reims . Richard the Lionhearted army outnumbered him and King Philip refrained from taking part in the battle personally after the knight Alain de Roucy had been persuaded to avoid being captured by the Lionheart. Instead, Roucy would have fought in the armor of the king, who himself sought refuge in the castle of Gisors.
consequences
Philip's defeat in battle also meant the failure of his policy against Richard. In the peace between the two kings, concluded under the mediation of the Archbishop of Canterbury , Philip had to leave all conquests to Richard and recognize him in all of his possessions in France; Philip was only able to keep Gisors.
The French king was nevertheless able to resume his action against the Plantagenets a year later after Richard the Lionheart died unexpectedly from an arrow wound.
The English King Henry VI. (1422–1461) introduced motto of the British monarchy goes back to the slogan “ Dieu et mon droit ” ( God and my right ) issued by Löwenherz on the day of the Battle of Gisors . The Lionheart emphasized that the King of England was solely responsible to God and was not subject to any worldly power. In his conflict with Philip II of France, the background to this was that the French king tried to obtain feudal sovereignty from the French over the English crown while Richard was imprisoned. The importance of the feudal oath for England, which Richard had once given to the emperor as a condition for his release, was thus invalidated.