THE BELFRIES
On several occasions in the course of the eleventh century, the
constitution of Belgian unity seemed to come within sight. The Scheldt
no longer divided the country into two distinct political units. The
powerful counts of Flanders were still practically independent of their
French suzerain, while the Struggle for the Investitures had ruined the
emperors' authority in the Meuse region, where the native nobility was
again exerting its supremacy. Both parts of the country were brought
more and more into contact by military alliances and dynastic
intermarriages. In spite of these tendencies, three centuries were
still to elapse before the reunion of the various counties and duchies
under the same house and the foundation of what may be considered as
the Belgian nation, in the modern sense of the word. While in France
and England the central power was making great progress against the
separatist tendencies of the feudal barons, in Belgium the work of
political centralization was delayed by the considerable influence
exerted on social conditions by the towns, or communes.
Illustration: CLOTH HALL AND BELFRY, YPRES (DESTROYED 1914).
(THIRTEENTH CENTURY.)
_Ph. B._
[_FIRST COMMUNES_]
The development of urban institutions in the twelfth century was not
peculiar to Belgium. Almost in every European country the progress of
trade and industry had the same result, but, just as Feudalism had been
more feudal in the region of the Meuse and the Scheldt than in any
other part of Northern Europe, Communalism became more communal. The
same reasons which favoured separatism from the point of view of the
feudal lords allowed the spirit of the guilds to assert itself more
energetically than in the neighbouring countries. The very remoteness
of any strong centralizing influence, the linguistic and racial
differences, favoured the new regime, while the resources of the
country and its geographical position on the map of Europe gave to its
trade and industry an extraordinary efflorescence. The communes found
in Belgium a well prepared ground. Politically, they met with a minimum
of resistance; economically, they benefited from a maximum of
advantages.
Illustration: THE CASTLE OF THE COUNTS, GHENT (TWELFTH CENTURY).
_Ph. B._
Up to the twelfth century, it must be remembered, only the lay and
ecclesiastical aristocracy had been allowed to play a part in Belgian,
and, for the matter of that, in European history. The feudal system had
reduced the ancient free peasants to bondage; most of them were tied to
the soil and deprived, of course, of all political rights. The
foundation of large towns of 50,000 to 80,000 inhabitants, whose
citizens possessed their own militia, their own tribunals and their own
privileges, was nothing short of a social revolution. The merchants and
artisans made their influence strongly felt in the State; they had
money and military power, and the impoverished nobility became more and
more dependent on them. The spirit of separatism and local
individualism passed thus from the castle to the town, and it was only
when some balance was re-established between the different classes of
society, and when altered economic conditions necessitated a closer
co-operation of the whole nation, that unification became possible in
the early days of the fifteenth century.
The story of the formation of the first Communes is well known. It is
the same in all parts of Western Europe, though the essential
characteristics are nowhere more evident than in Belgium. Trade gave
the first impulse. It had been practically annihilated by the Norman
invasions and the wars of the ninth century. Using the natural
waterways of the country and the sea routes, it revived slowly, and we
know, through the discovery of Flemish coins in Denmark, Prussia and
Russia, that the Belgian coast was already in frequent communication
with Northern Europe at the end of the tenth century. The Norman
Conquest was the main cause of the rapid progress of trade in the
eleventh century. Many Flemings accompanied William in his expedition,
many more followed as colonists, and a constant intercourse was
established between the Thames and the Scheldt. The development of the
trade of Bruges was the natural consequence of the increasing
importance of London. Singing the _Kyrie Eleison_, Flemish sailors came
up the Thames, bringing to England wine from France and Germany, spices
from the East and cloth from Flanders.
[_MERCHANTS_]
Meanwhile, great fairs had been established in Southern Flanders at
Lille, Ypres and Douai, where French and Italian merchants met the
Flemish traders; so that Flanders was kept in close contact with the
romanized countries by the continental routes, while the sea brought
her into touch with the Germanic world. Wharves and storehouses were
built on the main streams where the merchants made their winter
quarters, usually in the vicinity and under the protection of some
monastery or some feudal castle. Though the commercial settlements were
more dependent than the latter on the geographical features of the
country, most of the best situated spots, at the crossing of two main
roads (Maestricht), at the confluence of navigable streams (Liege,
Ghent), at the highest navigable point of a river (Cambrai), etc., had
attracted the monks and the barons before the merchants. The new
settlements were, however, quite distinct from the old, and their
population lived under an entirely different regime. The name given to
them at the time is characteristic: they were called either "porters"
or "emporia" (storehouses); even after the industrial population had
joined the merchants, the inhabitants remained for a long time
"mercatores."
The nobles--especially the lay nobles--protected the traders. At a
time when landed property diminished considerably in value, they were a
source of revenue. They paid tolls on the rivers, on the roads, at the
fairs. They provided all lingeries, silks, spices, furs, jewels, etc.;
their ships could be equipped for war. These were sufficient reasons
for the princes to grant the wandering traders a certain freedom and a
privileged position in the State, and even to fight any noble who
persecuted them and robbed them of their wares. At the beginning of the
twelfth century, trade not only moved from south to north, on Belgium's
many navigable streams; it ran also from east to west along a new road
connecting Bruges with Cologne, through Maestricht, St. Trond, Leau,
Louvain, Brussels, Alost and Ghent, all these places occupying some
favourable geographical position. The origin of the prosperity of
Antwerp dates from this period, a certain part of the wares being
transported to this spot by the Scheldt from Ghent. The Bruges-Cologne
road eventually ruined the trade of the latter place, to the great
advantage of agricultural Brabant, which was, by this means, drawn into
the economic movement then revolutionizing social conditions on the
Meuse and the Scheldt.
[_ARTISANS_]
Had this movement continued to be purely commercial, social conditions
would not have undergone such a rapid change, for the number of
settlers would have remained relatively small. But, already in the
eleventh century, the "porters" and "emporia" proved a centre of
attraction, not only to discontented serfs and would-be merchants, but
to skilled artisans, mostly clothmakers in Flanders and metal-workers
on the Meuse. From the early days of the Menapii the inhabitants of
Northern Belgium had a reputation for working the wool of their sheep.
Under Charlemagne, it had already become their principal industry. In
the eleventh century, with the conquest of new "polders" upon the sea
and the extension of the area of rich low meadows, the quantity of wool
increased considerably, and, more raw material becoming available, the
cloth industry developed accordingly. From the building of a protective
dyke to the weaver bending over his loom and to the ship carrying
valuable Flemish cloth from Bruges to London or any other part of the
European coast, there is a natural chain of thought. But the progress
accomplished along the coast may also be connected with the foundation
and development of the first towns and the chimes of the belfries.
In the hills of the south, industry was very likely determined by the
presence of copper and tin mines. The latter, however, were rapidly
exhausted, and, as early as the tenth century, the artisans of the
Meuse were obliged to fetch their raw material from Germany, especially
from the mines of the Geslar. The industry, however, remained in Dinant
and Huy, and coppersmiths and merchants met in these places, as
clothmakers and merchants met in the Flemish towns. So that, in the
early Middle Ages, the contrast between agricultural and industrial
Belgium was already apparent.
The migration of artisans towards trade centres in the eleventh century
is as easy to understand as the attraction exerted in the present day
by commerce on industry. But, in the Middle Ages, the union was bound
to become closer still, owing to the resistance offered by the old
regime to the social transformation and to the necessity felt by the
"guilds" (either of merchants or of artisans) to unite against a common
enemy.
Though, in some instances, the new towns received their privileges from
the princes, who rather encouraged than opposed their development, the
burgesses were frequently obliged to fight in order to obtain their
liberty. The case of Cambrai is typical. A settlement of traders and
artisans had been established close to the walls of the episcopal
castle at the beginning of the eleventh century. In 1070 it was
surrounded with walls and became a "bourg" (borough). The "bourg" was
placed under the jurisdiction of the bishop's officers, who
administered it without making any allowance for new conditions, the
laws applied to peasants and serfs being vigorously applied to traders
and craftsmen. Meetings took place in the "Halle" (Guildhall), and the
members of the guilds swore to shake off the bishop's yoke as soon as
an opportunity arose. When, in 1077, Bishop Gerard left Cambrai to
receive his investiture from Henry IV, the burgesses overwhelmed the
soldiery, seized the gates and proclaimed the Commune. It was not a
rising of the poor against the rich, for the leaders were the richest
merchants in the town, neither was it a rising of Guelphs against
Ghibelines, though the bishop had lost much of his prestige owing to
his loyalty to the emperor. It was essentially a fight of the new
"bourgeoisie" against feudalism, of a commercial and industrial culture
against a purely agricultural civilization. The rising was soon
crushed, but, a few years later, Bishop Walcher was obliged to grant to
the citizens the charters which Bishop Gerard had refused them, and
even when, in 1107, the Emperor Henry V tore up Cambrai's charter, the
town preserved its sheriffs and magistrates. The burgesses kept up the
struggle for two centuries, until they succeeded in taking from the
bishops every shred of temporal power and in obtaining the entire
control of the city.
[_NOBLES AND COMMUNES_]
Cambrai was, with Huy, one of the first communes in Belgium, and the
rising had a great influence in Northern France. It is an extreme
example of the resistance of the feudal lords to the rise of the
bourgeoisie. Generally speaking, this resistance was greater among
ecclesiastical than among lay nobles, and in small fiefs, where the
prince was in direct opposition to the people, than in larger ones,
where the communes frequently supported him against his vassals or even
against his suzerain.
While the imperial bishops opposed the movement, for instance, the
counts of Flanders encouraged it. During the eleventh century, the
merchants had already enjoyed the protection of the counts, and, in the
beginning of the twelfth century, the erection of a wall surrounding
the "porters" was accompanied by the grant of special privileges. When
Charles the Good was killed in 1127, the people rose to avenge his
death and besieged his murderers in the castle of Bruges. The count
having left no heir, Louis VI of France upheld the claim of William of
Normandy, but the burgesses, fearing that the duke would not maintain
their privileges, opposed his candidature and selected Thierry of
Alsace. A war ensued, during which most of the nobles sided with the
first, whilst the towns and free peasants took the part of the second.
After his victory, Thierry showed his gratitude by extending to all
towns in the country, whether Walloon or Flemish, the same freedom.
Strangely enough, it was not the charter of Bruges which was chosen,
but that of Arras. The towns enjoyed a kind of self-government. The
citizens were judged by their own sheriffs ("echevins"), the prince
being represented on their council by a "bailli." They had their own
seal, their own hall and archives. They owed allegiance to their
prince, and, in case of war, had to give him military help. Their
rights were shown by the gallows erected at the gates of the town and
by the belfry, whose bell called the burgesses to arms when the city
was threatened by the enemy.
Illustration: THE CLOTH HALL AND BELFRY, BRUGES
(THIRTEENTH-FOURTEENTH CENTURY).
_Ph. B._
In Brabant also the communes enjoyed the protection of the duke, but
they developed later, owing to the agricultural character of the
region. The importance of Louvain and Brussels dates from the twelfth
century, when the Cologne-Bruges road brought commercial activity into
the country and when the weaving industry began to spread in the duchy.
As for Liege, which was a purely ecclesiastical town, where, for a long
time, the number of priests and monks exceeded that of the ordinary
citizens, it enjoyed a smaller share of local liberties than the other
centres of the Meuse valley where industry was more developed, and the
citizens never succeeded in freeing themselves completely from the
bishop's authority.
[_PEASANTS_]
If the imperial bishops opposed the new movement, it was mainly owing
to the influence of the monks, and especially the Cistercian monks,
that it spread to agricultural districts and that the rise of the
communes coincided with the abolition of serfdom. The direct
consequence of the development of trade and industry was the
depreciation of the land, and it became necessary to open new districts
to agriculture. The Cistercians were pioneers in this direction. They
established their houses in barren heaths and marshy districts, and
applied their skill and patience to converting them into fertile
fields. Unable to carry on the work unaided, they appealed to lay
brethren, who established farms in the neighbourhood of the
monasteries. These peasants were no longer serfs but free peasants, as
had been their forefathers after the Frankish invasion. Under the
supervision of the monks and of the stewards of dukes and counts, who
soon realized the advantages of the Cistercian method, they created new
"polders" along the Flemish coast, cleared the forests of Hainault and
Namur, and reclaimed the heaths and marshes of Flanders and Brabant.
The reclaimed ground was divided among the workers, so that, at the
beginning of the thirteenth century, a new class of free peasants
replaced the old class of feudal serfs. The farm produce was no longer
for local consumption alone; it was taken to the market-place, where
the farmers met the merchants and artisans. The social transformation
begun in the town halls spread thence to the country-side, and the
whole country began to share the same economic and political interests.
The belfry remains the living symbol of this rapid and widespread
transformation, and the few mediaeval belfries which remain standing in
Belgium date from that period. Those of Ghent and Tournai, built at the
end of the twelfth century, stand alone, in the centre of the town,
while in Ypres and Bruges (thirteenth century) the tower was erected
above the centre of the "halles." In both cases, however, the meaning
of these old monuments is the same. They are far more typical of
Belgian mediaeval civilization than the Gothic churches of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, such as St. Bavon (Ghent), Ste.
Gudule (Brussels) and Notre Dame (Bruges), and even than the great
cathedrals built later in Antwerp and Malines. Belgium's ecclesiastical
architecture, though distinct from the French, is strongly influenced
by the French Gothic style, while her civic monuments can only be
compared to the Palazzi publici of Florence and Sienna. They stand as
living witnesses of the heroic times when the alliance of the guilds
was sought by the princes and when common artisans did not hesitate to
challenge the power of the French kings. The spirit which raised them
has left its mark on the people, who still cherish to an extraordinary
degree their local institutions, and for whom communal privileges
constitute the very basis of social liberty. This "love of the
clock-tower" is not only Belgian, or Italian, or English; it is
essentially a European trait, as opposed to Asiatic Imperialism, and
may even be found in Republican Rome and in ancient Greece.
[_TOWN CITIZENSHIP_]
It is not without interest to notice that this European conception of
town-citizenship coincided with an exceptional artistic and economic
development strongly subjected both to Latin and Germanic influences.
While in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Ghent became the
centre of Flemish-German trade, owing to its privileged position on the
Cologne road, Bruges was the most cosmopolitan centre in Europe. It
communicated with the sea by a canal, whose great dykes are mentioned
by Dante (_Inferno_, XV, 4, 6), and its market-place, deserted to-day,
was then crowded with traders from England, France, Spain and Germany
and brokers from Lombardy and Tuscany. Seventeen States were
represented in the city, where the Hanseatic towns had their main
warehouses. Ships, laden with stores from all parts of the world, took
with them Flemish textiles, which were celebrated for their suppleness
and beauty of colour, and which were exported, not only to all parts
of Europe, but even to the bazaars of the East. When local raw material
became insufficient, wool was imported from England, and the Hansa of
London centralized the trade between the two countries. England and
Flanders were thus brought close together, and their commercial
relations reacted on the policy of both countries.
In the shadow of the Bruges belfry, amid English, French, German and
Italian traders, a new civilization was born, which, combining the
Latin and Germanic influences to which it was subjected, was soon to
assert its own originality. Belgium had definitely broken down the
barriers of feudalism. The same causes which had liberated her people
had brought them into contact with the outside world.