History Of The Netherlands

On May 16, 1488, Maximilian of Habsburg secured his release after more than three months of involuntary isolation in Bruges when he agreed to the so-called “Peace of Bruges”. In this treaty, he was essentially forced by the rebellious cities of Flanders to agree to a bunch of terms and conditions which stripped him of sovereignty over that territory. All by his own free will, of course. Hostages were taken by Bruges in exchange for Maximilian to make sure that he stayed true to his word. These included, most importantly, Philip of Cleves, who made a great, solemn and public oath, in which he swore to defend the Flemish cities against anybody who would break the peace, meaning, Maximilian. Well, within two weeks, this peace had been broken, and Philip of Cleves found himself leading an army of aggrieved Flems against an equally aggrieved imperial army. After a string of initial successes, including withstanding a siege by the imperial army at Ghent and Maximilian’s departure from the Low Countries to go and de