The Battle of Cassel, sometimes called the Battle of Peene, took place during the Franco-Dutch War, near Cassel, 15 km west of Saint-Omer. A French army commanded by the duc de Luxembourg defeated a combined Dutch–Spanish force under William of Orange.
At the start of 1677, peace negotiations opened at Nijmegen; France already held most of the positions in the Spanish Netherlands that Louis XIV of France considered necessary for a defensible border. This would be completed by taking St-Omer and Cambrai, which he wanted to capture as soon as possible, allowing him to negotiate from a position of strength. While William could not save St-Omer, he was determined to fight for Cambrai, leading to the battle outside Cassel.
After initial cavalry attacks by both sides were repulsed, a fierce struggle began between the two sets of infantry. The French infantry on the right drove back the Dutch left, which was then scattered by a French cavalry assault. Meanwhile an Allied attack launched from their own right was fended off by the French left. In the centre, the Dutch nearly broke through the French lines, before being thrown back by a cavalry charge led by Philippe of Orléans.