Battle of Bouvines

Date: July 27, 1214 • Location: Cysoing, France

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1214.

Philip II of France decisively won the Battle of Bouvines, the conclusive battle of the 1213–1214 Anglo-French War.

Philip II, also known as Philip Augustus, was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French monarch to style himself "King of France". The only son of King Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne, he was originally nicknamed 'God-given' because he was a first son and born late in his father's life. Philip was given the epithet "Augustus" by the chronicler Rigord for having extended the crown lands of France so remarkably.