Jacques de Lalaing

Who was Jacques de Lalaing?

Jacques de Lalaing was a Walloon knight of the 15th century. He was originally in the service of the Duke of Cleves and afterwards in that of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip III, the Good, gaining great renown by his prowess in the tiltyard.

The duke of Burgundy entrusted him with embassies to the pope and the king of France, and subsequently sent him to put down the revolt of the inhabitants of Ghent, in which expedition he was killed. He was one of the first of European nobility to be killed by a gun..

His biography, Le Livre des faits de messire Jacques de Lalaing, which has been published several times, is mainly the work of the Burgundian herald and chronicler Jean Le Fevre, better known as Toison d'or; the Flemish historiographer Georges Chastellain and the herald Charolais also took part in its compilation.