Municipality of the Nord department located 12 km south-east of Lille and 3 km from Cysoing. It was between these two localities that, on July 27, 1214, the forces of the King of France Philippe Auguste and the coalition army of the English, Germans and Flemish met. Annoyed by the successes of the Capetian sovereign in Normandy, John Lackland seeks alliances in Flanders and Germany. The hatred of the King of France pushes Ferrand, Count of Flanders, to respond favorably to the invitation, just like Renaud, Count of Boulogne, Henri, Duke of Bradant and Otto IV, Emperor of Germany.
These bring together about 40,000 combatants and advance in three columns on the plateau bordered to the west by the modest course of the Marcq, a small tributary of the Deule. English and Brabançons form the right wing; the Germans occupy the center and the Flemish complete the attack device on the left. Opposite, Philippe Auguste brings together 25,000 men by rounding up around his knights and their soldiers all that the faithful communes can provide as militias. For the first time in the history of the Capétiens*, the fleur-de-lys served as an emblem for both nobles and popular forces on a battlefield. A common hatred of the invader strengthens their will. Philippe Auguste occupies the center of the line of battle, supported, on the left, by the counts of Dreux and Ponthieu and, on the right, by the duke of Burgundy.
From the start of the fighting, Otto sees his horse killed under him. The Emperor even missed being captured by Guillaume des Barres, who, some time later, saved the King of France by charging the German infantry. For several hours, the confrontation was nothing but a succession of batterings during which the Anglo-Brabancons ended up giving way on the left, dragging down Otto's Germans, who were also very tried. Renaud de Boulogne, Count Salisbury and especially Ferrand de Flandre were among the prisoners, whom Philippe Auguste had chained and transported on a cart to Paris.
All the inhabitants, says a chronicler of the time, flocked from all directions to see... the formidable Ferrand, Count of Flanders. They told him that now he was shod, he who once kicked and raised his heels against his master!
The victory of Bouvines has a deep impact in the Capetian kingdom. For the first time, a national feeling is manifested which will henceforth be amplified, various classes of feudal society having moreover fought side by side. In England, John the Landless lost his prestige and the following year had to grant his subjects the Magna Carta, a sort of constitutional guarantee that would long remain a model of its kind.