King Philip IV of France immediately organized an expedition of 8,000 troops, including 2,500 men-at-arms, under Count Robert II of Artois to put down the rebellion.

When the two armies met outside the city of Kortrijk on 11 July, the cavalry charges of the mounted French men-at-arms were unable to defeat the mail-armoured and well-trained Flemish militia infantry's pike formation.

The battle was a famous early example of an all-infantry army defeating an enemy force reliant on heavy cavalry by means of superior numbers, the environment, and by taking advantage of their foes' overconfidence.

While France was victorious in the overall Franco-Flemish War, the Battle of the Golden Spurs became an important cultural reference point for the Flemish Movement during the 19th and 20th centuries.

A 1985 film called De leeuw van Vlaanderen (The Lion of Flanders) depicts a vision of the battle, and the politics that led up to it.

[8] In the 1290s, Philip attempted to gain support from the Flemish aristocracy and succeeded in winning the allegiance of some local nobles, including John of Avesnes (Count of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland).

[9] In Flanders, however, many of the cities were split into factions known as the "Lilies" (Leliaerts), who were pro-French, and the "Lions" (Liebaards), who would later be referred to as the "Claws" (Klauwaerts), led by Pieter de Coninck in Bruges and seeking independence.

He entered negotiations with France leading to the 1299 Treaty of Montreuil, while the Flemish and French signed the 1297 Truce of Sint-Baafs-Vijve, a temporary armistice which halted their conflict.

[12] After Philip left Flanders, unrest broke out again in the Flemish city of Bruges in the form of a rebellion against the new French governor, Jacques de Châtillon.

[citation needed] To quell the revolt, Philip sent a powerful force led by Count Robert II of Artois to march on Bruges.

Against the French, the Flemish under William of Jülich fielded an army of mostly infantry, drawn mainly from Bruges, West Flanders, and the east of the county.

[1] All Flemish troops at the battle had helmets, neck protection, iron or steel gloves and effective weapons, though not all could afford mail armor.

[15] They were a well-organized force of 8,000–10,000 infantry, as well as four hundred noblemen acting as officers, and the urban militias of the time prided themselves on their regular training and preparation.

[14] The French, by contrast, fielded an army built around a core of 2,500 noble cavalry, including knights and squires, arrayed into ten formations of 250 armored horsemen.

Some drained from the river Leie (or Lys), while others were concealed with dirt and tree branches, resulting in an uneven terrain that made cavalry charges, the main French battle tactic, less effective by limiting the momentum and maneuverability of horsemen and their mounts.

[18] Eventually, the French crossbow bolts and arrows began to hit the main Flemish infantry formations' front ranks, but inflicted little damage due to the strong defensive lines.

[18] Robert II of Artois expressed concern that his outnumbered infantry would be overwhelmed by the Flemish soldiers positioned on the other side of the brooks.

[19] Unable at most points to break the Flemish line of pikemen, many French knights were quickly knocked from their horses and killed with the goedendag, the spike of which was designed to penetrate the spaces between armour segments.

[6][19] The rearguard failed to obey Artois' orders in full; after the initial advance, they soon turned back to protect their vulnerable baggage train.

[20] The Annals of Ghent concludes its description of the battle: And so, by the disposition of God who orders all things, the art of war, the flower of knighthood, with horses and chargers of the finest, fell before weavers, fullers and the common folk and foot soldiers of Flanders, albeit strong, manly, well armed, courageous and under expert leaders.

[28] The fact that this form of army, which was expensive to maintain, could be defeated by militia drawn from the "lower orders" led to a gradual change in the nature of warfare during the subsequent century.

[33] According to the historian Jo Tollebeek, it soon became connected to nationalist ideals because the Middle Ages were "a period that could be linked with the most important contemporary aspirations" of romantic nationalism.

[33] Probably inspired by the painting, the Flemish writer Hendrik Conscience used it as the centerpiece of his classic 1838 novel, The Lion of Flanders (De Leeuw van Vlaenderen) which brought the events to a mass audience for the first time.

The battle was evoked by King Albert I at the start of World War I to inspire bravery among Flemish soldiers as an equivalent of the Walloon six hundred Franchimontois of 1468.

[34] As a result of that linguistic-based nationalism, the contribution of French-speaking soldiers and command of the battle by the Walloon noble Guy of Namur was neglected.