ive
city to the count. One only object seemed insurmountable. The
Flemings had sworn allegiance to the crown of France; and they
revolted at the idea of perjury, even from an extorted oath.
But to overcome their scruples, Artaveldt proposed to acknowledge
the claim of Edward III. of England to the French crown. The
Flemings readily acceded to this arrangement; quickly overwhelmed
Count Louis of Cressy and his French partisans; and then joined,
with an army of sixty thousand men, the English monarch, who had
landed at Antwerp. These numerous auxiliaries rendered Edward's
army irresistible; and soon afterward the French and English
fleets, both of formidable power, but the latter of inferior
force, met near Sluys, and engaged in a battle meant to be decisive
of the war: victory remained doubtful during an entire day of
fighting, until a Flemish squadron, hastening to the aid of the
English, fixed the fate of the combat by the utter defeat of
the enemy.

A truce between the two kings did not deprive Artaveldt of his
well-earned authority. He was invested with the title of ruward,
or conservator of the peace, of Flanders, and governed the whole
province with almost sovereign sway. It was said that King Edward
used familiarly to call him "his dear gossip"; and it is certain
that there was not a feudal lord of the time whose power was
not eclipsed by this leader of the people. One of the principal
motives which cemented the attachment of the Flemings to Artaveldt
was the advantage obtained through his influence with Edward for
facilitating the trade with England, whence they procured the
chief supply of wool for their manufactories. Edward promised
them seventy thousand sacks as the reward of their alliance. But
though greatly influenced by the stimulus of general interest,
the Flemings loved their domestic liberty better than English
wool; and when they found that their ruward degenerated from a
firm patriot into the partisan of a foreign prince, they became
disgusted with him altogether; and he perished in 1345, in a
tumult raised against him by those by whom he had been so lately
idolized. The Flemings held firm, nevertheless, in their alliance
with England, only regulating the connection by a steady principle
of national independence.

Edward knew well how to conciliate and manage these faithful
and important auxiliaries during all his continental wars. A
Flemish army covered the siege of Calais in 1348; and, under