Philip von Artaveld

Family: Ghent · Role: commander-in-chief · First appears: Book 2, Chapter 6

In Book 2, Chapter 6, Peter du Bois recommended Philip von Artaveld as commander of Ghent. Soon after taking office, Philip had twelve people beheaded, avenging his father’s murder, and ordered monasteries and rich men to sell corn to the poor at a fixed price. As the war with the Earl of Flanders (Ghent war) continued, Philip was willing to accept lifelong banishment if he had angered the earl; in Chapter 7, he also headed Ghent’s twelve deputies.

In Chapter 8, Philip reported the earl’s humiliating peace terms to Ghent. The inhabitants chose his plan to march against the earl, and about five thousand armed men left the town. Peter du Bois, Peter le Nuitre and Francis Atremen were among the chiefs who accompanied him. Ghent’s forces later entered Bruges and took control of the town and market-place. In Chapter 12, Philip commanded the siege of Oudenarde, vowing not to raise it until he had had his will on the town’s people unless he was forced to do so.

When Philip learned in Chapter 14 that Charles VI of France was marching against him, he called Lord de Harzelles to a council and went to arrange garrisons and encourage the principal towns. At Ypres in Chapter 15, he urged the people to keep their sworn commitments, assigned Peter du Bois and Peter le Nuitre to guard the Lis crossings, and announced an alliance with England. In Chapter 20, he gathered an army and marched toward Courtray; before the battle in Chapter 21, he ordered his captains, “no prisoners be made, except it be the King of France.”

In Chapter 23, the French surrounded and defeated the Flemings, and Philip was wounded and beaten down. He was slain at Mont d’Or in Chapter 24; his body was brought before the king and later hanged on a tree.