_Peter Coutherele_
Amongst the tangle of intricate causes which at last brought about, not,
indeed, the complete discomfiture of the patricians, for to the end they
were able to share in the duties and spoils of municipal government, but
the shrinkage of their prestige and the loss of much of their power,
three stand out pre-eminent:--the gradual diminution of their wealth
after 1350, outcome of English competition in the cloth trade; the
conduct of their chief officer of police, who presently, for his own
ends, made it his business to foment rebellion; and the growing
conviction in their own ranks that, after all, the stately edifice which
they had reared was not founded on justice.
At a very early date there was a popular party among the patricians of
Brussels, which little by little seems to have gained sufficient
influence to modify the policy of the municipal government, for in 1306
we find Duke John II. giving discretionary powers to the College of
Aldermen to admit craftsmen to the freedom of the city, and though no
doubt the primary object of this grant was to enable the ruling class to
purchase the goodwill of leading plebeians, the patricians would hardly
have requested the right to confer such a boon, even by way of
corruption, if they had been seriously opposed to the admission of
commoners to the franchise.
As it was at Brussels so was it in the other towns of Brabant, and
notably at Louvain, the city, above all, where the aristocracy was the
proudest and the most hated, and the proletariat the most turbulent and
the most oppressed. In this hotbed of storm and suspicion, where class
feeling ran the highest and class distinctions were the most sharply
defined, it was in the ranks of the patricians that the people at last
found a leader whom they trusted, and one who showed himself worthy of
their trust. That leader was Peter Coutherele, Mayor of Louvain, and, as
such, the first citizen of the first city of Brabant.
Though on the paternal side he does not seem to have been a man of
ancient lineage--his father, Godfrey, who was a member of the Council of
Jurors in 1328, and again in 1339, is the first of the family of whom we
have any record--Peter Coutherele was enrolled in the great landlord
clan of Van Redinghem, and claimed kinship, probably through his mother
or his grandmother, or through both, with the oldest and noblest houses
of the Commune. His enemies said of him that his love of the people was
born of hatred of his own class, outcome of private spleen, and that in
making himself the champion of plebeian claims his first care was to
feather his own nest; but whatever may have been the motives which
inspired his action, there is this much to Peter's credit: to the end he
was true to the cause he had espoused and to the principles he
professed, and if he received large rewards, he at least did his work
well. There can be no doubt that the ultimate triumph of democracy at
Louvain was in the main due to his efforts. For four hundred years the
constitution which he gave to his native city was the guarantee of the
rights and liberties of all sorts and conditions of men. He was no
wanton shedder of blood, he was very zealous for law and order, he
always showed himself a just, a merciful, and a moderate man, and at
last he died poor and forgotten.
We first hear of Peter Coutherele in 1348, when, no doubt owing to the
influence of his high connections, he was appointed by Duke John III. to
the important office of Mayor of Louvain, a position which must not be
confounded with that of a modern English or French mayor. The Mayor of
Louvain was the immediate representative of the Sovereign. His office
corresponded in some sense to that of the high sheriff of an English
county. He was also chief constable and commander-in-chief of the civic
militia, and he took precedence of all other ducal officers. At this
epoch, then, Coutherele was still on friendly terms with the ruling
class, for John, who was always very tender with his patricians, would
never have chosen for his representative a man who was not a _persona
grata_ to them, but the break soon came. The new Mayor was no respecter
of persons, and before his first year of office was out he denounced
certain measures which the aldermen had taken as infringements of the
ducal prerogative. The magistrates, indeed, succeeded in justifying
their conduct, but from that moment between them and Coutherele there
was war to the knife. Presently in their turn they denounced him: he was
hatching a plot with the plebeians to overthrow their power. But they
were able to furnish no proof, and Duke John maintained him in office.
Though it was common knowledge that the Mayor sympathised with the
aspirations of the lesser folk, it is not probable that at this period
he had translated his sentiments into action. He was shrewd enough to
know that any uprising of the masses against their oppressors could have
no hope of success unless it were backed at least by the tacit consent
of the Sovereign, and he had already had experience of Duke John's
friendliness to the patricians. Four years later, in 1359, the Mayor of
Louvain was again at loggerheads with the magistracy, and this time the
consequences were far reaching. The quarrel arose out of a very small
matter. De Dynter thus relates the story of its origin:[11]--
[11] _Chron. Brabant_, t. iii. p. 47.
'It came to pass at this time that as a certain fishmonger was on his
way to Louvain, there to dispose of his wares, as was his wont, the
barrow on which his fish was charged stuck fast in a deep hole full of
mud, whereat he was beginning to have grave doubts whether by reason of
the bad road he would be able to reach the city in time for market, when
haply he espied, in a field close by, some horses grazing, one of which
he caught and harnessed to his truck, and when by this means he had
extricated himself from his trouble he led him back again to the pasture
whence he had taken him.
'Now it so happened that a certain wicked, false ribald, who had seen
all that had taken place, at once made report thereof to Myn Here
Coutherele, Mayor of Louvain, and affirmed upon oath that the fishmonger
had stolen the horse; and thus it came to pass that no sooner had the
said fishmonger set foot in Louvain than he was arrested for a thief and
cast into gaol. At last the matter was brought before the Court of
Aldermen, who adjudged the accused not guilty and directed that he
should be set free; whereat the Mayor refused to comply, and the
magistrates were cut to the quick. In flouting their sentence Coutherele
had infringed one of those very privileges which, upon taking office, he
had solemnly sworn to maintain. He was no longer worthy to be their
Mayor. Henceforth they would cease to regard him as such.'
In refusing to carry out the sentence of the aldermen Coutherele had no
doubt acted illegally, and the magistrates, in retaliating as they did,
were strictly within their rights, but if they had not been blinded by
passion they would have surely held their peace. They knew very well
that the Mayor of Louvain would be certain to represent the course they
had pursued as a flagrant violation of the ducal prerogative; and they
knew too that the man who now sat on the throne of Brabant was of other
blood and of other complexion to those friends and fosterers of
freedom--the princes of the House of Louvain. The last of them was John
III., and when (December 5, 1355) he was gathered to his fathers the
mantle of their policy did not fall on the shoulders of his son-in-law
and successor. Winceslaus of Luxembourg, the new Duke, knew nothing of
civic institutions. How should he? There were no great towns in the land
in which he had been reared. And though it was to the burgher-nobles of
Brabant that he owed his recently acquired domains, he deemed the
influence and pretensions of these tradesmen a standing affront to his
dignity, of which from the first he was determined to be rid. Moreover,
he was aggrieved with most of them personally, for had they not welcomed
Louis of Maele when that sycophant of patrician pride, under pretext of
recovering his wife's portion, had invaded his domains, and was it not
by their counsel that he had afterwards styled himself Duke of Brabant?
Added to this, it was the lesser folk who had at last driven out the
usurper, and when others of his order had deserted their prince
Coutherele had stood by him manfully.
Such was the complexion of affairs at the moment when the patricians of
Louvain defied their enemy, and such was the man into whose jaundiced
ears that aggrieved individual now poured the story of their
aggressions.
Nor was Coutherele without allies in the ducal council--amongst them
Reynold, Lord of Schoonvorst, a personal friend who shared his own
opinions anent the plebeian question, and one of his Sovereign's most
trusted advisers. This man plainly told the Duke that if he would be
master in Louvain he must find some means of raising the people and of
abasing their proud taskmasters. As for Winceslaus, he made no sign, and
promptly withdrew to Luxembourg, as though unwilling to interfere in the
quarrel; but when Coutherele returned to his native city, men noted that
he was in nowise cast down--he had no doubt received some private
assurance that he was free to act as he would.
For a little while there was calm at Louvain, calm before the storm, and
the patricians had almost begun to hope that their trouble with
Coutherele was over, when presently it was rumoured abroad that his
nephews were tampering with the weavers. Employers of labour, comparing
notes, called to mind that of late their men had shown themselves idle
beyond wont, sullen, fractious, insolent; they had wondered what this
meant, now they knew the reason. When the days grew longer, and honest
merchants came forth after supper to cool themselves with the evening
breeze, they noted that the loungers, muttering together in market-place
and at street corner, leered at them as they passed with evil eyes, and
scarce vouchsafed to lift their hats.
Mischief, it was clear, was brewing. At last the plot was discovered,
and then the crisis came. Edmund De Dynter tells us how it all happened.
On the evening, he says, of the Feast of St. Mary Magdalen (July 21), in
the year of Our Lord 1360, it came to pass that a certain _meschine_ in
the service of one of our magistrates, having been sent by him to a
certain tavern to fetch a flask of wine, fell in with her sweetheart,
who in confidence told her that the people, egged on by Peter
Coutherele, intended to rise that night against the patricians, take
possession of the Town Hall, and make a pretty piece of mischief (_faire
aulcune mauvaise oevre_). Of course she divulged the secret to her
master, and he without delay imparted the same to his brother aldermen,
who forthwith betook themselves to the Town Hall, and arrived there
amazed and confounded at the manifest evidence of commotion which they
had witnessed on the way, for by this time the night was restless with
the tumult of a gathering mob: men were hurrying from all sides to the
great market behind the Cloth Hall, where the Mayor of Louvain was
already addressing a crowd of weavers, 'with arms in their hands and
anger in their brains.'
And what had Myn Here Coutherele to say for himself? If we may trust De
Dynter, who wrote indeed more than fifty years afterwards, he began by
enlarging on the misery of the people, and on the pride, the wealth, the
corruption, of those who held them in bondage, and who fattened on their
toil and on their tears. Was it not the people who paid the taxes, and
the patricians who had the spending of them? Did not the poor man have
to bear the heat and the burthen of the day whilst the rich were growing
richer on the spoils of administration? And what right had these men to
lord it over them? Were they not their fellow-citizens, of like birth
and of like origin with themselves? And when he saw that he had
enkindled their ire, he said that now was the time to strike; their
oppressors were at their mercy, they had mortally offended the Duke, he
would close his eyes and close his ears to aught which might be
attempted against them. It were madness to lose so favourable an
opportunity, let them then take up arms for dear liberty's sake.
It chanced that a certain great feudal lord, one Gerard of Vorsselaer,
was in town that day along with a band of retainers. This man seems to
have been esteemed in Louvain, and having no personal interest in city
affairs, he was on friendly terms with the leaders of each party. Having
vainly endeavoured to dissuade Coutherele from his purpose, he made his
way, as best he could, to the Town Hall and offered his services to the
patricians. 'Let them come forth like men and face the mob, and he and
his followers would help them _de bon coer et de bon courage_. For,'
said he, 'the people have not yet had time to muster; if we go forth
now, I doubt not that with God's help we shall put to shame the handful
that are already in the market-place, and when the rest behold their
discomfiture they will run to cover like poulets that have spied a
hawk.'
Sound advice probably, 'but those _hommes de loy_ were men of such frail
and meagre courage' that they deemed it too hazardous. Whereat
Vorsselaer, disgusted, incontinently leapt into his saddle and made for
Brussels, where we shall presently meet him. Meanwhile the mob was
increasing each moment in fury and in numbers, and the patricians, thus
left to their own devices, very soon came to the conclusion that no
other course was open to them but to treat with Myn Here Coutherele.
They did so, and with this result. To their envoy he made reply that the
people would fain be assured that the city accounts were in order. Let
the doors of the Town Hall be opened, and he and his friends would enter
and examine their books, and, when they had done so, withdraw. The
patricians complied, and Coutherele kept faith to the letter, nay, he
went even beyond his bond, for not only did he examine the account
books, he made a bonfire of them, and added thereto the charters of
patrician privileges and all other parchments he could set hands on;
and when at last he and his friends withdrew, they took care to bring
their opponents with them disarmed and under arrest.
Thus did the old _régime_ at Louvain come to an inglorious end. The
patricians had not struck a blow in defence of their privileges, and the
fact that the revolution was accomplished without bloodshed bears
witness not only to the humanity and moderation of Coutherele, but to
the marvellous influence which he must have had over the mob. Next
morning Coutherele himself, who was now practically dictator, named a
new magistracy, consisting of four patricians, men who were known to
favour the people, and three plebeians. It was the first time that a
commoner had been named alderman in any town of Brabant.
Meanwhile the men who had been captured in the Town Hall were still in
prison, and presently their friends made private appeal to Duchess
Jeanne, who opened communications with Coutherele with a view to their
liberation. Perhaps it was the policy of neither party to come to an
understanding; in any case, after several weeks had elapsed and nothing
had been effected the negotiations were broken off. Whereat the
prisoners, fearing for their lives, which after all hung by a thread,
proceeded themselves to treat with the all-powerful dictator, and with
better results, for after some haggling they purchased their freedom
upon undertaking to quit the city as soon as they should be set at
liberty.
The ransom which each man paid was assessed in proportion to his means,
but the sum-total thus realised amounted to a very large figure, and his
enemies said that, by this transaction, Coutherele had made himself one
of the richest men in Brabant, but in reality he expended the whole of
this fund, or, at all events, the greater portion of it, in the purchase
of the new charter which Duke Winceslaus granted to the city of Louvain
in the month of September 1360.
In this remarkable document, which was no doubt drawn up by Coutherele
himself, the Duke gave legal sanction to the changes accomplished in
July. He fully recognised the claim of the plebeians to participate in
the government of the city; he decreed that henceforth three aldermen
and eleven jurors should be chosen from among their ranks, and that all
other municipal functions should be equally divided between the two
classes. The elections were to take place annually, the plebeian members
being named by the patricians and the patrician members by the
plebeians--a very prudent regulation, calculated to secure in each case
the return of moderate men.
The action of Coutherele in this matter must not be judged by the
standard of to-day. In permitting his prisoners to purchase their
freedom he was only following the usage of the age in which he lived.
But that Winceslaus should have exacted a heavy fine or loan or
gratuity--call it what you will--from the man who had realised for him
his heart's desire was conduct more questionable. The only excuse that
can be made for him is this: his expenses were heavy and his purse was
light. The men of Louvain, however, were too well satisfied at the
success of their enterprise to grumble at the bill of costs, more
especially as the cash with which it was paid had been extracted from
their enemies' pockets, and so elated were they at Coutherele's
management of the whole affair that the magistrates voted him, from the
public funds, a large annuity for life.
If the patricians had been wise enough to recognise accomplished facts,
and had accepted the new constitution, which, after all, gave them the
lion's share in the government, all might yet have gone well, and the
city of Louvain would have been saved many years of strife and
bloodshed; but their privileges had been so large and so profitable, and
the good things which accrue to holders of office had been theirs for so
long, that they would have been more than human if they had been willing
at once to forego all thought of regaining their former position, and
these substantial men of commerce were neither heroes nor saints. Most
of them left the city in which they had once been supreme, and where now
their claims were mocked at; where their very lives were, perhaps, in
danger, and certainly were made a burthen to them by reason of
domiciliary visits and all kinds of vexatious precautions. For the men
in power were by no means sure of the stability of the new
_régime_--they lived in constant dread of a counter revolution. What
wonder, then, that their opponents, who, if the truth must be told, were
not famous for courage, found it more comfortable to plot in their
country homes than amid the turmoil of their town mansions, even though
their voluntary exile meant confiscation of property?
As for Duke Winceslaus, though his capital was a prey to disorder and in
imminent danger of commercial ruin, it was not his policy at present to
interfere. He knew very well that these purse-proud traders, who in the
day of their prosperity had given themselves the airs of princes, would
presently grovel at his feet, and with their caps in their hands humbly
beg his assistance; for, like their brethren at Brussels and elsewhere,
though it amused them sometimes to play at soldiering, they would never
do battle themselves if they could find someone else to fight for them,
and this was what actually occurred. When their town property had been
all confiscated, and commercial ruin was staring them in the face,
having vainly invoked the aid of Brussels, of Mechlin, of Liége, they
humbled themselves before their Sovereign, and, about the middle of
October 1361, with a great army he sat down before the city of Louvain.
But though Winceslaus made great show of helping the patricians, he had
not the slightest intention of breaking with the people, and the details
of the farce which followed had no doubt been previously arranged with
Coutherele. Certain it is that no sooner had Winceslaus encamped before
Louvain than that worthy, in the name of the city, professed submission.
His friends, he said, were ready to accept any conditions that the Duke
might dictate. Whereat Winceslaus, to save appearances, ordained that
they should come forth from the city to meet him, unarmed, unhatted and
unshod, and, when they had reached his presence, fall down on their
knees and humbly ask forgiveness. His instructions were carried out to
the letter, and when the farce had been duly performed he presented them
with a new charter, a masterpiece of duplicity, in which may be clearly
seen the hand of Coutherele. It restored to the patricians the whole of
their confiscated property; ordained that the ransoms paid by the
prisoners of 1360, the greater part of which, it will be remembered, the
Duke had pocketed himself, should be refunded from the public purse; and
further, and most important of all, deprived Coutherele of his
mayoralty. This was probably as much, or more, than the most sanguine of
them had looked for, but in reality, as the patricians soon learned to
their cost, Peter Coutherele and his mob were still masters of the
situation; nay, so far as they were concerned, things were worse than
they had been before, for the charter of 1360 gave them a majority in
the College of Aldermen, and though that body was still to contain four
patricians and three plebeians, Winceslaus had now reserved to himself
the right of appointment, and first among the patricians whom he
presently named was 'the renegade Peter Coutherele.' When the
reactionists knew that in spite of his specious promises, the Duke had
played them false, they at once declined to take any part in municipal
affairs; and sooner than be compelled to do so--for the new charter made
refusal to accept office, when named thereto, a crime punishable by
imprisonment--shook the dust of Louvain off their feet, and again
withdrew to their country strongholds.
The great tribune was now at the height of his power: his will was law
in Louvain; he himself was first burgomaster; in his friend Jan
Hanneman, the richest cloth merchant of the city, and one of the few
patricians who favoured the popular cause, he had an able and willing
lieutenant; another friend, the plebeian Gedulphe Rogge, one of his most
devoted adherents, was second burgomaster; Paul Herengolys, a clerk in
holy orders, was mayor, and every other municipal office was held by one
or other of his creatures. Nor was this all. As a reward for his
'manifold good and faithful services' Winceslaus invested him with the
ducal fief of Asten, in Limbourg, and all the rights and privileges
appertaining thereto. In addition, then, to his hereditary rank of
patrician, he was now a member of the feudal nobility--an anomalous
position, maybe, for the leader of a democratic revolution, but
presently Peter gave thanks to Heaven that the Castle of Asten was his.
About the same time, too, he made a brilliant marriage for his daughter
Gertrude, whom he gave to Henri de Cuyck, a brother of the powerful Lord
of Hoogstraeten--a useful alliance this, and one which stood him in good
stead, as we shall presently see.
Meanwhile the city finances were in sorry plight. For years past the
patrician oligarchy had not only mismanaged public funds, but had
systematically enriched themselves at the public cost, and though their
corruption had been one of the chief causes of complaint against them on
the part of the plebeians, now that they themselves were in office they
deviated no whit in this matter from the traditions of their
predecessors; for years past, too, the profits arising from cloth had
gradually been diminishing, and since the Revolution of 1360 all
business had been practically at a standstill. Added to this, Duke
Winceslaus had been paid, and paid handsomely, for the charter of 1362.
Indeed the quarrels of the men of Louvain were a fruitful source of
wealth to their Sovereign. His method of extorting cash seems to have
been this: he first fomented disturbances, then sold his support to the
highest bidder, and finally, when he was called in to arbitrate, charged
a heavy fee for expenses. In this manner he succeeded in amassing vast
wealth, and it was currently reported in Brabant that during the year
1361 he received more money from the men of Louvain than would have been
realised had the whole city been sold with all its outlying territory.
Be this as it may, the city treasury was empty, and to obtain the funds
necessary to meet current expenses, Coutherele had recourse to an
expedient still resorted to by communities in like straits: he invoked
the aid of foreign capitalists. Jan Hanneman was dispatched to Germany
to sell life annuities, and so good was the credit of Louvain, or so
great, perhaps, were his powers of persuasion, that in a very short time
he returned laden with treasure. Of course Peter's enemies said, judging
of him by what they themselves would have done under similar
circumstances, that no small portion of it found its way into his own
coffers:--This were surely the fund with which he had dowered his
daughter. The charge of peculation which he had hurled at them they now
flung back in his teeth, and again made appeal to Winceslaus and
promised him gold. Whereat he once more assumed the _rôle_ of
arbitrator, confirmed the 'Peace of 1361,' adjured the belligerents to
forgive and forget, and, as surety for their future good behaviour,
demanded from each party hostages and, by way of compensation for the
expenses he had incurred, a further cash payment. This was in February
1363, and shortly afterwards Coutherele himself conducted the plebeian
hostages to the ducal castle at Tervueren.
The Lord of Asten went forth from Louvain exulting in the glory of his
might, he was accompanied by a train of seventy horsemen, the cavalcade
was a brilliant one, the people cheered him as he passed; his popularity
had not one whit abated, he was still their idol, the saviour of the
city, the valiant champion who had broken the yoke of slavery from off
their necks; but in reality his sun had set: the triumphant ride to
Tervueren was but the aftermath. He knew it when he had seen Winceslaus,
and he knew too that lurid storm clouds were rolling up with the night.
He was as sure that the Duke had joined the enemy as if he had learned
it from his own lips. For him Louvain had ceased to be a safe abode: if
haply he escaped the headsman's axe, he would sooner or later be stabbed
in the back by a muffled ruffian lying in wait for him at the corner of
some dark street; and if his lamp were put out, the cause for which he
had so long suffered would at the same time die, for who could take the
place of Peter Coutherele? Prudence and duty, then, counselled flight,
and he fled to his manor at Asten, where he was presently joined by
Hanneman and Herengolys.
If Peter had been content to lie low for a while, the natural course of
events must have presently restored him to his former position: he had
powerful friends at Court, he was still in possession of his barony,
Winceslaus, satisfied at his voluntary exile, seems at the present
juncture to have had no intention of wholly breaking with him. The
Duke's policy was a policy of expedience: at Louvain the name of
Coutherele was still one to conjure with, and the force of circumstances
must have presently compelled him to fall back on his former ally, for,
as after events showed, the patrician reaction was only a passing phase;
in reality the flowing tide was still with the people.
But it was impossible for a man of Peter's temperament to sit with
folded hands whilst vandals were wrecking his 'house Beautiful' and
threatening to pull it down. That this was the case there was,
unfortunately, no room for doubt. He was in constant communication with
Louvain, and each day his envoys returned with tidings which lashed him
to fury. They told him how these men of Belial, not content with
corrupting the Duke, had corrupted also some of his own
followers--plebeians, in whose integrity he had placed implicit
confidence; how Winceslaus, whilst cynically confirming their charter of
rights, had twisted it into an instrument of torture, by naming these
renegades representatives of the people in the city council; how the
patricians, thus free to act as they would, had not only compensated
themselves largely from the public purse for property of which they had
been most righteously deprived in 1360, but had deemed it no shame to
draw from the same source the huge sum they had promised Winceslaus, and
this at a time when the city was honeycombed with debt, when all
business was at a standstill, when thousands of men were out of work,
and their wives and little ones starving. Nor did even this complete the
sum of their iniquity: foreseeing that the victims of their evil deeds
would at last be goaded to turn on them, they had meanly deprived them
of the power to do so by taking away their weapons.
That was the last straw. Coutherele was beside himself. He would
hesitate no longer. Not one of these men should escape the sword of his
vengeance. His plan was to advance on Louvain under cover of night with
what men and arms he could muster, enter through one of the city gates,
which, at a given signal, friends within would open, join forces with
the craftsmen, stealthily break into the Town Hall, where he knew there
were weapons, and then, when each man had armed himself, fall on their
adversaries unawares, and slay them in their beds. The plot was
doubtless suggested by the Bloody Matins of Bruges, and if it had been
possible to carry it out a like result might have followed; but at
Bruges the craftsmen were true to one another, at Louvain there was a
traitor in the camp, and on the appointed night, when Coutherele and his
little band were nearing the Castle of Heverlé,[12] on the outskirts of
the city, they found themselves confronted by Winceslaus and an army of
knights and burghers; a desperate encounter followed, and the rebels
were put to flight.
[12] The Castle of Heverlé is still standing; part of it dates from
Coutherele's time, but the greater portion was erected in the course of
the fifteen hundreds. It is a grand old building, picturesquely situated
on the banks of the Dyle, in the midst of a beautiful and well-wooded
park. It is one of the country seats of the Duc d'Arenberg, who kindly
allows strangers to visit it.
Even now Winceslaus seems to have been loath to resort to extreme
measures against his former friends and accomplices. Coutherele had fled
the country, and was beyond his reach, Hanneman and Herengolys had also
disappeared, and if he had been left to his own devices he would most
likely have found it convenient to follow the advice of his friend
Schoonvorst and take no further action in the matter, but the
patricians, as was natural, objected.--As long as these
murderous ruffians lived they were not safe in their beds; let a price
be set on the head of each one of them, and warrants issued for their
arrest. And they used another argument, one which experience told them
would prove convincing: they jingled their moneybags. And Winceslaus
signed the required edict and pocketed 300 _florins d'or._ This
transaction had notable results. Herengolys was presently captured,
condemned to death by the city magistrates, and in due course brought to
the block; but the aldermen had reckoned without their host, the
ex-mayor of Louvain was a clerk, and, as such, not amenable to their
jurisdiction, and John of Arkel, who at this time ruled the Church of
Liége, no sooner heard of his fate than he set Louvain under interdict.
He would never suffer the rights of his clergy to be trampled on with
impunity, and moreover he seems to have shared, at all events to a
certain extent, Herengolys's political opinions. In his own principality
he consistently favoured the aspirations of democracy, and in the
struggle at Louvain he more than once intervened, and always on behalf
of the people. Perhaps his action in the Herengolys affair was inspired
by Peter Coutherele, who, immediately after the disaster of Heverlé, had
fled to Liége.
Nothing daunted by the fate of his friend, Coutherele at once set to
work to concoct new measures for the deliverance of his beloved city.
Having ingratiated himself with Albert of Holland, he now took up his
abode in that country, where presently a great conference was held of
outlaws from every town in Brabant, during which was planned another
attack on Louvain; but this scheme, like the last, was betrayed, and
failed miserably.
For years the great agitator led a restless and vagabond life, sometimes
in Holland, sometimes in Germany, sometimes in France, never long in one
place, always intriguing wherever he went, and making plans which he
could never carry out, and hatching plots which, for some reason or
other, he could never bring to maturity. At last, at the intercession of
his son-in-law, Henri de Cuyck, Winceslaus granted him a free pardon,
and permitted him to return to his native city (March 1369), but he was
a broken-down, worn-out old man, and he came back to Louvain to die. The
few months he had to live he passed in strict retirement in his house in
the Rue de la Fontaine, where he died the following year, poor and
forgotten.
[Illustration]