cities. Ten years after the battle of Cassel, Ghent set the example
of general opposition; this example was promptly followed, and
the chief towns flew to arms. The celebrated James d'Artaveldt,
commonly called the brewer of Ghent, put himself at the head of
this formidable insurrection. He was a man of a distinguished
family, who had himself enrolled among the guild of brewers, to
entitle him to occupy a place in the corporation of Ghent, which
he soon succeeded in managing and leading at his pleasure. The
tyranny of the count, and the French party which supported him,
became so intolerable to Artaveldt, that he resolved to assail
them at all hazards, unappalled by the fate of his father-in-law,
Sohier de Courtrai, who lost his head for a similar attempt,
and notwithstanding the hitherto devoted fidelity of his native
city to the count. One only object seemed insurmountable. The
Flemings had sworn allegiance to the crown of France; and they
revolted at the idea of perjury, even from an extorted oath.
But to overcome their scruples, Artaveldt proposed to acknowledge
the claim of Edward III. of England to the French crown. The
Flemings readily acceded to this arrangement; quickly overwhelmed
Count Louis of Cressy and his French partisans; and then joined,
with an army of sixty thousand men, the English monarch, who had
landed at Antwerp. These numerous auxiliaries rendered Edward's
army irresistible; and soon afterward the French and English
fleets, both of formidable power, but the latter of inferior
force, met near Sluys, and engaged in a battle meant to be decisive
of the war: victory remained doubtful during an entire day of
fighting, until a Flemish squadron, hastening to the aid of the
English, fixed the fate of the combat by the utter defeat of
the enemy.