The feud between Phillip II Augustus of France, and Henry II of England and his sons was deep and personal. The issues ranged from women, Eleanor of Aquitaine's divorce of Phillip's father and his sister Alys' being jilted by Richard (and maybe raped by Henry). It was over money, lands, who was giving more to the Church and to the crusading effort. If there was something to quarrel about, they were on it. Although Kings were admonished by the Church not to war against one another while their neighbors were away on Crusade, the vow was almost never kept or enforced. Upon Richard's capture after the Third Crusade (1192), Phillip II was relentless in his quest to wrest Normandy, Brittany, Anjou and the rest of the Plantagenet domain away from them. With Richard's death in 1199, Phillip knew that he had easy mark. Nobody took John seriously as a commander.
Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV (1185-1218) was the nephew of Richard and John, grandson of Henry and Eleanor through their daughter, Matilda. He claimed the Holy Roman Empire. The problem is, so did several other rulers including Phillip II, who wasn't called Augustus for nothing, and Frederick II of Germany, one of the more eccentric rulers ever to wear a crown. Dreams of a new Roman Empire weren't very far from their mind. These men were willing to fight and their vassals were backing the most viable candidates, putting the Empire of Charlemagne into a temporary North/South split. While John was terrible at military command and keeping his barons in line, he could at times be a better intriguer. If he could draw Phillip into a war that Phillip might lose, Plantagenet possessions in France might be more secure and might increase in size. He could back his nephew Otto for the Holy Roman Empire as long as he got something from the effort. After two losses in battle against Phillip in Aquitaine, though, he had turned command over to Otto and scurried home to deal with mutinous barons who were winding up for the signing of the Magna Carta, and a chronic situation of unrest in Ireland. The English contingent at the battle wasn't very large, owing to the barons anger at John. So Otto had to look elsewhere for allies and they weren't short in coming. Ferdinand of Flanders had been forced to give up several cities to Phillip in recent wars and he wanted them back. There were others, including the Dukes of Lorraine and Brabant, part of Belgium now.
Meanwhile, Phillip of France was not without powerful friends of his own. Frederick II of Germany was another man who claimed the Holy Roman Empire. For the time being, he was willing to join Phillip in driving the Plantagenets off the Continent of Europe, and deal with Charlemagne's legacy later. The Duke of Burgundy was another powerful ally, among others. All these men, with their knights and levies, found themselves near the town of Bouvines on what is now the France/Belgium border with, not only the Crown of Charlemagne at stake, and John's English possessions at stake, but, though they did not know it yet, the makeup of modern England and France also in the balance. Otto had more men, 25,000, with less than 4,000 of them cavalry, knights and mounted levies. Phillip of France had 15,000, but with an equal number of cavalry.
From the start, this should have been a walkover for Otto, but it wasn't. Each leader divided his forces into roughly three groups. Phillip sent his cavalry on the right against the Flemish cavalry on Otto's left. The French broke the Flemings, who quickly fled. That left Phillip's cavalry to deal with the more serious infantry clash at the center. Infantrymen from what is now the Netherlands were ranked among the finest in the world and were standing strong for Otto. Phillip repurposed his cavalry from his right to his center and plowed into them. During a pitched battle that almost cost his own life, Phillip drove the opposing infantrymen back further and further. Meanwhile, on Otto's left was the English contingent, contesting the bridge at Bouvines. They, too were slowly driven back, with William Longespee (Longsword), Earl of Salisbury, being captured. Ferdinand of Flanders was also captured, as were the Dukes of Lorraine and Brabant. Reginaud of Bolougne attempted a stand with seven hundred pikemen, but he too was ridden down and captured. Otto fled the field, but his Imperial standard was captured by the French.
John knew the game was up and quickly asked for a truce. Phillip's terms were harsh enough, requiring that John give up Normandy, Brittany and Anjou. John would dodge these demands until after his death, his son Henry III was forced to acknowledge them in the Treaty of Paris, 1259. Otto also had to face Frederick II, who defeated him and took the crown of the Holy Roman Empire the following year. The Plantagenet empire in France was at an end, with only some holdings in Aquitaine and around Calais. France as we know it today was beginning to take shape.
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