Battle of Bouvines: How Philip Augustus Crushed the Anglo-German Coalition in 1214

On July 27, 1214, near the village of Bouvines by the River Marcq in what is now northern France, King Philip Augustus of France defeated a coalition led by Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV of Brunswick, King John of England, Ferrand Count of Flanders, and Renaud Dammartin Count of Boulogne. The French king had split his forces, leaving his son Prince Louis to neutralize King John in the Loire Valley at the siege of La Roche-aux-Moines, where the English army disintegrated and many drowned when a pontoon bridge collapsed. At Bouvines, Philip's army of roughly 1,300 knights and 4,000–6,000 infantry faced a slightly larger coalition force. Brother Guerin, Bishop-elect of Senlis, opened the fighting with mounted sergeants against Ferrand's flank; Ferrand was captured, Otto was unhorsed and fled, William Longespée Earl of Salisbury was stunned and taken by Philip of Dreux Bishop of Beauvais, and Renaud's Brabançon pikemen were wiped out. Some 130 lords were captured. Ferrand spent 13 years imprisoned in the Louvre before release in early 1227; Renaud killed himself. The victory secured Philip's conquests, which had quadrupled royal domains, and within a year King John was forced to seal Magna Carta in June 1215. Otto IV was deposed and replaced by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen.