Matins of Bruges: Flemish butchers rise

May 1302

Before dawn the weavers of Bruges crept house to house, asking each sleeping Frenchman to say 'schild en vriend.' Those who failed the shibboleth were killed in their beds. Some sources claim over a thousand French soldiers and collaborators perished in the night. The massacre detonated a revolt of guildsmen against the crown of France and its local collaborators.