vindication of commercial liberty against feudal domination.  By the winter of 1337 this rich capitalist allied himself with the turbulent democracy of the weavers’ guilds, and put himself at the head of affairs.  Early in 1338 he began to negotiate with Edward III., and his loans to the distressed monarch had the result of removing the embargo on English wool.  The famished craftsmen hailed the enemy of their class as a god who had come down from heaven for their salvation.

Louis of Nevers and Philip of Valois took the alarm.  Seeing in the ascendency of Artevelde the certainty that Flanders would join the English alliance, they left no stone unturned to avoid so dire a calamity.  Artevelde, conscious of the narrow basis of his own authority, was prudent enough to be moderate.  Instead of pressing the English alliance to a conclusion, he accepted the suggestion of Philip VI., that Flanders should remain neutral.  Louis of Nevers hated the notion; but in June, 1338, Edward and Philip agreed to recognise Flemish neutrality, and he was forced to acquiesce in it.  Both monarchs promised to avoid Flemish territory, and offered free commercial relations between Flanders and their respective dominions.

Artevelde and the men of Ghent were the real masters of Flanders.  They kept their count in scarcely veiled captivity, forcing him to wear the Flemish colours and to profess acceptance of the policy that he disliked.  In such circumstances the neutrality of Flanders could not last long.  Both Edward and Artevelde regarded it simply as a step towards a declared alliance.  Before long Philip became uneasy, and lavished concession on concession to keep the dominant party true to its promises.  He gave up the degrading conditions which since the treaty of Athis had secured the subjection of Flanders.  But Edward could offer more than his rival.  He proposed to the count and the “good towns” of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres that, in return for their alliance, he would aid them to win back the towns of Lille, Douai, Bethune, and Tournai, which the French king had usurped from the Flemings, as well as the county of Artois, which had been separated from Flanders since the days of Philip Augustus.  He also offered ample commercial privileges, the establishment of the staple of wool at Bruges as well as at Antwerp, free trade for Flemish cloth with the English markets, and a good and fixed money which was to be legal tender in Flanders, Brabant, France, and England.  The Flemings demanded in return that Edward, by formally assuming the title of King of France, should stand to them as their liege lord, and thus free themselves and their count from the ecclesiastical penalties and dishonour involved in their waging war against a king of France.  Late in 1339, these terms were mutually accepted, and Count Louis avoided further humiliations by flight into France.