'BRUGES LA MORTE'
They call it 'Bruges la Morte,' and at every turn there is something
to remind us of the deadly blight which fell upon the city when
its trade was lost. The faded colours, the timeworn brickwork, the
indescribable look of decay which, even on the brightest morning,
throws a shade of melancholy over the whole place, lead one to
think of some aged dame, who has 'come down in the world,' wearing
out the finery of better days. It is all very sad and pathetic,
but strangely beautiful, and the painter never lived who could
put on canvas the mellow tints with which Time has clothed these
old walls, and thus veiled with tender hand the havoc it has made.
To stand on the bridge which crosses the canal at the corner of
the Quai des Marbriers and the Quai Vert, where the pinnacles of
the Palais du Franc and the roof of the Hôtel de Ville, with the
Belfry just showing above them, and dull red walls rising from
the water, make up a unique picture of still-life, is to read a
sermon in stones, an impressive lesson in history.
The loss of trade brought Bruges face to face with the 'question
of the unemployed' in a very aggravated form. How to provide for
the poor became a most serious problem, and so many of the people
were reduced to living on charity that almshouses sprang up all
over the town. God's Houses ('Godshuisen') they called them, and
call them still. They are to be found in all directions--quaint
little places, planted down here and there, each with a small chapel
of its own, with moss-grown roofs and dingy walls, and doors that
open on to the uneven cobbles. Every stone of them spells pauperism.
The Church does much towards maintaining these shelters for the
poor--perhaps too much, if it is true that there are 10,000 paupers
in Bruges out of a population of about 55,000. There is a great deal
of begging in the streets, and a sad lack of sturdy self-respect
amongst the lower class, which many think is caused by the system
of doles, for which the Church is chiefly responsible. Bruges might
not have been so picturesque to-day if her commerce had survived;
but the beauty of a town is dearly purchased at the cost of such
degradation and loss of personal independence.
[Illustration: BRUGES. View of the Palais du Franc.]
It was not only the working class which suffered. Many rich families
sank into poverty, and their homes, some of which were more like
palaces than private houses, had to be dismantled. The fate of
one of these lordly mansions is connected with an episode which
carries us back into the social life of Bruges in the middle of
the seventeenth century. On the right side of the Rue Haute, as
one goes from the Place du Bourg, there is a high block containing
two large houses, Nos. 6 and 8, of that street. It is now a big,
plain building without a trace of architectural distinction; but
in the seventeenth century it was a single mansion, built about
the year 1320, and was one of the many houses with towers which
gave the Bruges of that time almost the appearance of an Oriental
city. It was called the House of the Seven Towers, from the seven
pinnacles which surmounted it; and at the back there was a large
garden, which extended to the canal and Quai des Marbriers.
In April, 1656, the 'tall man above two yards high, with dark brown
hair, scarcely to be distinguished from black,' for whom the Roundheads
had searched all England after the Battle of Worcester, found his
way to Bruges, with his brother Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and
the train of Royalists who formed their Court. For nearly three
years after Worcester, Charles II. had lived in France; but in
July, 1654, the alliance between Cromwell and Mazarin drove him to
Germany, where he remained till Don John of Austria became Governor
of the Spanish Netherlands. Thereupon the prospect of recovering
the English throne by the assistance of Spain led him to remove
his Court, which had been established for some time at Cologne,
to Flanders. He arrived at Bruges on April 22, 1656. His brother
James, Duke of York, and afterwards King of England, held a commission
in the French army, and Mazarin offered him a command in Italy.
Charles, however, requested him to leave the French army, and enter
the service of Spain. At first James refused; but by the mediation
of their sister, the Princess of Orange, he was persuaded to do
as his brother wished, and join the Court at Bruges. The Irish
Viscount Tarah received Charles, when he first arrived, in his
house in the Rue du Vieux Bourg, and there gave him, we read in
local history, 'une brillante hospitalité.' But in the beginning
of June the Court took up its quarters in the House of the Seven
Towers.
During his sojourn in Flanders, Charles was carefully watched by
the secret service officers of the Commonwealth Government, who
sent home reports of all he did. These reports, many of which are
in the Thurloe State Papers and other collections, contain some
curious details about the exiled Court.
There never was a more interesting 'English colony' at Bruges than
at that time. Hyde, who received the Great Seal at Bruges, was there
with Ormonde and the Earls of Bristol, Norwich, and Rochester.
Sir Edward Nicholas was Secretary of State; and we read of Colonel
Sydenham, Sir Robert Murray, and 'Mr. Cairless', who sat on the
tree with Charles Stewart after Worcester fight. Another of the
exiles at Bruges was Sir James Turner, the soldier of fortune,
who served under Gustavus Adolphus, persecuted the Covenanters
in Scotland, and is usually supposed to have been the original
of Dugald Dalgetty in Sir Walter Scott's _Legend of Montrose_.
A list of the royal household is still preserved at Bruges. It
was prepared in order that the town council might fix the daily
allowance of wine and beer which was to be given to the Court,
and contains the names of about sixty persons, with a note of the
supply granted to each family.
A 'Letter of Intelligence' (the report of a spy), dated from Bruges
on September 29, 1656, mentions that Lilly, the astrologer of London,
had written to say that the King would be restored to the throne
next year, and that all the English at Bruges were delighted. But
in the meantime they were very hard up for ready money. Ever since
leaving England Charles and his followers had suffered from the
most direful impecuniosity. We find Hyde declaring that he has
'neither shoes nor shirt.' The King himself was constantly running
into debt for his meals, and his friends spent many a hungry day
at Bruges. If by good luck they chanced to be in funds, one meal a
day sufficed for a party of half a dozen courtiers. If it was cold
they could not afford to purchase firewood. The Earl of Norwich
writes, saying that he has to move about so as to get lodgings on
credit, and avoid people to whom he owes money. Colonel Borthwick,
who claims to have served the King most faithfully, complains that he
is in prison at Bruges on suspicion of disloyalty, has not changed
his clothes for three years, and is compelled by lack of cash to go
without a fire in winter. Sir James Hamilton, a gentleman-in-waiting,
gets drunk one day, and threatens to kill the Lord Chancellor. He
is starving, and declares it is Hyde's fault that the King gives
him no money. He will put on a clean shirt to be hanged in, and
not run away, being without so much as a penny. Then we have the
petition of a poor fencing-master. 'Heaven,' he writes piteously,
'hears the groans of the lowest creatures, and therefore I trust that
you, being a terrestrial deity, will not disdain my supplication.'
He had come from Cologne to Bruges to teach the royal household,
and wanted his wages, for he and his family were starving.
[Illustration: BRUGES. Maison du Pélican (Almshouse).]
Don John of Austria visited Charles at Bruges, and an allowance
from the King of Spain was promised, so that men might be levied
for the operations against Cromwell; but the payments were few
and irregular. 'The English Court,' says a letter of February,
1657, 'remains still at Bridges [Bruges], never in greater want,
nor greater expectations of money, without which all their levies
are like to be at a stand; for Englishmen cannot live on bread
alone.'
A 'Letter of Intelligence' sent from Sluis says that Charles is 'much
loocked upon, but littell respeckted.' And this is not wonderful if
the reports sent home by the Commonwealth agents are to be trusted.
One of the spies who haunted the neighbourhood of Bruges was a Mr.
Butler, who writes in the winter of 1656-1657: 'This last week
one of the richest churches in Bruges was plundered in the night.
The people of Bruges are fully persuaded that Charles Stewart's
followers have done it. They spare no pains to find out the guilty,
and if it happen to light upon any of Charles Stewart's train, it
will mightily incense that people against them.... There is now
a company of French comedians at Bruges, who are very punctually
attended by Charles Stewart and his Court, and all the ladies there.
Their most solemn day of acting is the Lord's Day. I think I may
truly say that greater abominations were never practised among
people than at this day at Charles Stewart's Court. Fornication,
drunkenness, and adultery are esteemed no sins amongst them; so I
persuade myself God will never prosper any of their attempts.'[*]
In another letter we read that once, after a hunting expedition,
Charles and a gentleman of the bedchamber were the only two who
came back sober. Sir James Turner was mad when drunk, 'and that
was pretty often,' says Bishop Burnet.
[Footnote *: Letter from Mr. J. Butler, Flushing, December 2, 1656,
Thurloe State Papers, V., 645.]
But, of course, it was the business of the spies to blacken the
character of Charles; and there can be little doubt that, in spite
of his poverty and loose morals, he was well liked by the citizens
of Bruges, who, notwithstanding a great deal of outward decorum, have
at no time been very strait-laced. 'Charles,' we learn from a local
history, 'sut se rendre populaire en prenant part aux amusements de
la population et en se pliant, sans effort comme sans affectation,
aux usages du pays.' During his whole period of exile he contrived
to amuse himself. Affairs of gallantry, dancing, tennis, billiards,
and other frivolous pursuits, occupied as much of his attention
as the grave affairs of State over which Hyde and Ormonde spent
so many anxious hours. When on a visit to Brussels in the spring
of 1657, he employed, we are told, most of his time with Don John
dancing, or at 'long paume, a Spanish play with balls filled with
wire.' And, again: 'He passes his time with shooting at Bruges,
and such other obscure pastimes.'
This 'shooting' was the favourite Flemish sport of shooting with
bow and arrows at an artificial bird fixed on a high pole, the
prize being, on great occasions, a golden bird, which was hung by a
chain of gold round the winner's neck. In the records of the Guilds
of St. George and St. Sebastian at Bruges there are notices relating
to Charles. The former was a society of cross-bowmen, the latter
of archers. On June 11, 1656, Charles and the Duke of Gloucester
were at the festival of the Society of St. George. Charles was the
first to try his skill, and managed to hit the mark. After the
Duke and many others had shot, Peter Pruyssenaere, a wine merchant
in the Rue du Vieux Bourg, brought down the bird, and Charles hung
the golden 'Bird of Honour' round his neck. On June 25 Charles
visited the Society of St. Sebastian, when Michael Noé, a gardener,
was the winner. The King and Gloucester both became members of
the St. Sebastian, which is still a flourishing society. Going
along the Rue des Carmes, the traveller passes the English convent
on the left, and on the right, at the end of the street, comes
to the Guild-house of St. Sebastian, with its slender tower and
quiet garden, one of the pleasantest spots in Bruges. There the
names of Charles and his brother are to be seen inscribed in a
small volume bound in red morocco, the 'Bird of Honour' with its
chain of gold, a silver arrow presented by the Duke of Gloucester,
and some other interesting relics. On September 15, 1843, Queen
Victoria, Prince Albert, King Leopold I., and the Queen of the
Belgians, went to the Rue des Carmes and signed their names as
members of this society, which now possesses two silver cups, presented
by the Queen of England in 1845 and 1893. The Duke of York seems
to have been successful as an archer, for in the Hôtel de Ville
at Bruges there is a picture by John van Meuninxhove, in which
Charles is seen hanging the 'Bird of Honour' round his brother's
neck.
In April, 1657, the English Government was informed that the Court
of Charles was preparing to leave Bruges. 'Yesterday' (April 7)
'some of his servants went before to Brussels to make ready lodgings
for Charles Stewart, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Gloucester.
All that have or can compass so much money go along with Charles
Stewart on Monday morning. I do admire how people live here for
want of money. Our number is not increased since my last. The most
of them are begging again for want of money; and when any straggling
persons come, we have not so much money as will take a single man
to the quarters; yet we promise ourselves great matters.' They
were hampered in all their movements by this want of hard cash,
for Charles was in debt at Bruges, and could not remove his goods
until he paid his creditors. It was sadly humiliating. 'The King,'
we read, 'will hardly live at Bruges any more, but he cannot remove
his family and goods till we get money.' The dilemma seems to have
been settled by Charles, his brothers, and most of the Court going
off to Brussels, leaving their possessions behind them. The final
move did not take place till February, 1658, and Clarendon says that
Charles never lived at Bruges after that date. He may, however, have
returned on a short visit, for Jesse, in his _Memoirs of the Court Of
England under the Stuarts_, states that the King was playing tennis
at Bruges when Sir Stephen Fox came to him with the great news, 'The
devil is dead!' This would be in September, 1658, Cromwell having
died on the third of that month. After the Restoration Charles sent
to the citizens of Bruges a letter of thanks for the way in which
they had received him. Nor did he forget, amidst the pleasures of
the Court at Whitehall, the simple pastimes of the honest burghers,
but presented to the archers of the Society of St. Sebastian the
sum of 3,600 florins, which were expended on their hall of meeting.
More than a hundred years later, when the Stuart dynasty was a thing
of the past and George III. was seated on the throne of England,
the Rue Haute saw the arrival of some travellers who were very
different from the roystering Cavaliers and frail beauties who had
made it gay in the days of the Merry Monarch. The English Jesuits
of St. Omer, when expelled from their college, came to Bruges in
August, 1762, and took up their abode in the House of the Seven
Towers, where they found 'nothing but naked walls and empty chambers.'
A miserable place it must have been. 'In one room a rough table of
planks had been set up, and the famished travellers were rejoiced
at the sight of three roast legs of mutton set on the primitive
table. Knives, forks, and plates there were none. A Flemish servant
divided the food with his pocket-knife. A farthing candle gave
a Rembrandt-like effect to the scene. The boys slept that night
on mattresses laid on the floor of one of the big empty rooms of
the house. The first days at Bruges were cheerless enough.'[*]
The religious houses, however, came to the rescue. Flemish monks
and the nuns of the English convent helped the pilgrims, and the
Jesuits soon established themselves at Bruges, where they remained
in peace for a few years, till the Austrian Government drove them
out. The same fate overtook the inmates of many monasteries and
convents at Bruges in the reign of Joseph II., whose reforming
zeal led to that revolt of the Austrian Netherlands which was the
prelude to the invasion of Flanders by the army of the French
Revolution.
[Footnote *: Robinson, _Bruges, an Historical Sketch_, p. 291.]
After the conquest of Belgium by the French it looked as if all
the churches in Bruges were doomed. The Chapel of St. Basil was
laid in ruins. The Church of St. Donatian, which had stood since
the days of Baldwin Bras-de-Fer, was pulled down and disappeared
entirely. Notre Dame, St. Sauveur, and other places of worship,
narrowly escaped destruction; and it was not till the middle of
the nineteenth century that the town recovered, in some measure,
from these disasters.
Bruges has doubtless shared in the general prosperity which has
spread over the country since Belgium became an independent kingdom
after the revolution of 1830, but its progress has been slow. It
has never lost its old-world associations; and the names of the
streets and squares, and the traditions connected with numberless
houses which a stranger might pass without notice, are all so many
links with the past. There is the Rue Espagnole, for example, where
a vegetable market is held every Wednesday. This was the quarter
where the Spanish merchants lived and did their business. There
used to be a tall, dark, and, in fact, very dirty-looking old house
in this street known by the Spanish name of the 'Casa Negra.' It
was pulled down a few years ago; but lower down, at the foot of
the street, the great cellars in which the Spaniards stored their
goods remain; and on the Quai Espagnol was the Spanish Consulate,
now a large dwelling-house. A few steps from the Quai Espagnol is
the Place des Orientaux (Oosterlingen Plaats), where a minaret of
tawny brick rises above the gables of what was once the Consulate
of Smyrna, and on the north side of which, in the brave days of
old, stood the splendid Maison des Orientaux, the headquarters
of the Hanseatic League in Bruges, the finest house in Flanders,
with turrets and soaring spire, and marvellous façade, and rooms
inside all ablaze with gilding. The glory has departed; two modern
dwelling-houses have taken the place of this commercial palace;
but it must surely be a very dull imagination on which the sight
of this spot, now so tranquil and commonplace, but once the centre
of such important transactions, makes no impression. From the Place
des Orientaux it is only a few minutes' stroll to the Rue Cour
de Gand and the dark brown wooden front of the small house, now
a lace shop, which tradition says was one of Memlinc's homes in
Bruges, where we can fancy him, laboriously and with loving care,
putting the last minute touches to some immortal painting.
Then there is the Rue Anglaise, off the Quai Spinola, where the
English Merchant Adventurers met to discuss their affairs in houses
with such names as 'Old England' or 'The Tower of London.' The
head of the colony, 'Governor of the English Nation beyond the
Seas' they called him, was a very busy man 400 years ago.[*] The
Scottish merchants were settled in the same district, close to
the Church of Ste. Walburge. They called their house 'Scotland,'
and doubtless made as good bargains as the 'auld enemy' in the
next street. There is a building called the Parijssche Halle, or
Halle de Paris, hidden away among the houses to the west of the
Market-Place, with a café and a theatre where Flemish plays are acted
now, which was formerly the Consulate of France; and subscription
balls and amateur theatricals are given by the English residents of
to-day in the fourteenth-century house of the Genoese merchants
in the Rue Flamande. The list of streets and houses with old-time
associations like these might be extended indefinitely, for in
Bruges the past is ever present.
[Footnote *: In the _Flandria Illustrata_ of Sanderus, vol. i.,
p. 275, there is a picture of the 'Domus Anglorum.']
[Illustration: BRUGES. Vegetable Market.]
Even the flat-fronted, plain houses with which poverty or the bad
taste of the last century replaced many of the older buildings
do not spoil the picturesque appearance of the town as a whole,
because it is no larger now than it was 600 years ago, and these
modern structures are quite lost amongst their venerable neighbours.
Thus Bruges retains its mediæval character. In the midst, however,
of all this wealth of architectural beauty and historical interest,
the atmosphere of common everyday life seems to be so very dull and
depressing that people living there are apt to be driven, by sheer
boredom, into spending their lives in a round of small excitements
and incessant, wearisome gossip, and into taking far more interest
in the paltry squabbles of their neighbours over some storm in
a teacup than in the more important topics which invigorate the
minds of men and women in healthier and broader societies. Long
before Rodenbach's romance was written this peculiarity of Bruges
was proverbial throughout Belgium.
But it is possible that a change is at hand, and that Bruges may
once again become, not the Venice of the North--the time for that is
past--but an important town, for the spirit of commercial enterprise
which has done so much for other parts of Belgium during the last
seventy-five years is now invading even this quiet place, whose
citizens have begun to dream of recovering some portion of their
former prosperity. In 1895 the Belgian Parliament passed a law
providing for the construction, between Blankenberghe and Heyst,
of a harbour connected with Bruges by a canal of large dimensions,
and of an inner port at the town. The works at See-Brugge, as the
outer port is called, are nearly completed, and will allow vessels
drawing 26-1/2 feet of water to float at any state of the tide.
The jetty describes a large curve, and the bend is such that its
extremity is parallel to the coast, and 930 yards distant from
the low-water mark. The sheltered roadstead is about 272 acres in
extent, and communication is made with the canal by a lock 66 feet
wide and 282 yards in length. From this point the canal, which has a
depth of 26-1/2 feet and is fed by sea-water, runs in a straight
line to Bruges, and ends at the inner port, which is within a few
hundred yards of where the Roya used to meet the Zwijn. It is capable
of affording a minimum capacity of 1,000,000 tons per annum, and
the whole equipment has been fitted up necessary for dealing with
this amount of traffic.
The first ship, an English steamer, entered the new port at Bruges
on the morning of May 29 in the present year (1905). The carillon
rung from the Belfry, guns were fired, and a ceremony in honour
of the event took place in the Hôtel de Ville. It now remains to
be seen whether any part of the trade which was lost 400 years ago
can be recovered by the skill of modern engineers and the resources
of modern capital.
THE PLAIN OF WEST FLANDERS--YPRES