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All the county of Flanders joined in the celebrations which followed the important, and unexpected, victory over the French at the battle of Courtrai. Towns, like Ghent, which had neglected to join the rebellion before the battle quickly federated themselves with the victories rebels; support for the rebellion also came from the rural areas of Flanders. Guy of Namur and William of Julich were heralded as heroes and assigned the task of governing the newly independent counties.

There was little doubt that the King of France, Philip IV, would try to retake his northern province. But, Flanders was to wealthy of a possession to lose. Moreover, a secession of one of France's fiefs might encourage other unstable provinces to seek their own independence. So the sons and grandson of Guy of Dampierre, the Count of Flanders, who was imprisoned by Philip IV (also known as the Fair) for his participation in the on King Edward I of England side, prepared for another French attack.

The Flemish did not concern themselves solely with defensive matters, for they took advantage of the French confusion following the battle of Courtrai to secure their territory and to make new conquests. Within days of the victory, the castles of Courtrai and Cassel, which were in French hands, fell to the rebels, followed by the surrender of the towns of Lille, Douai, and Termonde, which was the only one that resisted the Flemish attacks.

The loss at Courtrai stunned the French, so Philip the Fair was forced to gather new funds and a new army to try to regain his lost territories. On November 18, perhaps instigated by the Flemish victor at Courtrai, Pope Boniface VIII, Philip old enemy, issued the Unam sanctam. This reinforced the pope's earlier decree, Clericos laicos, forbidding the use of church subsidies by rulers unless consented by the pope. It seems that this decree was directed at Philip's situation.

Even though the French king had been defeated on two fronts he still held his people together. Moreover he kept the English at bay from seizing the opportunity to attack a militarily weak and unprepared French realm by negotiating an alliance with his potential enemy based on the cession of Gascony to England. Philip could now concetrate on his recovery of Flanders. However, it would be two years before France was capable of lanuching an attack. Before the end of 1302 he had gathered an army and marched north to Vitry, just two miles south of the Flemish town of Douai. After a stay of five or six weeks, the army ran out of food and was forced to return to France.

The Flemish did not wait for the French army's recovery, and before the end of 1302, the rebels attacked the counties of Holland and Hainault, which were north and southeast of Flanders, these counties were controlled by Count Jan I. The Flemish army had spilt into two parts; William of Julich leading a force south to Tournai and Guy of Namur leading another army north to Zeeland. William's main goal was to besiege the French-partisan town of Tournai, but after three days the impatient rebels became fatigued and moved on to 'easier' targets, such as Lessines.

By 1303, William of Hainault, son of Jan I, decided that he could no longer wait for the French army to help him save his father's counties from destruction at the hands of the Flemish rebels. He gathered an army from the counties and proceeded against the Flemish at Lessines. Unaccustomed to military opposition, the rebels gave up the siege and retreated north. Word had reached Guy of Namur about William of Julich defeat, who then increased his attack against Holland, and assaulting Zeeland from the land and sea in a concentrate effort to take the town of Middleburg. William of Hainault was forced to march his small army north to defend the county and town.

This maneuver lessened the pressure on William of Julich's force, and he moved south again. With Hainault's army in Holland, he was able to attack and capture Lessines. His next target was the French garrison town of St. Omer. On reaching the outskirts of St. Omer, William divided his force into three parts. The first division, was made up of troops from Ypres, recognizable by their red banners, it was ordered closest to the town. The second division were troops from St. Winoksbergen, it was placed behind the Yprois. This division aslo contained the supply trains. And the third division led by William, composed troops from Furnes and Cassel, it took the rear. Why he ordered his troops in this manner rather than keeping everyone together is not known, for it cannot be determined from the sources.

The Yprois division first encounter was a small French force at the small town of Arques.

The French were practically wipe out, except for a few who escaped the ambush. The suvivors then reported the news at St. Omer of the attack, so, Jacques de Bayonne called his men together to prepared to march out to confront the Flemish.

The French soldiers inside the town, among them the constable of France, Gaucher of Chatillon, recognizing their small numbers and remembering the Flemish victory at Courtrai, prepared themself for certain death and began taking absolution from priests inside the town of St. Omer. Still there were many knights among the French soldiers and many Flemish who were loyal to the French who were also prepared to fight. In the end of all these worries they were encouraged by a short speech given by Jacques de Bayonne promising them glory, honor, and victory. The French, with trumpets sounding and banners flying, marched out of St. Omer to battle the enemy.

On April 4, 1303, the first force the French confronted was the Yprois. The Yprois were caught by surprise but had time to form a solid line to keep the French from attacking them. Bayonne decided to leave his infantry behind to keep the Yprois from advancing on the town. After the encounter with the Yprois, Bayonne moved his 800 cavalrymen around the Yprois and rode into the St. Winoksbergen soldiers. This contingent was unprepared for battle and in a loose order, nevertheless they fought valiantly. However, they were defeated and began to scatter, and the supply trains were plundered and burned. A large part of this Flemish contingent was killed or wounded.

Flushed with victory, the French cavalry continued to advance to attack the third group. By some unknown means, William had learned of the French attacks and took a defensive posture, dismounting troops, putting pikes and goededags forward, and ordering them to stand against the cavalry charge. The formation the Flemish formed was not a line but a circle like a bowl or crown with William in the center. It was a impenetrable defensive formation which did not need the use of terrain to be effective.

What happened next after William ordered the formation differs form two of the original sources. The Annales Gandenses claim that the French cavalry, recognizing their futility of attacking such a formation, rode around it looking for weak points. French casualties occurred when a Frenchmen moved to close to the formation or when a Fleming decided to break rank to get at the French. The Flemish formation never broke, and with the arrival of the Yprois and the St. Winoksbergen divisions, the French cavalry retreat and the infantry pulled back to St. Omer. While retreating the French suffered some more casualties.

The Chronique Artesienne claims that in coming to the Flemish formation, the cavalry withdrew and Bayonne met with his troops to set up a plan of attack. He divided his army into four lines; two lines would attack the front of the formation that was in front of the French the other two would attack the ‘flanks’. A small number of soldier were left behind to prevent a reinforcing assault from the other groups. Despite pushing the Flemish formation back some distance, the cavalry charges continually failed the to break the defensive formation. After the battle with many casualties on both sides and with night falling, Bayonne sounded the retreat and the French attempted to make their way back to St. Omer. The retreat was orderly, with the Flemish in hot pursuit of the French. Several times the French turned around as if to renew their attack, and each time the Flemish reformed their defensive formation and stood ready to fight. Even though some French leaders want to attack , they could do nothing except continue to retreat, this pattern seemed to have been repeated six or seven times. In the end the French reached the safety of the protective walls of St. Omer.

In a way, the French lost the Battle of Arques for they were forced to retreat from the battlefield. To give the Flemish total victory would be wrong for they did not attack their objective, St. Omer, perhaps because they may have had sustained too many casualties same as the French nor did they occupy the field for a long period of time the following day Jacques de Bayonne sent Aury the German to attempt to negotiate a ceasefire to bury the French dead. On his arrival he found that the Flemish had withdrew from the battlefield; and the dead, some 15,000, had been buried together in a large mass grave.

The Flemish may have won the battle, but William could not take advantage of the victory. He had lost many men, most of them were from the St. Winoksbergen contingent. So, he had not been able to defeat the French decisively to prompt the surrender of St. Omer. Further military operations against the town would necessitate a siege, and his army had already shown that they had no patience for siege warfare as seen at Tournai, so, William abandoned the field.

Chronique de Flandre, Brussels, 1879-80.
Annales Gandenses, London, 1951.
Guillaume Guiart, a French soldier, Branche des royaux lignages, Paris, not dated.
Chronique Artesienne, Paris 1898.