Battle of Bouvines The Battle of Bouvines , which took place on 27 July 1214 , was a medieval battle which ended the twelve - year Angevin - Flanders War . It was fundamental in the early development of France in the Middle Ages by confirming the French crown ' s sovereignty over the Angevin lands of Brittany and Normandy . Philip Augustus of France defeated an army consisting of Imperial German , English and Flemish soldiers , led by Otto IV of Germany . Other leaders included Count Ferrand of Flanders , William de Longespee and Renaud of Boulogne . The defeat was so decisive that Otto was deposed and replaced by Frederick II Hohenstaufen ; Ferrand and Renaud were captured and imprisoned and King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta by his discontented barons . Philip was himself able to take undisputed control of most of the territories in France that had belonged to King John of England , Otto ' s maternal uncle and ally . The context . In 1214 , Ferdinand , Infante of Portugal , and Count of Flanders desired the return of the cities of Aire - sur - la - Lys and Saint - Omer , which he had recently lost to Philip II , King of France in the Treaty of Pont - à - Vendin . He thus broke allegiance with Philip and assembled a broad coalition including Emperor Otto IV , King John I of England , Duke Henry I of Brabant , Count William I of Holland , Duke Theobald I of Lorraine , and Duke Henry III of Limburg . Prelude . The campaign was planned by John , who was the fulcrum of the alliance ; his plan was to draw the French away from Paris southward towards his forces and keep them occupied , while the main army , under Emperor Otto IV , marched on Paris from the north . John ' s plan was carried out at first , but the allies in the north moved slowly . John , after two encounters with the French , retreated to Aquitaine on 3 July . On 23 July , after having summoned all his vassals , Philip had an army consisting of 4 , 000 cavalry and 11 , 000 - foot soldiers . The emperor finally succeeded in concentrating his forces at Valenciennes , although John was out of the picture , and in the interval Philip Augustus had counter marched northward and regrouped . Philip now took the offensive himself , and in maneuvering to get a good cavalry ground upon which to fight he offered battle ( 27 July ) , on the plain east of Bouvines and the river Marque . Otto was surprised by the speed of his enemy and was thought to have been caught unprepared by the King of France ( who probably attracted the emperor into this trap ) . Although he was under a Church interdict , Otto , already an excommunicate , decided to launch an attack on what was then the French rearguard . Philippe Auguste gave battle . His army quickly retreated . The Allied army drew up facing south - westward towards Bouvines , the heavy cavalry on the wings , the infantry in one great mass in the center , supported by the cavalry corps under the emperor himself . The total force was estimated at 25 , 000 men ; a much larger force of foot soldiers and slightly fewer cavalry than the French . The French army of 15 , 000 men took ground exactly opposite in a similar formation , cavalry on the wings , infantry , including the town militias in the centre , Philip with the cavalry reserve and the royal standard , the Oriflamme , in rear of the men on foot . Philip ' s army contained about 2 , 000 knights ( 750 were from the royal demesne ) and 2 , 000 mounted sergeants with the rest being infantry . Order of battle . Even today , the evaluation of forces is controversial . The classic French historiography often refers to Coalition troops three times more numerous than those of the King of France ( Philippe Contamine is not of this opinion : " On the face of it , his opponents did not have a clear numerical superiority " ) . it is said by William the Breton , chaplain to Philip at the Battle of Bouvines , that the lines of soldiers stood in line in a space of 40 000 steps ( 15 hectares ) , which leaves very little clearance and predisposes to hand - to - hand fighting ( melee ) . William the Breton also says in his column that " the two lines of combatants were separated by a pretty small space " . Philip Augustus had then launched an appeal to the municipalities in northern France , in order to obtain their support . Seventeen of the thirty - nine municipalities of the royal demesne answered the call for militia : In total , the royal army totalled 7 , 000 soldiers . The royal army was divided into three parts : The bridge of Bouvines , the only means of retreat across the marshes , was guarded by 150 sergeants at arms of the king who formed the only reserve for the French . Otto also divided his army into three groups : At the extreme right , the English archers supported the flank of both the Brabant infantry and the nobles of the two Lorraines . Battle . The battle opened with a confused cavalry fight on the French right , in which individual feats of knightly gallantry were more noticeable ( and better recorded in the chronicles ) than any attempt at combined action . The serious fighting was between the two centers . The infantry of the Low Countries , who were at this time almost the best in existence , drove back the French . Philip led the cavalry reserve of nobles and knights to retrieve the day , and after a long and doubtful fight ( in which he himself was unhorsed and narrowly escaped death ) , began to drive back the Flemings . Meanwhile on the French left Robert de Dreux ' s troops are at first pressed by men led by William Longespée and Renaud de Dammartin are forced to defend the Bouvines bridge foot by foot . William Longespée was unhorsed and taken prisoner by Philip of Dreux , ( aka the fighting Bishop of Beauvais ) and the English soldiers fled . Mathieu de Montmorency captured twelve enemy banners ( in memory of this feat , the shield of Montmorency includes an additional twelve eagles or sixteen altogether instead of four previously ) . Renaud de Dammartin , the last to resist fiercely on the field of battle , finally surrendered due to the general stampede of the allies . On the other wing the French at last routed the Flemish cavalry and captured Ferdinand , Count of Flanders , one of the leaders of the coalition . In the centre the battle was now a melee between the two mounted reserves led by the King and the Emperor in person . Here too the Imperial forces suffered defeat , Otto himself being saved only by the devotion of a handful of Saxon knights . The Imperial Eagle Standard was captured by the French . The day was already decided in favour of the French when their wings began to close inwards to cut off the retreat of the imperial centre . The battle closed with the celebrated stand of Reginald of Boulogne , a former vassal of King Philip , who formed a ring of seven hundred Brabant pikemen , and not only defied every attack of the French cavalry , but himself made repeated charges or sorties with his small force of knights . Eventually , and long after the Imperial army had begun its retreat , the gallant schiltrom formation was ridden down and annihilated by a charge of three thousand men - at - arms . Reginald was taken prisoner in the melee . The prisoners also included two other counts , Hainaut Ferrand and William Longespée , twenty - five barons and over a hundred knights . The death toll amounted to about 170 knights of the defeated party , and many thousands of foot soldiers on either side . Aftermath . According to Jean Favier , Bouvines is " one of the most decisive and symbolic battles in the history of France " . For Philippe Contamine , " the battle of Bouvines had both important consequences and a great impact " . Philip returned to Paris triumphant , marching his captive prisoners behind him in a long procession , as his grateful subjects came out to greet the victorious king . In the aftermath of the battle , Otto retreated to his castle of Harzburg and was soon overthrown as Holy Roman Emperor , and replaced by Frederick II . Count Ferdinand remained imprisoned following his defeat , while King John obtained a five - year truce , on very lenient terms given the circumstances . Philip ' s decisive victory was crucial in ordering politics in both England and France . In the former , so weakened was the defeated King John of England that he soon needed to submit to his barons demands and sign the Magna Carta , limiting the power of the crown and establishing the basis for common law . In the latter , the battle was instrumental in forming the strong central monarchy that would characterize France until the first French Revolution . It was also the first battle in the Middle Ages in which the full value of infantry was realized . Philip conquered most of Plantagenet ' s continental possessions , namely Anjou , Brittany , Maine , Normandy , and the Touraine , leading to the effective end of the Angevin Empire . In the aftermath of this battle , Philip Augustus founded between Senlis and the Bishop Mount , the Abbey of Victory - which was integrated into the domain of the Bishop of Senlis in 1486 .