COXYDE--THE SCENERY OF THE DUNES
The whole of the coast-line is within the province of West Flanders,
and its development in recent years is the most striking fact in
the modern history of the part of Belgium with which this volume
deals. The change which has taken place on the littoral during the
last fifteen or twenty years is extraordinary, and the contrast
between the old Flanders and the new, between the Flanders which
lingers in the past and the Flanders which marches with the times,
is brought vividly before us by the difference between such mediæval
towns as Bruges, Furnes, or Nieuport, and the bright new places
which glitter on the sandy shores of the Flemish coast. But in
almost every corner of the dunes, close to these signs of modern
progress, there is something to remind us of that past history
which is, after all, the great charm of Flanders.
One of the most characteristic spots in the land of the dunes is
the village of Coxyde, which lies low amongst the sandhills, about
five miles west from Nieuport, out of sight of the sea, but inhabited
by a race of fisherfolk who, curiously enough, pursue their calling
on horseback. Mounted on their little horses, and carrying baskets
and nets fastened to long poles, they go into the sea to catch
small fish and shrimps. It is strange to see them riding about
in the water, sometimes in bands, but more frequently alone or in
pairs; and this curious custom, which has been handed down from
father to son for generations, is peculiar to the part of the coast
which lies between La Panne and the borders of France.
Near Coxyde, and at the corner where the road from Furnes turns
in the direction of La Panne, is a piece of waste ground which
travellers on the Vicinal railway pass without notice. But here
once stood the famous Abbey of the Dunes.
[Illustration: COXYDE. A Shrimper on Horseback.]
In the first years of the twelfth century a pious hermit named
Lyger took up his abode in these solitary regions, built a dwelling
for himself, and settled down to spend his life in doing good works
and in the practice of religion. Soon, as others gathered round
him, his dwelling grew into a monastery, and at last, in the year
1122, the Abbey of the Dunes was founded. It was nearly half a
century before the great building, which is said to have been the
first structure of such a size built of brick in Flanders, was
completed; but when at last the work was done the Abbey was, by all
accounts, one of the most magnificent religious houses in Flanders,
consisting of a group of buildings with no less than 105 windows,
a rich and splendid church, so famous for its ornamental woodwork
that the carvings of the stalls were reproduced in the distant
Abbey of Melrose in Scotland, and a library which, as time went
on, became a storehouse of precious manuscripts and hundreds of
those wonderfully illustrated missals on which the monks of the
Middle Ages spent so many laborious hours. We can imagine them
in the cells of Coxyde copying and copying for hours together,
or bending over the exquisitely coloured drawings which are still
preserved in the museums of Flanders.
But their most useful work was done on the lands which lay round
the Abbey. There were at Coxyde in the thirteenth century no fewer
than 150 monks and 248 converts engaged at one time in cultivating
the soil.[*] They drained the marshes, and planted seeds where
seeds would grow, until, after years of hard labour on the barren
ground, the Abbey of the Dunes was surrounded by wide fields which
had been reclaimed and turned into a fertile oasis in the midst
of that savage and inhospitable desert.
[Footnote *: Derode, _Histoire Religieuse de la Flandre Maritime_,
p.86.]
When St. Bernard was preaching the Crusade in Flanders he came to
Coxyde. On his advice the monks adopted the Order of the Cistercians,
and their first abbot under the new rule afterwards sat in the
chair of St. Bernard himself as Abbot of Clairvaux. Thereafter
the Cistercian Abbey of the Dunes grew in fame, especially under
the rule of St. Idesbaldus, who had come there from Furnes, where
he had been a Canon of the Church of Ste. Walburge. 'It has also a
special interest for English folk. It long held lands in the isle
of Sheppey, as well as the advowson of the church of Eastchurch,
in the same island. These were bestowed on it by Richard the
Lion-Hearted. The legend says that these gifts were made to reward
its sixth abbot, Elias, for the help he gave in releasing Richard
from captivity. Anyhow, Royal charters, and dues from the Archbishop
of Canterbury, and a Bull of Pope Celestine III., confirmed the
Abbey in its English possessions and privileges. The Abbey seems
to have derived little benefit from these, and finally, by decision
of a general congregation of the Cistercian Order, handed them over
to the Abbot and Chapter of Bexley, to recoup the latter for the
cost of entertaining monks of the Order going abroad, or returning
from the Continent, on business of the Order.'[*]
[Footnote *: Robinson, _Bruges, an Historical Sketch_, p. 176.]
[Illustration: COXYDE. A Shrimper.]
The English invasion of the fifteenth century destroyed the work
of the monks in their fields and gardens, but the Abbey itself
was spared; and the great disaster did not come until a century
later, when the image-breakers, who had begun their work amongst the
Gothic arches of Antwerp, spread over West Flanders, and descended
upon Coxyde. The Abbey was attacked, and the monks fled to Bruges,
carrying with them many of their treasures, which are still to
be seen in the collection on the Quai de la Poterie, beyond the
bridge which is called the Pont des Dunes. The noble building,
so long the home of so much piety and learning, and from which so
many generations of apostles had gone forth to toil in the fields
and minister to the poor, was abandoned, and allowed to fall into
ruins, until at last it gradually sunk into complete decay, and was
buried beneath the sands. Not a trace of it now remains. History
has few more piteous sermons to preach on the vanity of all the
works of men.
The fishermen on the coast of Flanders have, from remote times,
paid their vows in the hour of danger to Notre Dame de Lombaerdzyde.
If they escape from some wild storm they go on a pilgrimage of
thanksgiving. They walk in perfect silence along the road to the
shrine, for not a word must be spoken till they reach it; and these
hardy seafaring men may be seen kneeling at the altar of the old,
weather-beaten church which stands on the south side of the highway
through the village, and in which are wooden models of ships hung
up as votive offerings before an image of the Virgin, which is
the object of peculiar veneration. The Madonna of Lombaerdzyde
did not prevail to keep the sea from invading the village at the
time when the inhabitants were driven to Nieuport, but the belief
in her miraculous power is as strong to-day as it was in the Dark
Ages.
[Illustration: ADINKERQUE. Village and Canal.]
There is a view of Lombaerdzyde which no one strolling on the dunes
near Nieuport should fail to see--a perfect picture, as typical
of the scenery in these parts as any landscape chosen by Hobbema
or Ruysdael. A causeway running straight between two lofty dunes
of bare sand, and bordered by stunted trees, forms a long vista at
the end of which Lombaerdzyde appears--a group of red-roofed houses,
with narrow gables and white walls, and in the middle the pointed
spire of the church, beyond which the level plain of Flanders,
dotted with other villages and churches and trees in formal rows,
stretches away into the distance until it merges in the horizon.
Adinkerque, a picturesque village beyond Furnes, is another place
which calls to mind many a picture of the Flemish artists in the
Musée of Antwerp and the Mauritshuis at The Hague; and the recesses
of the dune country in which these places are hidden has a wonderful
fascination about it--the irregular outlines of the dunes, some
high and some low, sinking here into deep hollows of firm sand,
and rising there into strange fantastic shapes, sometimes with
sides like small precipices on which nothing can grow, and sometimes
sloping gently downwards and covered with trembling poplars, spread
in confusion on every side. Often near the shore the sandy barrier
has been broken down by the wind or by the waves, and a long gulley
formed, which cuts deep into the dunes, and through which the sand
drifts inland till it reaches a steep bank clothed with rushes,
against which it heaps itself, and so, rising higher with the storms
of each winter, forms another dune. This process has been going
on for ages. The sands are for ever shifting, but moss begins to
grow in sheltered spots; such wild flowers as can flourish there
bloom and decay; the poplars shed their leaves, and nourish by
imperceptible degrees the fibres of the moss; some hardy grasses
take root; and at length a scanty greensward appears. By such means
slowly, in the microcosm of the dunes, have been evolved out of
the changing sands places fit for men to live in, until now along
the strip which guards the coast of Flanders there are green glades
gay with flowers, and shady dells, and gardens sheltered from the
wind, plots of pasture-land, cottages and churches which seem to
grow out of the landscape, their colouring so harmonizes with the
colouring which surrounds them. And ever, close at hand, the sea is
rolling in and falling on the shore. 'Come unto these yellow sands,'
and when the sun is going down, casting a long bar of burnished
gold across the water, against which, perhaps, the sail of some
boat looms dark for a moment and then passes on, the sky glows
in such a lovely, tender light that those who watch it must needs
linger till the twilight is fading away before they turn their faces
inland. There are few evenings for beauty like a summer evening
on the shores of Flanders.
INDEX
Abbey of the Dunes; of Melrose
Adinkerque
'Adoration of the Immaculate Lamb'
Albert, Archduke, portrait at Furnes; at the Battle of the Dunes,
marries the Infanta Isabella; character of; wounded
Albert, Prince, at Bruges
Ancona, Bishop of
André, St., village of
Âne Aveugle, Rue de l'
Angelo, Michael
Anglaises, Couvent des Dames
Antwerp, Cathedral of
Arschot, Duc d'
Artevelde, Jacques van
Artevelde, Philip van
Artois, Comte d'
Augustinian Nuns
Baldwin, Bras-de-Fer, real founder of Bruges; defends Flanders;
marries Judith; builds Church of St. Donatian
Baldwin, King of Jerusalem
Baldwin of Constantinople
Baldwin VII.
Bannockburn
Bardi, money-changers at Bruges
Bassin de Commerce at Bruges
Battle of the Dunes _et seq._
Battle of the Golden Spurs _et seq._
Béguinage at Bruges; grove of
Béhuchet, Nicholas
Belfry of Bruges
Belgian Parliament passes law for harbour near Heyst
Berlaimont, Comte Florent de
Bernard, St., of Clairvaux
Bertulf, Provost of St. Donatian
Bexley
Bicycles, import duty on 'Bird of Honour'
Blankenberghe, new harbour near; English fleet at, in 1340
Boniface VIII.
Bouchoute, Hôtel de
Borthwick, Colonel
Boterbeke
Bourg, Place du, at Bruges
Brangwyn, William
Breidel, John
Breskens
Bristol, Earl of, at Bruges
Bruges, described by John of Ypres; origin of name; primitive
township of; boundaries in early times; Market-Place; Halles; early
trade; the Loove at; growth of; capital of West Flanders; Baldwin
Bras-de-Fer its real founder; Place du Bourg; murder of Charles the
Good; Joanna of Navarre at; death of Marie, wife of Maximilian; Hôtel
de Ville; Customs House; Oriental appearance in Middle Ages; produce
sent to, in Middle Ages; Hanseatic League at; Consulates at;
splendour of, in Middle Ages; under the House of Burgundy; loss of
trade; pauperism; Charles II. at _et seq._; list of Charles II.'s
household at; death of Catherine of Braganza at; fate of Church at
French Revolution; Napoleon at; state of, since Revolution of 1830;
English Jesuits at; Queen Victoria at; relic of Holy Blood at
_et seq._; Procession of the Holy Blood _et seq._; relic of the
Holy Cross
Bruges Matins
Brussels, Charles II. at; Church of Ste. Gudule; Hôtel de Ville
Burchard
Burgundy, Charles, Duke of
Burgundy, House of
Burnet, Bishop
Butler, Mr. J.
Caine, Mr. Hall
'Cairless,' Mr.
Capucins, Chapel of, at Furnes
Casa Negra
Cathedral of Antwerp
Cathedral of St. Martin at Ypres
Cathedral of St. Sauveur at Bruges
Catherine of Braganza
Celestine III.
Chapel of the Capucins at Furnes
Chapelle du Saint-Sang (St. Basil's) at Bruges
Charlemagne
Charles II. of England at Bruges _et seq._
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bold
Charles the Good
Charles V.
Charles VI.
Châtillon, Jacques de
Chemins-de-fer Vicinaux
Church of Jerusalem at Bruges
Church of Notre Dame at Bruges
Church of St. Donatian at Bruges
Church of Ste. Walburge
Cistercians
Clairvaux
Clauwerts
Clement V.
Clement VII.
Cologne
Comte de la Hanse
Congress of Vienna
Coninck, Peter de
Consulate of France; of Spain; of Smyrna
Coolkerke
Courtrai
Couvent des Dames Anglaises
Coxyde
Cranenberg
Crecy, Battle of
Cromwell
Customs House at Bruges
Dalgetty, Dugald
Damme _et seq._; population of; Röles de; harbour blocked up
Dampierre, Guy de
David, Gerard
Deprysenaere, Jean of Ypres
_Digues de mer_, construction of
Donatian, Church of St., built by Baldwin Bras-de-Fer; Bertulf,
Provost of; site of; murder of Charles the Good in; destroyed
Don John of Austria
Dordrecht
Duinbergen
Dunes, Battle of the; scenery of _et seq._
Dyver, the, at Bruges
Edward III.
Edward IV.
Egmont, Count
Elias, sixth Abbot of Coxyde
English Merchant Adventurers
Erembalds _et seq._; feud with Straetens; destruction of Ethelbald
Ethelwulf, husband of Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald Evendyck
Eyck, van, elder and younger
Flanders, state of, in early times; invaded by Normans; origin of title
'Count of'; defended by Baldwin Bras-de-Fer; allied to England;
neutrality of, in 1340 and 1830; invaded by French; plain of _et seq._;
ignorance of country people in; smuggling between France and; annexed
to France; invaded by English; causes of disunion in; ceded to the
Infanta Isabella; contrast between different parts of; coast of _et seq._
Flotte, Pierre, Chancellor of France
Flushing
Fox, Sir Stephen
France, Flanders annexed to
France, Palais du
French Consulate at Bruges
Furnes; procession of penitents at; Church of Ste. Walburge; Hôtel de
Ville and Palais de Justice; Church of St. Nicholas; Corps de Garde
Espagnol and Pavillon des Officiers Espagnols
Gand, Porte de
Gardiner, Dr., quoted
Gauthier de Sapignies
Genoese merchants, house of, at Bruges
George III.
Germany, emigrations from Flanders to Ghent
Ghiselhuis
Gilliat-Smith, author of _The Story of Bruges_
Gloucester, Henry, Duke of _et seq._
Godshuisen
Golden Fleece, Order of the
Golden Spurs, Battle of the
Golf in Belgium
'Governor of the English Colony beyond the Seas'
Grande Dame of Béguinage
Grande Salle des Echevins at Bruges
Great storm of thirteenth century
Gruthuise
Guildhouse of St. Sebastian at Bruges
Gustavus Adolphus
Guy de Dampierre
Haecke, Canon van
Halle de Drapiers at Ypres
Halle de Paris at Bruges
Halles at Bruges
Hamilton, Sir James
Hanseatic League
Het Paradijs
Heyst
Hobbema
Hogarth
Holland, Béguinages in
Holy Blood, relic and chapel of, at Bruges; Procession of the
Holy Cross, relic of
Holy Sepulchre, Church of, at Jerusalem
Hoogenblekker
Horn, Count
Hôtel de Bouchoute at Bruges
Hôtel de Ville at Bruges; at Furnes
House of the Seven Towers
Hyde (Lord Clarendon)
Idesbaldus, St.
Inquisition in Flanders
Isabella, the Infanta
Jerusalem, Baldwin, King of
Jerusalem, Church of, at Bruges
Jesse, _Memoirs of the Court of England_
Jesuits at Bruges
Joanna of Navarre
John of Ypres
Joseph II.
Joseph of Arimathæa
Judith, wife of Baldwin Bras-de-Fer
Justice, Palais du, at Bruges; at Furnes
Kadzand
Kermesse
King, Thomas Harper
Knights of the Golden Fleece
Knocke
Lac d'Amour
La Panne
Le Coq
_Legend of Montrose_
Lejeusne, Mathurin
Leliarts
Leonius
Leopold I.
Leopold II.
Lilly the astrologer
Lincoln, Bishop of
Lombaerdzyde
Longfellow, quoted
Loove, the, at Bruges
Louis of Maele
Louis of Nevers
Louis XIV.
Louvain
Luxembourg
Lyger
Maele, Louis of
Maison des Orientaux
Mannaert
Marbriers, Quai des
Mariakerke
Maria Theresa
Market-Place of Bruges
Mary, 'The Gentle'
Matins of Bruges
Maurice of Nassau
Mauritshuis at The Hague
Maximilian, Archduke
Mazarin
Melrose Abbey
Memlinc
Meuninxhove, John van
Michael Angelo
Middelkerke
Minnewater
Miracles wrought by the Holy Blood at Bruges
Morgarten
Mother Superior of Béguinage
Murray, Sir Robert
Napoleon at Bruges; return from Elba; canal to Sluis
constructed by
Navarre, Joanna of
Neutrality of Flanders in 1340 and 1830
Nevers, Louis of
Nicholas I., Pope
Nicholas, Sir Edward
Nieuport; origin of; besieged by Prince Maurice; fallen state of
Nieuport-Bains
'Nieuwerck,' at Ypres
Nimeguen, Treaty of
Nivelles
Noé, Michael
Normans in Flanders
Norwich, Earl of
Notre Dame, Church of, at Bruges
Notre Dame de Lombaerdzyde
Notre Dame de Thuine
'Old England' at Bruges
Oosterlingen Plaats
Oostkerke
Orientaux, Maison des; Place des
Ormonde
Osburga
Ostend, growth of
Otlet, M. Paul _note_
Ouden Burg
Palais de Justice, at Bruges; at Furnes
Palais du Franc
Paradijs, Het
Parijssche Halle
Paris
Parma, Duke of, in Flanders
Pauperism of Bruges
Philip II. cedes Spanish Netherlands to his daughter
Philip III.
Philip of Valois
Philip the Fair
Place des Orientaux
Place du Bourg
Pont des Dunes
Pope Clement V.; VII.; Boniface VIII.; Celestine III.; Urban VI.
Poperinghe
Porte de Damme
Porte de Gand
Porte Ste. Croix
Procession of the Holy Blood at Bruges _et seq._; of Penitents at Furnes
Pruyssenaere, Peter
Quai Espagnol; Long; des Marbriers; du Miroir; de la Potterie; du Rosaire;
Spinola; Vert
Rastadt, Treaty of
Richard I.
Robinson, Mr. Wilfrid, author of _Bruges, an Historical Sketch_
Rochester, Earl of
Rodenbach
Röles de Damme
Rome, flight of Baldwin and Judith to
Roosebeke, Battle of
Rosaire, Quai du
Roulers
Route Royale
Roya
Rue Anglaise, in Bruges; de l'Âne Aveugle; des Carmes; Cour de Gand;
Espagnole; Flamande; Haute; Neuve; du Vieux Bourg Ruysdael
Santhoven
Scarphout
'Schielt ende Vriendt'
Schomberg
Schoutteeten
'Scotland,' at Bruges
Scottish merchants at Bruges
Scott, Sir Walter
See-Brugge
Senlis
Sheppey, Isle of
Sluis
Smith, Gilliat-
Smet de Naeyer, Comte
Smyrna, Consulate of, at Bruges
Spaniards, at Bruges; at Furnes
Spanish Inquisition
Spencer, Henry, Bishop of Norwich
St. André, Village of
St. Basil, Church of
St. Bavon
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Donatian, Church of
St. George, Society of
St. Idesbaldus
St. John, Hospital of
St. Martin, Church of, at Furnes
St. Nicholas, Church of, at Furnes
St. Omer, Jesuits of
St. Peter's, at Ghent
St. Sauveur, Church of
St. Sebastian, Society of, at Bruges; at Ypres
Ste. Elizabeth, Church of
Ste. Gudule, Church of
Ste. Monica, Church of
Ste. Walburge, Church of, at Bruges; at Furnes
Straetens
Stübben, Herr
Swift, Dean
Sybilla, wife of Thierry d'Alsace
Sydenham, Colonel
Syria
Tarah, Viscount
'Ter Streep'
Thierry d'Alsace _et seq._
'Thuindag'
Thurloe State papers
Titelman the Inquisitor
Torquemada
Tournai
'Tower of London' at Bruges
Turner, Sir James
Valois, Philip of
Van Eyck
Vauban, fortifies Ypres
Verhaeren, M., Belgian poet
Vienna, Congress of
Vieux Bourg, Rue du
Virgin and Child, Statue of, at Bruges
Urban VI.
Victoria, Queen, at Bruges
Walburge, Ste., Church of, at Bruges; at Furnes
Walcheren
Waterloo, Battle of
Weavers, Guild of
Wenduyne
Westcapelle
Westende, village; Plage
William, Bishop of Ancona
York, Duke of, at Bruges _et seq._
Ypres; field preaching near; churches sacked; taken by Parma; by the
Protestants; Place du Musée; besieged by Louis XIV.; fortified by
Vauban; ceded to France; described by Vauban in 1689; taken by the
French in 1794; during the Hundred Days; end of military history;
Grand Place and Cloth Hall; monopoly of weaving linen; manages with
Bruges the Hanseatic League in Flanders; the Nieuwerck; riots at;
siege of, by English _et seq._; John of Ypres describes early Bruges
Yser
Zwijn
Zuyder Zee