The Battle of Baesweiler (22 August 1371) was a conflict between the duke of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

against the Duke of

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...

Background

Attacks on Brabant's commercial interests in the territory of the Duke of Jülich had almost caused war in 1367 and 1369. After mercenaries robbed a number of Brabantine merchants on the territory of

William II, Duke of Jülich William II, Duke of Jülich ( – 13 December 1393) was the second Duke of Jülich and the sixth William in the House of Jülich. He was the second son of William I of Jülich and Joanna of Hainaut.Walther Möller, ''Stammtafeln westdeutscher ...

in 1371, William refused to pay reparation to

Wenceslaus I of Luxembourg Wenceslaus I (also ''Wenceslas'', ''Venceslas'', ''Wenzel'', or ''Václav'', often called Wenceslaus of Bohemia in chronicles) (25 February 1337 – 7 December 1383) was the first Duke of Luxembourg from 1354. He was the son of John the Blind, ...

, husband of the

Duchess of Brabant The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven (who was duke of Low ...

, let alone punish the mercenaries, instead protecting them and even hiring some. Wenceslas prepared his forces and tried to attack the Duke of Jülich. William however sought help from his brother in law,

Edward, Duke of Guelders Edward (12 March 1336 – 24 August 1371) was the duke of Guelders and count of Zutphen from 1361 until 1371. He was the youngest son of Duke Reginald II of Guelders and his second wife, Eleanor of Woodstock, daughter of King Edward II of England. ...

The battle

On 20 August, Wenceslas led his army from the border town of

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

towards the enemy capital of

. The army advanced slowly, burning and looting as it went and by the evening of 21 August was encamped near the town of Baesweiler north of

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

. On 22 August, Wenceslas' army was confronted by the smaller force of the Duke of Jülich. Two different versions of what happened next are recorded. In one, the army of Jülich attacked in the morning while the Brabant forces were at mass. In the other, the army of Brabant had the best of the fighting until the late appearance of the troops of the Duke of Guelders, perhaps from ambush.Boffa (2004), pp.65-6 The battle ended with the capture of the Duke of Brabant, the

Duke of Luxembourg The territory of Luxembourg has been ruled successively by counts, dukes and grand dukes. It was part of the medieval Kingdom of Germany, and later the Holy Roman Empire until it became a sovereignty, sovereign state in 1815. Counts of Luxembourg ...

and William, Margrave of Namur, and the death of the Duke of Guelders.

Guy I of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny Guy I of Luxembourg-Ligny (1340 – 23 August 1371) was Count of Saint-Pol (1360–1371) and Count of Ligny, Lord of Roussy and Beauvoir (1364–1371). He was the son of John I and Alix of Dampierre, dame de Richebourg. Guy participated in the ...

, a distant relative of the Wenceslas, was also killed.

Background

The battle

References

See also