The Battle of Bouvines, 1214 (colour litho)

The Battle of Bouvines, 1214. The death of Richard Coeur de Lion and the accession of the weak and incompetent John enabled Philip II of France gradually to consolidate the power of the French monarchy, largely at the expence of England, and before the end of 1204 Normandy, Anjou and Maine were easily conquered. To retrieve the position John formed a coalition with the Emperor Otto IV, the Count of Flanders and Otto of Brunswick. This plan, however, was brought to nothing by Philip's great victory at Bouvines in 1214 as a result of which the French king still further extended his conquests. Illustration for Hutchinson's History of the Nations (Hutchinson, c.1920).