Louis X continued the effort of his predecessor to achieve a military solution to the vexing problem of Flanders. The Count of Flanders ruled an "immensely wealthy state" which enjoyed a largely autonomous existence on the margins of the French realm; French kings claimed to exercise suzerainty over Flanders, but heretofore with little success. Philip IV had attempted to assert royal overlordship, but his army, led by Robert II of Artois, had been defeated at Courtrai in 1302; despite a later French victory at the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle the relationship remained testy and unsettled.