The end of Duke Philip the Good's reign was disturbed by a series of revolts and rebellions led by the powerful cities of the North : Ghent, Liège, Malines, Dinant etc... In this process of insurrections, Dinant was maybe the bitterest city against Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. Its inhabitants dared to hang an effigy of the Duke of Burgundy during the summer of 1465, and to insult Charles the Bold by pretending he was a bastard. They even attacked Burgundian roads and cities from the county of Namur and especially Bouvignes, a small town which had to undergo many violent assaults that Philip de Commynes described with terrifying words : "The reciprocal hate between Dinant and Bouvignes was unbielievable [...] Those of Dinant had besieged Bouvignes, from the other side of the river, during eight months and acted cruelly neardby [...] they forced the poorest villagers to hide in their cellar and to stay their". (Philip de Commynes, Mémoires, II,1).
Philip the Good and his son Charles the Bod, after having concluded a first peace with Liège, were fed up with Dinant which did'nt want to calm down. That's why they prepared a huge intervention on the city during the summer of 1466. Dinant had been excommunicated by the pope who, according to Jacques Duclercq, asked Philip the Good tu punish the city. That's why the assault on Dinant was eventually so violent ! Dinant could'nt hope any mercy being excommunicated. Moreover Philip the Good had already lost good men at arms because of the raids led by Dinant such as Gillechon d'Ave who was killed when he failed to take Dinant. Both insulted, Philip the Good and Charles the Bold were determined to destroy Dinant.
That's why they gathered a huge army of 30 000 Burgundians in front of Dinant and besieged the city from the 18th to the 25th of August 1465. The powerful artillery of Charles the Bold pounded Dinant nights and days forcing its inhabitants to hide and killing a lot of Dinantais. Abandoned by Louis XI and the Liégeois, Dinantais had soon to surrender to Philip the Good without conditions. After a splendid entrance Charles the Bold, dressed as a conqueror, allowed his soldiers to plunder Dinant. Everything that could be taken was stolen. And Dinant was very rich, wealthier than Liège according to Jacques Duclercq. As far as this chronicler was concerned, the Meuse river was full of ships and boads wich overflew of looted artefacts. The inhabitants of Dinant could'nt afford to keep anything away from the Burgundian.
Then began the physical violence. A lots of Dinantais were killed arbitraily during the first hours following the conquest of the city. Charles the Bold dictated one only ban : Burgundian were not allowed to rape women.
To show his authority Charles the Bold even hanged three Burgundian who raped woman despite the count's prohibition. But according to Jean de Haynin, the most violent episod of the Burgundian repression was the separation of the women from the men by the Burgundian. Charles the Bold ordered women to leave the city without their husband and family and to run to Liège to be safe. Meanwhile their husband and relatives were all killed in front of them. Some of them were hanged, some of them were drowned into the Meuse. Jean de Haynin explains that Dinantais were tied two by two and trown into the river so they died because of their weight.
Eventually, when Dinant was evacuated, the city was burnt. An accidental fire was set near the church and soon burnt all the neighborhoods because of the houses made of wood. This fire accelerated the plunders because Charles the Bold ordonned to the Burgundian to take everything away from the flames. He even took the very important relic of Saint-Perpète in order to move it to Bouvignes.
Some days after the departure of Charles the Bold from Dinant, the city had been removed from the map. Everything had burned because of the big fire and the inhabitants had all been killed or banished. In order to prevent the Dinantais from coming back, Charles the Bold even sowed salt and clay on the grounds. The violence that took place after the conquest of Dinant was unbearable.
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| Dinant on an engraving from dinant.be |
