The Illuminator, in this attempt to convey an idea of the battle of Rosebecque, has not omitted the story of the White Dove, related by Froissart, who tells that he heard from the Lord d’Estonnenort, who witnessed it as well as many others, that when the oriflamme was displayed, a white dove hovered round, and making several circles, settled on one of the banners of the King of France; which was considered an omen of victory. The Chronicle informs that it was the general opinion among men of arms, that the defeat and death of Philip van Artevelde, at the battle of Rosebecque, was owing to his having, in over-confidence in his numbers and anxiety to engage more quickly, quitted a strong position, which he had taken up with great judgment, to fight at a disadvantage in one where the compact mass of his Flemish infantry could be assailed on all sides by the cavalry of France. The consequence was the well-known defeat and slaughter of Rosebecque, in which disastrous conflict Froissart states the loss of the Flemings to have exceeded, in the battle and pursuit, upwards of thirty thousand. When once seized with panic, they were unable to offer any resistance, and in one dense disorderly crowd were slain without mercy. Froissart describes the pursuit by the French, as making a noise “greater than if all the armourers of Bruxelles and Paris had been there working at their trade,” so constant was the clattering of maces and battle-axes on the helmets of the unfortunate Flemings, making a din that prevented any other sound being heard. Such was the last scene in the career of Philip van Artevelde, whose bold but ill-matured and irregular attempt to free Flanders from the despotic government of its feudal tyrants could scarcely have been successful under any circumstances at that period. His body was sought among the slain, and hanged upon a tree. Froissart exhibits strongly the aristocratic prejudices of the time in his concluding remarks on this event; which, he says, was “very honourable to all Christendom as well as to the nobility and gentry; for had those lowbred peasants succeeded, there would have been unheard-of cruelties practised, to the destruction of all gentlemen, by the common people.[5] The banners of the Flemings in illumination are very interesting, as exhibiting the implements of the different trades, precisely as in the flags of trades-unions of the present day. [Illustration: <f>Messire Josse de Hallebin, killed before Ghent.</f>] PLATE XVI. DEATH OF JOSSE DE HALLEBIN. This Illumination represents the death of Sir Josse de Hallebin, at the passage of Long-pont, one of the innumerable encounters and disasters consequent upon the revolt of Flanders. [Illustration: <f>Combat between Nicolas Clifford and a French Knight.</f>] PLATE XVII. COMBAT BETWEEN NICHOLAS CLIFFORD AND A FRENCH KNIGHT.