Bruges Matins (massacre)

The Bruges Matins (French Matines de Bruges, nl. Brugse Metten ) was a massacre in the early morning hours of May 18, 1302, the insurgents in the Flemish city of Bruges committed against the French garrison.

Bruges had the exclusive rights to the wool trade with England. When the English King Edward I began the wool to sell directly to the weavers, the citizens of the city turned to their liege lord, the French King Philip the Fair, so that secure their monopoly.

Philip placed a French garrison in the city, became governor Jacques de Châtillon, who distinguished himself in the wake of helplessness and brutality and thus put forward the inhabitants of the town against him and the French garrison. In the early morning hours of May 18, 1302 insurgents penetrated under the leadership of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck in the houses, in which the French were quartered and killed all of which they could lay hands on. Only the Governor Jacques de Châtillon and some other soldiers escaped the attack.

After the massacre Breydel de Coninck and were celebrated as national heroes. Within days, the other Flemish cities formed with the exception of Ghent in the uprising. The Bruges Matins led directly to the Battle of the Spurs on 11 July 1302, in the subject, the French and indirectly to the Battle of Mons -en- Pévèle on 18 August 1304 after both parties complained about the victory.