Heritage walk 1382 Battle of Westrozebeke

In the late 1370s, the city of Ghent rebelled against Louis of Male, the count of Flanders. In September 1379 it came to an open war in which both sides took turns to prevail. After a humiliating defeat at Beverhouts Field east of Bruges, in the summer of 1382, Count Louis enlisted the help of his son-in-law Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and also guardian of the 13-year-old French king Charles VI. The latter had the French army assembled and marched toward Flanders. The Ghent leader Philip of Artevelde also assembled his troops and allies and on November 27 a bloody battle took place on the Goudberg near Westrozebeke. The French obtain a crushing victory and afterwards spread terror in southern West-Flanders. Westrozebeke itself, however, was spared, allegedly thanks to the protection of Our Lady who had put a red thread around the village. The devotion to Mary in the village only increased as a result, and presumably in the sixteenth century the circumambulation along eight chapels around the village came into being. Each chapel represents one of the seven Sorrows of Mary, the eighth being a Calvary chapel. In this walk you will read in short and/or hear in more detail the story of the Ghent Revolt and the Battle of Westrozebeke during a circumambulation along the chapels and with the seven sorrows of Mary as common thread.

📏 3 km
📍 Arteveldemonument Jules De Windeplaats
🏁 St. Bavo Church Jules De Windeplaats