On September 23, 1408, a combined allied army of the duke of Burgundy, the count of Holland, and the bishop-elect of Liège marched against the people of Liege, who had erupted into an all out revolt against their ruler. At the Battle of Othée, the Liégeois were utterly crushed and in the aftermath the citizens of Liège were made to pay dearly by the victorious nobles, with the town stripped of its privileges and draconian punishments placed upon it. The retribution was so harsh that the bishop-elect of Liège earned the name “John the Pitiless”. But the real triumph belonged to another John, “the Fearless”, Duke of Burgundy, and Count of Flanders and Artois, who with this battle capped off a series of power plays which began with the very public assassination of his biggest political rival in France, Louis of Orleans. John the Fearless asserted himself as the dominant power broker in the low countries, showing the ever restless towns what might happen to them should they rebel against his authority.

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