Battle of Bouvines - July 27, 1214
From a manuscript at Cambridge University. The drawing represents the turning point in the battle. In a charge led by one of King John's captains, King Philip Augustus of France was unhorsed and nearly slain. A soldier saved him at the cost of his own life.
This medieval battle, fought in Bouvines, in the County of Flanders, in the Kingdom of France, was a decisive French victory, ending the Angevin-Flanders War of 1202-1214 (also known as the Anglo-French War). The primary reason for the conflict was control over English lands in France (centered in Normandy).
The English defeat weakened King John of England, and contributed to him signing the Magna Carta the following year (1215). Click here to enlarge this image.
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