Van Artevelde gained control of the insurrection against Louis I, the Count of Flanders who had abandoned his father's anti-French policies.

Louis I was forced to flee to France, while van Artevelde served as captain general of Ghent from that time until his death.

In that year, van Artevelde persuaded the federation to recognise King Edward III of England as sovereign of France and overlord of Flanders.

In 1345, however, rumours that he planned to recognise the son of Edward III, the Black Prince, as count of Flanders, suspicion of embezzlement, and the excommunication by the Pope[citation needed] caused a popular uprising in Ghent, and van Artevelde was killed by an angry mob.

Artevelde is a supporting character in Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings), a series of French historical novels by Maurice Druon.