The Deeds of Jacques de Lalaing
Feats of Arms of a 15th Century Knight

Jacques de Lalaing, a Walloon knight of the 15th century, was one of the best known tournament fighters of his time. In time, Jacques became so famous that contemporary authors wrote two separate accounts of his life. This article is primarily based on Georges Chastellain’s work, Le Livre Des Faits De Jacques Lalaing (The Book of the Deeds of Jacques de Lalaing). A member of a prominent family in the county of Hainault, today split between southern Belgium and northern France, Jacques’ ancestral home was in Douai, just inside the French border.
Jacques was an extremely skilled fighter who quite early came to the attention of the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France. By the age of 20, he had distinguished himself at a number of tournaments. In the same year (on 22 November 1443), he accompanied the forces of the Duke of Burgundy as they made a surprise assault on the city of Luxembourg. Assembling 3 hours before daylight, they used scaling ladders to climb the city walls. Once inside, they headed toward the town square. At this point, says the chronicle, the burgers of Luxembourg issued from their houses, clad in armor and armed with staff weapons. Jacques was in the thick of the fighting, where he "...accomplished many magnificent feats of arms with both the lance and the sword. To see him, striking right and left, those who saw him could not but marvel." Assuming so visible a role in such a daring military feat put Jacques even more into the limelight.

Find the rest of the article here: http://www.thehaca.com/essays/Lalaing.htm

Happy reading!

Shame about how he bites the dust though.......

oh sorry did i ruin the end??

(he died)

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Quite literaly, he had the top of his head blown off by a light artillery piece during the siege of Gavere. I think he was a Hainaulter, not a Walloon, strictly speaking.

The Lalaings had 7 men in three generations die in the service of the Dukes of Burgundy, Jaques brother Phillipe died at Montlehery, and his son Simon, who eventually captained a company (cent lances) in the service of Mary of Burgundy, was killed by a handgunner during a siege in 1481 (or 83?). They put into practise the concept of 'dying in harness in service to ones lord'.

Jaques was considered an oddity (although a much admired one) during the course of his life by his contemporaries, as he lived his life as if the hero of a popular romance.

Silly git (Jaques).

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I guess I should clarify. To the best of my knowledge, a Walloon is a French speaker in a primarily Flemish speaking population, and Hainault was a French speaking county, so strictly speaking, while Jaques would be classed a Walloon now, he wasn't one then - he was a Hainaulter, if that makes sense.

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quote:

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Originally posted by chef de chambre:

Jaques was considered an oddity (although a much admired one) during the course of his life by his contemporaries, as he lived his life as if the hero of a popular romance.

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My Hero

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Cheers

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