BALDWIN BRAS-DE-FER--THE PLACE DU BOURG--MURDER OF CHARLES THE GOOD
Towards the end of the ninth and at the beginning of the tenth
century great changes took place on the banks of the Roya, and
the foundations of Bruges as we know it now were laid. Just as
in the memorable years 1814 and 1815 the empire of Napoleon fell
into fragments, and princes and statesmen hastened to readjust the
map of Europe in their own interests, so in the ninth century the
empire of Charlemagne was crumbling away; and in the scramble for
the spoils, the Normans carried fire and sword into Flanders. Charles
the Bald, King of the Franks, at this crisis called to his aid the
strong arm of Baldwin, a Flemish chief of whose ancestry we know
little, but who soon became famous as Baldwin Bras-de-Fer--Baldwin
of the Iron Arm, so called because, in peace or war, he was never
seen without his coat of mail. This grim warrior had fallen in
love with the daughter of Charles the Bald, Judith, who had been
already twice married, first to the Saxon King Ethelwulf (after
the death of his first wife Osberga, mother of Alfred the Great) and
secondly to Ethelbald, on whose death she left England and went
to live at Senlis. Baldwin persuaded the Princess to run away with
him; and they were married without the knowledge of her father, to
escape whose vengeance the culprits fled to Rome. Pope Nicholas I.
brought about a reconciliation; and Charles not only pardoned his
son-in-law, but appointed him ruler of Flanders under the title of
Marquis, which was afterwards changed into that of Count. It is to
the steel-clad Baldwin Bras-de-Fer that the Counts of Flanders trace
the origin of their title; and he was, moreover, the real founder of
that Bruges which rose to such glory in the Middle Ages, and is
still, though fallen from its high estate, the picturesque capital
of West Flanders, whither artists flock to wander about amidst the
canals and bridges, the dismantled ramparts, the narrow streets
with their curious houses, and the old buildings which bear such
eloquent testimony to the ruin which long ago overtook what was
once an opulent and powerful city.
When the wrath of his father-in-law had been appeased, Baldwin, now
responsible for the defence of Flanders, came to Bruges with his
wife, and there established his Court. But the old burg, it seems,
was not thought capable of holding out against the Normans, who
could easily land on the banks of the Zwijn; and Baldwin, therefore,
set about building a new stronghold on the east side of the old
burg, and close to it. It was surrounded partly by the main stream
of the Roya, and partly by backwaters flowing from it. Here he
built a fortress for himself and his household, a church dedicated
to St. Donatian, a prison, and a 'ghiselhuis,' or house for the
safe keeping of hostages. The whole was enclosed by walls, built
close to the edge of the surrounding waters.
The Roya is now vaulted over where it ran along the west side of
Baldwin's stronghold, separating it from the original burg, and
the watercourses which defended it on the north and east are filled
up; but the stream on the south still remains in the shape of the
canal which skirts the Quai des Marbriers, from which a bridge
leads by a narrow lane, called the Rue de l'Âne Aveugle, under
an arch of gilded stonework, into the open space now known as the
Place du Bourg. Here we are at the very heart of Bruges, on the
ground where Baldwin's stronghold stood, with its four gates and
drawbridges, and the high walls frowning above the homes of the
townsmen clustering round them. The aspect of the place is completely
changed since those early days. A grove of chestnut-trees covers
the site of the Church of St. Donatian; not a stone remains of
Bras-de-Fer's rude palace; and instead of the prison and the
hostage-house, there are the Hôtel de Ville, now more than five
hundred years old, from whose windows the Counts of Flanders swore
obedience to the statutes and privileges of the town, the Palais
de Justice, and the dark crypt beneath the chapel which shelters
the mysterious Relic of the Holy Blood.
[Illustration: BRUGES. Rue de l'Âne Aveugle (showing end of Town
Hall and Bridge connecting it with Palais de Justice).]
In summer it is a warm, quiet, pleasant spot. Under the shade of
the trees, near the statue of Van Eyck, women selling flowers sit
beside rows of geraniums, roses, lilies, pansies, which give a
touch of bright colour to the scene. Artists from all parts of
Europe set up their easels and paint. Young girls are gravely busy
with their water-colours. Black-robed nuns and bare-footed Carmelites
pass silently along. Perhaps some traveller from America opens his
guide-book to study the map of a city which had risen to greatness
long before Columbus crossed the seas. A few English people hurry
across, and pass under the archway of the Rue de l'Âne Aveugle
on the way to their tennis-ground beyond the Porte de Gand. The
sunshine glitters on the gilded façade of the Palais de Justice,
and lights up the statues in their niches on the front of the Hôtel
de Ville. There is no traffic, no noise. Everything is still and
peaceful. The chimes, ever and anon ringing out from the huge Belfry,
which rises high above the housetops to the west, alone break the
silence.
This is Bruges sleeping peacefully in old age, lulled to rest by
the sound of its own carillon. But it is easy, standing there, to
recall the past, and to fancy the scenes which took place from time
to time throughout the long period of foreign danger and internal
strife. We can imagine the Bourg, now so peaceful, full of armed
men, rushing to the Church of St. Donatian on the morning when
Charles the Good was slain; how, in later times, the turbulent
burghers, fiery partisans of rival factions, Clauwerts shouting
for the Flemish Lion, and Leliarts marshalled under the Lily of
France, raged and threatened; how the stones were splashed with blood
on the day of the Bruges Matins, when so many Frenchmen perished; or
what shouts were raised when the Flemish host came back victorious
from the Battle of the Golden Spurs.
Though every part of Bruges--not only the Bourg, but the great
Market-Place, and the whole maze of streets and lanes and canals
of which it consists--has a story of its own, some of these stories
stand out by themselves; and amongst these one of the most dramatic
is the story of the death of Charles the Good.
More than two hundred and fifty years had passed away since the
coming of Baldwin Bras-de-Fer; Bruges had spread far beyond the
walls of the Bourg; and Charles, who had succeeded his cousin Baldwin
VII., was Count of Flanders. He was called 'the Good' because of
his just rule and simple life, and still more, perhaps, because
he clothed and fed the poor--not only in Bruges, but throughout
all Flanders. The common people loved him, but his charities gave
offence to the rich. He had, moreover, incurred the special enmity
of the Erembalds, a powerful family, who, though not of noble origin
themselves, were connected by marriage with many noble houses. They
had supported his claim to the throne of Flanders, which had been
disputed, and he had rewarded their services by heaping favours
on them. But, after a time, they began to oppose the methods of
government which Charles applied to Flanders. They resented most
of all one of his decrees which made it unlawful for persons not
in his service to carry arms in time of peace. This decree, which
was pronounced in order to prevent the daily scenes of violence
which Charles abhorred, was declared by the Erembalds to be an
interference with Flemish liberty. It did not affect them personally,
for they held office under the Count; but they none the less opposed
it vehemently.
While Charles was thus on bad terms with the Erembalds, a deadly
feud existed between them and the Straetens, another notable family,
which grew to such a height that the rival clans made open war upon
each other, pillaging, burning, and slaying after the manner of
these times. Charles called the leaders of both sides before him,
and made them swear to keep the peace; but when he was at Ypres in
the autumn of 1126, a complaint was laid before him that Bertulf,
head of the Erembalds, who was also Provost of St. Donatian's,
had sent one of his nephews, Burchard by name, on a raid into the
lands of the Straetens, whose cattle he had carried off. On hearing
of this outrage, Charles gave orders that Burchard's house should
be pulled down, and that he should compensate the Straetens for
their losses. The Erembalds were powerless to resist this order,
and Burchard's house was razed to the ground.
It has been said that this was only the beginning of strong measures
which Charles was about to take against the Erembalds; but there
is no certainty as to what his intentions really were. He then
lived in the Loove, a mansion which he had built in the Bourg at
Bruges, on the site now occupied by the Palais de Justice; and
there, on his return from Ypres, he had a meeting with some of the
Erembalds, who had been sent to plead on behalf of Burchard. As
to what took place at this interview there is some doubt. According
to one account, Charles drank wine with the delegates, and granted
a free pardon to Burchard, on condition that he kept the peace.
According to another account, his demeanour was so unbending that
the Erembalds left his presence full of angry suspicions, which
they communicated to their friends. Whatever may have happened,
they were bent on mischief. Burchard was sent for, and a secret
consultation was held, after which Burchard and a chosen few assembled
in a house on the Bourg and arranged their plans. This was on the
night of March 1, 1127.
[Illustration: BRUGES. Quai du Rosaire.]
At break of day next morning a cold, heavy mist hung low over Bruges,
and in the Bourg everything was shrouded in darkness. But already
some poor men were waiting in the courtyard of the Loove, to whom
Charles gave alms on his way to early Mass in the Church of St.
Donatian. Then he went along a private passage which led into the
church, and knelt in prayer before the Lady Altar. It was his custom
to give help to the needy when in church, and he had just put some
money into the hands of a poor woman, when suddenly she called out:
'Beware, Sir Count!' He turned quickly round, and there, sword
in hand, was Burchard, who had stolen up the dim aisle to where
Charles was kneeling. The next moment Burchard struck, and Charles
fell dead upon the steps of the altar.
Then followed a scene of wild confusion. The woman ran out into
the Bourg, calling loudly that the Count was slain. In the midst
of the uproar some of the royal household fled in terror, while
others who entered the church were butchered by the Erembalds,
who next attacked the Loove, and, having pillaged it, rushed over
Bruges, slaughtering without mercy all who dared to oppose them.
After some time one of the Count's servants ventured to cover the
dead body with a winding-sheet, and to surround it with lighted
tapers; and there it remained lying on the pavement, until at last
the Erembalds, who were afraid to bury it in Bruges lest the sight
of the tomb of Charles the Good should one day rouse the townsmen
to avenge his death, sent a message to Ghent, begging the Abbot
of St. Peter's to take it away and bury it in his own church. The
Abbot came to Bruges, and before dawn the body of the murdered Count
was being stealthily carried along the aisles of St. Donatian's,
when a great crowd rushed in, declaring that the bones of Charles
must be allowed to rest in peace at Bruges. The arches rang with
cries, chairs were overturned, stools and candlesticks were thrown
about, as the people, pressing and struggling round the Abbot and
his servants, told Bertulf, with many an oath, that he must yield
to their wishes. At last the Provost submitted, and on the morrow,
just two days after the murder, the body of Charles was buried before
the Lady Altar, on the very spot, it is said, where the statue of
Van Eyck now stands under the trees in the Bourg.
The triumph of the Erembalds was short, for the death of Charles
the Good was terribly avenged by his friends, who came to Bruges
at the head of a large force. A fierce struggle took place at the
Rue de l'Âne Aveugle, where many were slain. The Erembalds were
driven into the Bourg, the gates of which they shut; but an entrance
was forced, and, after desperate fighting, some thirty of them, all
who remained alive, were compelled to take refuge, first in the
nave and then in the tower of the Church of St. Donatian, where,
defending themselves with the courage of despair, they made a last
stand, until, worn out by fatigue and hunger, they surrendered
and came down. Bertulf the Provost, Burchard, and a few of the
other ringleaders had fled some days before, and so escaped, for
a time at least, the fate of their companions, who, having been
imprisoned in a dungeon, were taken to the top of the church tower
and flung down one by one on to the stones of the Bourg. 'Their
bodies,' says Mr. Gilliat-Smith, 'were thrown into a marsh beyond
the village of St. André, and for years afterwards no man after
nightfall would willingly pass that way.' In the Church of St.
Sauveur there is a costly shrine containing what are said to be the
bones of Charles the Good, taken from their first resting-place,
at which twice every year a festival is held in commemoration of
his virtues.
THE BÉGUINAGE--CHURCHES--THE RELIC OF THE HOLY BLOOD