The horsemen, clad in cumbrous
armour, charged, the brushwood gave way, and most of them sank
into the water. The Comte d'Artois got clear, but was beaten to
the ground and killed. The Chancellor Flotte, who had boasted that
he would bring the people of Bruges to their knees, was trampled to
death. Chatillon died too; and when, at last, a long day's fighting
came to an end, the Flemings had gained a complete victory. By this
battle, which took its name from the thousands of golden spurs
which were torn from the French knights who fell, the victors
secured--for a time, at least--the liberty of their country, and
the memory of it was for many a day to Flanders what the memory
of Bannockburn was to Scotland, or of Morgarten to Switzerland.
DAMME--THE SEA-FIGHT AT SLUIS--SPLENDOUR OF BRUGES IN THE MIDDLE
AGES--THE FALL AND LOSS OF TRADE
CHAPTER V
DAMME--THE SEA-FIGHT AT SLUIS--SPLENDOUR OF BRUGES IN THE MIDDLE
AGES--THE FALL AND LOSS OF TRADE
Damme, where the patriots mustered on the eve of the Bruges Matins,
is within a short hour's stroll from the east end of the town.
The Roya, which disappears from view, as we have already seen,
opposite the Quai du Rosaire, emerges from its hidden course at
the west end of the Quai du Miroir, where the statue of Jan van
Eyck stands near the door of the building now used as a public
library.
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