Willem van Saeftinghe

was a lay brother in the Cistercian abbey of Ter Doest in Lissewege, West Flanders, Belgium.

During the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 he unhorsed the French leader, Count Robert of Artois, who was then killed by other Flemish fighters.

This episode in the battle was represented in a painting by Nicaise de Keyser, displayed in Kortrijk, which was destroyed in the bombing of 1944.

During a revolt of the lay brothers of Ter Doest Abbey in November 1308 he killed the elderly cellarer and severely injured the abbot, Willem van Cordewaeghen.

Pope Clement V forgave him his misdeeds on 19 November 1309 and granted him absolution but bound him to join the Knights Hospitaller.