Courtrai Chest

The Courtrai Chest is a oak chest which incorporates Medieval carvings depicting scenes from the Franco-Flemish War and, in particular, the Battle of the Golden Spurs at Kortrijk (Courtrai) in Flanders. The chest is among the few surviving contemporaneous depictions of those historically-significant events.

View of the original chest at New College, Oxford

History

The Coutrai Chest is a 17th-century oak construction but incorporates an older front-face measuring 102 cm by 71 cm, dating from the 14th century.^[1] This bears carvings in relief illustrating episodes from the Franco-Flemish War (1297–1305) from the Bruges Matins (13 May 1302) to the Battle of the Golden Spurs (11 July 1302).

The Chest was discovered around 1905 in the village of Stanton St John in Oxfordshire which was a village largely owned by New College, Oxford. Found by Warden of the College, William Archibald Spooner, on a "Warden's Progress", it was in a barn of a college tenant where it was used as a feed bin for animals.^[2][3] Nothing is apparently known of the circumstances in which the Chest arrived in Oxfordshire.

The Chest is kept at New College, Oxford where it is not currently on public show.

Reproduction

A full-sized reconstruction of the original is displayed at the Kortrijk 1302 Museum in Belgium where it is known as the "Oxford Chest" (Kist van Oxford). This reproduction comprises a reconstruction of the whole chest including the stiles or legs supporting it, as would have been present in its original form, but are missing from the remains of the original.^[3]

Scenes

• 
  The Bruges Matins
• 
  Arrival of Guy of Namur and William of Jülich at Bruges
• 
  Siege of Wijnendale Castle
• 
  Line-up of the town militias on the battlefield
• 
  The Flemish line of battle during the Battle of the Golden Spurs
• 
  The attack of a French garrison at Courtrai
• 
  Collection of the booty: the Golden Spurs

See also

• Annals of Ghent

References

1. Carved Chest at New College, Oxford by Charles Ffoulkes, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, July 1912, volume 21, issue 112, pages 240–1
2. New College, University of Oxford, Treasures and Chattels: http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/courtrai-chest
3. Early Furniture-I. Coffers by Aymer Vallance, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, June 1912, volume 21, issue 111, pages 153–161.

Bibliography

• Ffoulkes, Charles (July 1912). "Carved Chest at New College, Oxford". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 21 (112): 240–1. JSTOR 859053.
• Verbruggen, J. F. (2002). The Battle of the Golden Spurs (Courtrai, 11 July 1302). A Contribution to the History of Flanders' War of Liberation, 1297-1305 (English trans. ed.). Woodbridge: Boydell Press. pp. 195–210. ISBN 0-85115-888-9.