A French army commanded by Louis XIV successfully besieged the town of Tournai, then part of the Spanish Netherlands.

[2] Louis XIV's initial objective for the campaign season had been to capture Brussels, delivering a single decisive blow to the Spanish.

[3] In the summer of 1667, Tournai had obsolete fortifications and was lightly defended by a garrison comprising 230 Irish soldiers and 150 cavalry troops under the command of the Marquis de Trazegnies.

Louis is recorded as having joined his soldiers in the trenches, exposing himself to enemy fire in the process and causing Turenne much anxiety.

The new fortifications, built by Guillaume Deshouillères under the supervision of Vauban, were to be put the test in the siege of Tournai in 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession.