from

The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages
From the eight century to 1340

J.F. Verbruggen

The Boydell Press www.boydell.co.uk
ISBN 0-85115-570-7

General Outline

The battle of Worringen on the Rhine, north of Cologne , settled an armed dispute that had broken out early in 1283. Duchess lrmgard of Limbourg had died childless. Her lands stretched eastwards of the Meuse round the little town of Limbourg as far as Eupen and its environs. It was the question of the succession that started off a five years war. The territorial expansion which would follow the acquisition of Limbourg could change the whole balance of political power between the Meuse and the Rhine .

For Reinald of Guelders it was a splendid step towards the extension of his domain southwards. For duke John I of Brabant it would be the decisive factor in controlling the whole of the trade route between Bruges and Cologne , from Brabant to the Rhine . But this would make Brabant so powerful that it would constitute a serious threat to the archbishop of Cologne who till then, had been dominant in that part of the Rhineland . Reinald, as consort of Irmgard, held a life tenure of the inheritance from king Rudolf of Habsburg. But John bought the rights from the nearest relative of the late duchess, count Adolf of Berg, who was himself too weak to press his claim by force of arms.

There was trouble at once, for the count of Guelders was checked in his southward aspirations by the action of John of Brabant, while the latter had to do something in order not to be cut off from his connection with the Rhineland. The possibility of an expansion of Brabant forced the archbishop of Cologne , Siegfried of Westerburg, to come in to the quarrel, and to ally himself with Reinald. But the count of Guelders sold his rights to Limbourg in 1288 to the count of Luxembourg , who had also some claim. Walram of Valkenburg also joined Reinald. In 1286, he obtained the support of his father-in-law the count of Flanders Guy of Dampierre, whose son, John of Flanders, was the prince-bishop of Liège.

John I of Brabant was threatened on every side. He managed to avoid the strategic encirclement of his domain by adroit political manoeuvring. Against Reinald of Guelders he got the support of the counts of Cleves and Jülich and of Floris V of Holland , who in his turn could make difficulties for Guy of Dampierre. He made an alliance with the citizens of Cologne against their archbishop, and by wily concessions brought the bishop of Liège into his own camp.

The conflict was unresolved until 1288. When the citizens of Cologne rose against their archbishop, John I advanced to the Rhine, where he besieged the town of Worringen at the request of the rebels, who wanted to destroy the ‘robber’s castle’ because ships passing were being forced to pay a crippling toll. The duke’s army was reinforced by allies from the Rhineland . At that moment the Brabançons were deep in enemy territory, and archbishop Siegfried resolved to make use of this strategically promising situation, especially as John had laid siege to a castle, which was a tactical disadvantage. The prelate is said to have called on his allies in these words: ‘A whale has got washed up on our land, and is already so close to the wall that we only need throw out a net to catch him. It will enrich the whole land, but it is a great fat creature which I cannot handle alone. Every man must hurry to stop our prey escaping’.

Siegfried of Westerburg massed his army and that of his allies behind the Erft near Neuss . Then he took up a position between Worringen and the city of Cologne to cut off supplies to the duke’s army and to make it raise the siege of the castle. On 4 June, he was at Brauweiler waiting for the arrival of the civic levies from Bonn , Andernach, and elsewhere. In a council of war, pressure by the count of Luxembourg led to a decision to attack on the following day. The archbishop objected to this, because this Saturday was especially dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. After saying Mass on the morning of 5 June, he excommunicated the duke of Brabant and had the army drawn up in battle array. The Allies advanced in three great corps past Auweiler and Fuehlingen to the Rhine . First came the archbishop with his knights, followed by the troops of the count of Luxembourg and the count of Guelders’s contingent. Their formations were made up of noblemen from both principalities, reinforced with light cavalry. The whole army was strengthened with foot from the principality of Cologne and the county of Guelders .

Before daybreak, John had the news from his spies and scouts. He ordered the trumpets to sound the call to arms at once. After Mass he moved off from the castle and crossed the Pletsch with his troops to an open plain, where knights could fight. Before he left, the trumpeters sounded the cail to arms again.

The duke took up a position in the centre of the Brabançon division. His armour was all decorated with his arms, ‘sable, a lion or’. Unlike many princes of his day, who gave their insignia to one of their knights so as to escape recognition in battle, the duke wore his arms himself. Two horses were in readiness, so that he had a chance to mount a spare one during the battle. His brother Godfrey was with him, and his two nephews de St Pol, with about ten French knights. As there were so few of them, the duke had them accompanied by Rase of Gaver, lord of Liedekerke and Breda, with a company, and by the company of John Berthout, lord of Berlaar, including the knights banneret John of Schorisse and Wouter of Antoing and their followers. In the centre was the bailiff of Jodoigne with his followers and his banner. As well as these two companies, the great Brabant division included the following:

3. The company of Wouter Berthout, lord of Malines, with his uncle Gillis Berthout and two knights banneret, each with their own banners, Geraard of Rotselaar and Arnoud of Walhain.

4. Count Godfrey of Vianen with the banner of Asse.

5. Arnoud of Diest with his son Geraard and his banner, which eventually replaced the standard of Brabant.

6. The company of Geraard of Wezemaal.

7. Arnoud of Wezemaal, marshal of Brabant , with his men.

8. The provost of Nivelles had in his troop the banner of Gaasbeek which was carried by William Pipenpoi from Brussels.

9. Thierry of Walcourt with his company.

10. Although the bord of Adegem was not there, a large company had been entrusted to Steven of Itter, who was fighting under this banner.

11. A great company under Renier of Wegeseten.

12. The men of John, lord of Kuik, with two knights banneret, John of Arkel and John of Heusden.

13. A company from Limbourg, comprising the Witthems, and the Mulrepas.

The ‘ amman ’ of Brussels , the ‘schout’ of Antwerp and the ‘mayor’ of Tirlemont were also there, each with a banner and soldiers from his district. They were probably included in the companies already mentioned. The companies of Witthems and Mulrepas had two banners, and according to Jan van Heelu included more than a hundred cavalrymen equipped with helmets, nine lords among them.

The second division of duke John I’s army consisted of the men of count Arnulf of Looz and count Walram of Jülich, with Frederick of Reifferscheid, Henry of Wildenburg, Gerard of Jülich, John Schevard of Rode, Gerlach of Dollendorf, Herman of Thomberg, John of Bedbur, the lord of Greifenstein, the count of Virneburg and the count of Weilnau.

The third division was made up of the cavalry and foot-soldiers of the count of Berg, and the communal army from Cologne , who brought their own standard with them. There were four counts as leaders, Everhard of 12 Mark, Simon of Teckienburg, Otto of Waldeck, and Gottfried of Ziegenhain. Henry of Windeck, brother of the count of Berg, was also there. The third division was stationed somewhat behind the others at first, close to the castle and along the banks of the Rhine.

John dubbed about thirty noble squires knights before the battle. A few brothers of the Teutonic Order tried to bring about an agreement but met with no success. Then the duke spoke to his Brabançons. He held up the example of their ancestors to them, praising their courage, and at the same time giving them various pieces of advice. He said he was going to fight in the foremost line himself, because he was better mounted than his subjects. Rich and poor, they were to stick to him with such courage and determination that nobody could attack him in the back or the flank. He would look after his own safety in front. I f they saw him flee or surrender, they were to cut him down themselves. He gave the standard of the duchy to Raas of Grez, who was to have two light cavalrymen as a guard. The duke himself had a body guard, Walter of Warfusee, lord of Momal, and Frank, bastard of Wezemaal. But no one was to hold the bridle of his horse, nor ride in front of him.

Then he took up his position on a hill behind a marsh, waiting impatiently for the appearance of the enemy, who at that moment were out of sight, probably in the village of Fuehlingen . In front of the Brabant army was the Cologne - Worringen road. The enemy approached through a low-lying piece of flat land by the Rhine, the archbishop advancing against the third contingent of John’s army, which was led by the count of Berg. The Cologne-Worringen and Merkenich-Worringen roads made an angle in the battlefield. Both roads were edged with ditches. The battle took place in an angle formed between these two roads. At first the right wing of the duke‘s division did not seem to come as far as the Worringen- Cologne road, for they were easily outflanked by the troops from Guelders. But after the second body of knights had come up, the whole space between the two roads was filled with fighting men.

The church of Worringen

The Numbers involved in the Battle

Before giving an account of the battle it will be best to investigate the numbers engaged, which present the most puzzling feature of the combat. There is nothing to telI us about the strength of the armies of Brabant , and before that year, 1288, we know just as little about their enemies.

According to Heelu, John l began his decisive campaign with ‘1,500 helmets’, i.e. 1,500 knights, squires, and light cavalry or sergeants. In previous campaigns he had once had more than 1,000 cavalry at his disposal, on another occasion 1,200 and once a bit less than 2,000. Each time the army was entirely made up of cavalry. Heelu says emphatically that for the Worringen campaign this means only men from Brabant , except for about 40 men, who included the followers of the St Pol brothers. However it has already been seen that the Limbourgers, Witthems and Mulrepas were there with about 100 horsemen. Did the chronicler not include them? The enemy would seem to have had 1,200 more horsemen than the whole of John’s army, including the allies. We do not accept the writer’s assertion, because such numerical superiority would be apparent from the course of the battle itself. Can the 1,500 Brabant cavalrymen be accepted? It is possible that duke John may have collected as many, but it cannot be considered certain.

It has already been shown that Gilbert of Mons, chancellor of the count of Hainault, whose office made him well acquainted with the number of knights in Hainault, also gives reliable figures for Flanders and Brabant . There were 1,000 knights available for a great army in Flanders at the time, 700 knights in Hainault and as many in Brabant . We know that the number of knights dropped in the thirteenth century, but the squires who did not become knights went on serving in the army, so that the total number of mounted noblemen probably stayed at the same level as at the end of the twelfth century. In the second half of the thirteenth century the numerical strength of the armies was often given as the number of mounted men wearing metal armour. In Heelu’s version horsemen are not necessarily noblemen any more, because he indicates them as the number of fighting men with helmets; he also talks about light cavalry or sergeants.

There were no civic levies from Brabant at the battle of Worringen. It is therefore possible that the duke raised an army of 1,500 horsemen, thanks to the cities’ financial support. But this seems rather doubtful since one of his successors, John III, in 1338 and 1339 had great difficulty in raising the 1,200 horsemen whom he had promised to king Edward III of England at the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War. Indeed John III had to enlist mercenaries in 1338 and 1339 in order to have 1,289 of them on that occasion. But by then he had Limbourg as well, and many nobles who were on the enemy side in 1288 served with him then.

There are some interesting facts about some of John I’s allies in 1288 in an undated fragment that appears to come from 1297. In that year Guy of Dampierre had enlisted many of these Lords as mercenaries with a certain number of their fighting men. The Rhineland nobles had then promised, or had already been paid for producing the following numbers:

count of Jülich	100 heavy cavalry
count of La Mark	120 heavy cavalry
count of Dollendorf	10 heavy cavalry
count of Virneburg	20 heavy cavalry
count of Looz	100 heavy cavalry

This gives a total of 350 heavy cavalry for these lords. Perhaps we can assume a total of 700 cavalry for the allies of John I in 1288, since they were so near home.

With 1,300 or perhaps 1,500 horsemen from Brabant we get a figure of 2,000 to 2,200 cavalry for the duke’s whole army.

His enemies had perhaps a slight superiority in numbers since the archbishop of Cologne was as powerful as the duke of Brabant or very nearly so. In the twelfth century he was certainly more powerful. Now he had good allies. The lord of Valkenburg had to send 100 heavy cavalry to Guy of Dampierre’s army in 1297. The counts of Guelders and Luxembourg each had a good little army so that it is quite possible that these allies were rather stronger than John’s army. Their number can perhaps be put at 2,200 to 2,400 cavalry. It is also possible that it was about the same as that of John’s army.

These were great armies for their time, but we must remember that there were two coalitions at war. The fighting was to go on for a long time, which also goes to show that efficient fighting-machines were facing each other. It must also be remembered that a great deal of cavalry consisted of lightly armed horsemen who were not knights.

We have no reliable information for the foot. They probably amounted to 2,000 or perhaps 3,000 on each side.

The battlefield

The Battle

When Siegfried of Westerburg’s knights came into sight of the Brabant army, they were moving towards the Rhine; suddenly they turned left away from the river, between the Worringen-Merkenich road and the Rhine. Everything goes to show that the archbishop planned to attack the troops of the count of Berg who immediately sent a knight to John I to ask him to send help at once.

The count of Virneburg had the post of ‘overseer of the battle’ or tactical commander of the duke’s army. He advised the duke to stay where he was and to let the enemy advance, so that he could attack them just at the moment when they were engaged in crossing the road and the ditches, for in getting past these obstacles the archbishop’s troops would naturally break rank and fall into confusion. I f the duke were to attack at exactly the right moment with his well-ordered and well trained troops, he would derive a great advantage. But John decided he must hurry to the help of his ally, apparently setting no great store by the possibility of exploiting his advantageous position protected by a marsh, roads, and ditches. He wanted to achieve victory by force of armour, helmet and sword. He crossed the Cologne -Worringen road and advanced against the enemy who were coming up on a front stretching ‘as far as the eye could see’.

As soon as the archbishop saw that the Brabançons were advancing he left the actual bank of the Rhine and crossed the Merkenich-Worringen road and the ditches towards the duke. This moved the whole battle to convenient flat ground between the roads, where neither ditches nor streams hindered the troops. But as soon as the archbishop turned left with his troops, the lords of Limbourg and Luxembourg copied him so that these two and their troops were right in the middle of the field between the two roads.

The third body, led by the count of Guelders, came up behind to begin with, but soon after the others turned, they caught them up. So the three bodies of troops advanced together and practically formed a single mass which ‘seemed so great and so mighty that they could gobble up anything that got in their way’.

The armies moved slowly towards each other, riding as slowly as ‘men who have a bride before them in the saddle’. When the Brabançons noticed that the enemy were not advancing in such good order as before, the bastard of Wezemaal shouted joyfully: ‘My lords, I can see full well that they know nothing about fighting. Let us attack, they are as good as beaten for their ranks have broken already.’ Raas of Gaver was less optimistic: ‘I can see that their line is both broad and long. They can surround us before we know it, let us thin out our ranks and lengthen our front before we meet them’.

Jan van Heelu comments that this is just how knights behave in the tournament. There they advance ‘thin and wide’ but this is no good in battle. Raas of Gaver gave bad advice on this occasion, which was prompted by his fear of being surrounded. Liebrecht, lord of Dormaal, was indignant and shouted out:

Thick and tight! Thick and tight!
Let every man press up stoutly to his neighbour as close as he can.
So we shall certainly win glory today!

Then rich and poor shouted together:

Stick together, thick, thick!

And a sergeant gave the council to attack and kill the nobles first of all.

As each man comes to any noble, let him not turn aside until he has slain him. For, were their army so great, that it stretched from here to Cologne , they will lose the battle if their nobles are killed.’

Possibly some of the noblemen in the archbishop’s army were disturbed by the disorderly marching of their troops. Jan van Heelu makes Herman of Haddemale say to the count of Luxembourg : ‘I wish our troops were properly ordered in our units. Then we should be able to fight so as to do ourselves credit. For even if we finish off the Brabançons - the whole of the first division - as indeed we expect to do - there are still two more divisions ready anyway, and we have no defence against this, because our three divisions make up one great formation’. Lord Berroot of Halloy also complained about this negligence: ‘How did we come to ride so that our divisions are disordered!’

Skirmishing began at once. Franbach of Bingelen and Arnold of Yssche and the lay-brother Arnold, brother of the lord of Heusden, took part in it for the Brabant side. Members of the great family of Schavedries moved up in good order in a company including atleast 110 horsemen, hoping to attack their hereditary enemies, the family of the Witthems and the Mulrepas, with whom they had a feud. But the Schavedries company could not pick out their enemy, so instead they attacked the troops of Godfrey of Brabant with tremendous force. The last distance between the armies was covered in a flash. Many of the enemy was shouting ‘At the Duke! At the Duke!’ and drove the Brabant troops back by the impetus of their charge. There were more of them than of John’s knights, although some of them were slower in advancing, and the footsoldiers were still further behind.

The press of hand-to-hand fighting was tremendous. The Brabant formations seem to have been particularly tightly packed, with knights and squires jammed knee to knee. The company of the knights banneret Kuik, Arkel, and Heusden was hard pressed and in danger. According to Heelu they were saved by other Brabant men dashing quickly to the rescue. The Brabant division fought with courage and skill, the wounded and exhausted falling back out of formation for a short time to let others move up from the rear. As soon as these riders had recovered a little from the breath-taking charge, they re-grouped themselves and returned to the battle.

But the troops of the archbishop, the count of Luxembourg and Reinald of Guelders, made a single front, broader than that of the Brabant army, and they outflanked duke John’s division, but luckily for the Brabançons, this did not cause much harm. Heelu ascribes this to the fact that the count of Guelders’ outflanking troops got straight into the Brabant camp, plundered it ruthlessly, and then carried off the splendid loot to safety without returning to the battlefield. It seems that the second division attacked at this moment. Probably the count of Virnehurg sent the troops of the counts of Looz and Jülich there, hoping to lengthen the Brabant front and so help them. The right wing of John’s army at that moment probably stretched as far as the Cologne -Worringen road. The arrival of this second formation meant that only a few of Guelders’ men were able to fall on the Brabant camp, robbing stores and tents. The loot was taken away under the command of Reinier de Ezel, but the Brabançons were so busy fighting, and kept their formation so well, that they took no notice of what was going on behind them. They had been ordered not to break up their tactical units and to take no prisoners before the end of the battle, and they kept strictly to their instructions. The arrival of the second corps of their army restored the situation very quickly, and the battle became even more intense.

It was a bloody battle and a long one. The count of Luxembourg wanted to attack the duke of Brabant personally, but the press was so great that he could not get anywhere near him. Gerard of Wezemaal distinguished himself on the Brabant side. With William Pipenpoi and Gilles of Buzegem he penetrated the ranks of the family of the Oessenincs from the Ardennes , but his banner and his men could not get through after him. His horse was killed, and he only got back to the mail body of Brabançons with the utmost difficulty. The count of Luxembourg was driven back by Godfrey of Brabant, but then he took off his helmet to look round the battlefield, hoping to see his enemy the duke of Brabant . He went in the right direction, but there was no actual fighting between them, both being hustled away from each other in the press. Duke John was wounded in the arm by Walter of Wez, an enemy horseman who was later taken prisoner. The count of Luxembourg’s formation suffered heavily, which spurred him on to make a tremendous charge. One of his horsemen killed duke John’s horse, and the horse of the standard-bearer of Brabant , Raas of Grez, went down at almost the same instant.

As the standard fell, the trumpeters of Brabant , who had been encouraging their side with trumpet calls throughout the attack, suddenly fell silent, fearing the worst. But one of the horsemen to whom the banner had been entrusted, Claas of Ouden, managed to raise the standard again, and then his stout hearted comrade, Walter of Capellen, took over. The agonizing moment was quickly over for Brabant , and the trumpets rang out again.

Duke John now worked his way out of the struggling mass and managed to get o n foot to the road, where Arnold van der Hofstat gave him his horse. The duke collected a group of 20 horsemen and returned to the fray. He made a determined charge straight across the field to the banner of Luxembourg and cut it down. Count Henry himself rushed up, but Meerbeke, one of duke John of Brabant’s servants, wounded his horse. The count tried to wrest the duke out of his saddle, and to throw him to the ground. He stood up in his stirrups, but this movement left him partly unprotected by his armour. The knight Wouter van den Bisdomme attacked count Henry at this instant, and he fell dying from his horse.

Meanwhile, the archbishop of Cologne had attacked the troops of the lord of Aarschot and the St Pol brothers, on the left wing of the Brabant army. A brave knight, Adolf of Nassau, who later became king of the Romans, bore his standard. The archbishop himself was putting up a very creditable fight in the front rank of his knights. This formation however was broken up after a long and tough battle, when the Brabant troops under Godfrey had almost managed to break through. At about 3 o’clock the knights and peasants of the count of Berg came on to the scene with the civic levy from Cologne . Berg’s peasants were wearing jackets and skullcaps and some of them had iron plates as protective armour. Most of them were armed with spiked clubs. The men of Cologne were better equipped: some of them had coats of mail, some hauberks and swords.

The peasants advanced shouting their war-cry: ‘Hya, Berge romerike!’ but at first they were not altogether dear who were friends or foe. When they reached the Worringen-Merkenich road they could still not tell their allies from their enemies. Then a Brabant horseman, called Battele, led them round behind the troops of the archbishop of Cologne. Now the flank became the decisive sector. As soon as the archbishop saw these rough peasants appearing behind his troops, he would have given himself up at once to Godfrey of Brabant rather than fall into the hands of his own citizens. But the ground between them was so heaped with dead horses that the archbishop could not carry out his intention, and had to give himself up to his neighbour, Adolf of Berg, who immediately had him taken off to his castle at Monheim. However, he promised not to let the archbishop go without permission of the duke of Brabant .

The archbishop’s great standard was still flying over the battlefield, resplendent on a tail staff above the turreted waggon, a wooden castle defended by his troops. This waggon had been brought up by several horses and then made fast with great posts in the ground. No one had managed to get the standard, nor pull it down. But the defenders were eventually exhausted, and finally resistance collapsed. Ordinary foot-soldiers without armour, who usually took no part in the battle, stormed this wooden castle with axes and swords, hoping to demolish this rallying point for the right wing. They were completely successful, while the peasants of Berg slew knights and horses without mercy. Enemies though they were, even Jan van Heelu thought it ‘a terrible thing’ that such brave knights should be stabbed in the back by low-born peasants.

At the other end of the battlefield the count of Guelders was putting up a long and weary fight against the right wing, where duke John’s allies were in action. But the ranks of Brabant ' s enemies were seriously thinned. A t last the Brabançons made a fierce attack and brought down Reinald’s standard so that resistance crumpled there too. The count of Guelders was taken prisoner, but the count of Looz got one of his pages to take off Reinald’s coat of arms to prevent him being recognised and let him escape. The burgrave of Montenaken was ordered to lead him away from the field. Four Brabant knights took him prisoner again without realizing whom they had caught. The lord of Valkenburg was fighting stoutly in the centre still. When he saw that the enemy pressure was getting too strong he began to fight as though in a tournament of the time. After fighting for some time in one spot, he withdrew a little to attack his foes in another, hoping to find weaker resistance. He was able to go on fighting on this plan as long as the Brabant companies kept their formation tightly packed in their great division and did not come after him lest they broke their battle order. For that reason the men of Brabant still did not pursue their enemies. When his banner fell, the lord of Valkenburg unfurled a new banner on a little hill opposite the Brabançons, and rallied some of the scattered knights.

Noblemen from Guelders who had lost their rallying point but who had no wish to leave the battlefield for fear of dishonour, gathered round him. As soon as he had a reasonable number, the lord of Valkenburg returned to the battle. But he kept dear of the Brabant formation and charged the troops of the count of Jülich, shouting the war-cry ‘Montjoie, Montjoie!’ He would not use his usual war-cry of ‘Valkenburg’ because he held the place in fee from the duke of Brabant . Both the count of Jühich and the lord of Valkenburg were wounded during the attack, but the latter was able to get away thanks to the lucky arrival of two of his kinsmen, the count of Looz and lord Arnold of Stem, and of friends who were fighting as followers of the count of Jülich. Men of the Schavedries family had been the first to go into action, and they were the last to break it off. They were overcome in the end by their old enemies the Mulrepas, leaving many dead.

The battle was decisively won by the duke of Brabant ' s side, but his army was exhausted and they left it to their allies to pursue the fleeing enemy. It had been a long battle, from about 9 a .m. to 5 p.m. The duke stayed a while on the battlefield to satisfy himself that the enemy were not going to return again. At one moment it seemed probable: a large formation advanced with banners flying, and the men of Brabant did what they could to get their depleted ranks into order. Then they realized to their delight that it was their allies coming back from the pursuit bringing hordes of prisoners.

The victorious army made for the camp which had been plundered ruthlessly. They had lost all the tents and wagons, and the duke had to rest in a mean little hovel.

It was a splendid victory. The archbishop of Cologne and the count of Guelders were among the prisoners, the count of Luxembourg was killed; hundreds of others lay dead on the field, hundreds more were captured. According to Heelu 1,100 of the enemy were dead and only 40 of Brabant ’s men. The first figure is probably too high, the second ludicrously low. There are no reliable figures for the losses.

Late in the evening the trumpets sounded yet again:

In such a fashion as to tell them that
the meal was ready and that they were to come and eat.

After that supper they could sleep well in the flush of victory, with neither sentries nor lookouts round the camp.

Conclusion

The battle of Worringen is extremely significant for the study of the art of war in the thirteenth century because it is described in one of the best contemporary records. Heelu’s detailed account takes up more than half the 8,948 lines of his Yeeste. He saw the battle himself and he knew the warfare of his time very well. The evidence of other writers can be virtually disregarded. But then the question arises, how far was even Heelu reliable? His account is, after all, a glorification of duke John and his Brabançons:

‘The world has never held such good and brave men
As were those Brabançons!

The best on earth, no doubt’.