CITIES OF BELGIUM
=G r a n t A l l e n ’ s H i s t o r i c a l G u i d e s=
Fcap. 8vo, green cloth, with rounded corners to
slip in the pocket, price 3s. 6d. net each.
I. P A R I S. By GRANT ALLEN
(_Second Edition_).
II. F L O R E N C E. By GRANT ALLEN
(_Second Edition_).
III. T H E C I T I E S O F B E L G I U M.
By GRANT ALLEN (_Second Edition_).
IV. V E N I C E. By GRANT ALLEN.
V. T H E C I T I E S O F N O R T H E R N
I T A L Y. By GEO. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.
VI. T H E U M B R I A N T O W N S. By
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. CRUICKSHANK.
LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS
48 LEICESTER SQUARE
GRANT ALLEN’S HISTORICAL
GUIDES
=CITIES OF BELGIUM=
BY GRANT ALLEN
[Illustration]
LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS
48 LEICESTER SQUARE
BUTLER & TANNER,
THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS,
FROME, AND LONDON.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
RECENT alterations, especially in the Brussels Gallery, make a new
edition of this book imperative, and, as I had been with my father
during its inception, I have undertaken such revision as is necessary.
In the main, however, my work has been merely mechanical, and the guide
remains substantially identical in detail with that originally published
in 1897.
Since that date it has been remarked in more than one quarter that many
interesting towns and objects have been omitted. I can only reply that
it would be impossible to deal exhaustively with a country so rich in
historical and artistic interest as Belgium in a single volume of this
size, and that my father only professed to point out such sights in the
chief towns as seemed to him most worthy of interest.
To alter even slightly the work of an author (especially when, as in
this case, that author is powerless to object) is a task to be
approached with the utmost diffidence, and I can only trust that those
who use this book will impute all blame for any errors or omissions
wholly to me, rather than to one who is beyond the reach of criticism.
JERRARD GRANT ALLEN.
July, 1902.
INTRODUCTION
THE object and plan of these Historical Handbooks is somewhat
different from that of any other guides at present before the public.
They do not compete or clash with such existing works; they are rather
intended to supplement than to supplant them. My purpose is not to
direct the stranger through the streets and squares of an unknown town
towards the buildings or sights which he may desire to visit; still less
is it my design to give him practical information about hotels, cab
fares, omnibuses, tramways, and other every-day material conveniences.
For such details, the traveller must still have recourse to the trusty
pages of his Baedeker, his Joanne, or his Murray. I desire rather to
supply the tourist who wishes to use his travel as a means of culture
with such historical and antiquarian information as will enable him to
understand, and therefore to enjoy, the architecture, sculpture,
painting, and minor arts of the towns he visits. In one word, it is my
object to give the reader in a very compendious form the result of all
those inquiries which have naturally suggested themselves to my own mind
during thirty-five years of foreign travel, the solution of which has
cost myself a good deal of research, thought, and labour, beyond the
facts which I could find in the ordinary handbooks.
For several years past I have devoted myself to collecting and arranging
material for a set of books to embody the idea I had thus entertained. I
earnestly hope they may meet a want on the part of tourists, especially
Americans, who, so far as my experience goes, usually come to Europe
with an honest and reverent desire to learn from the Old World whatever
of value it has to teach them, and who are prepared to take an amount of
pains in turning their trip to good account which is both rare and
praiseworthy. For such readers I shall call attention at times to other
sources of information.
These guide-books will deal more particularly with the Great Towns where
objects of art and antiquity are numerous. In every one of them, the
general plan pursued will be somewhat as follows. First will come the
inquiry why a town ever gathered together at all at that particular
spot—what induced the aggregation of human beings rather there than
elsewhere. Next, we shall consider why that town grew to social or
political importance and what were the stages by which it assumed its
present shape. Thirdly, we shall ask why it gave rise to that higher
form of handicraft which we know as Art, and towards what particular
arts it especially gravitated. After that, we shall take in detail the
various strata of its growth or development, examining the buildings and
works of art which they contain in historical order, and, as far as
possible, tracing the causes which led to their evolution. In
particular, we shall lay stress upon the origin and meaning of each
structure as an organic whole, and upon the allusions or symbols which
its fabric embodies.
A single instance will show the method upon which I intend to proceed
better than any amount of general description. A church, as a rule, is
built over the body or relics of a particular saint, in whose special
honour it was originally erected. That saint was usually one of great
local importance at the moment of its erection, or was peculiarly
implored against plague, foreign enemies, or some other pressing and
dreaded misfortune. In dealing with such a church, then, I endeavour to
show what were the circumstances which led to its erection, and what
memorials of these circumstances it still retains. In other cases it may
derive its origin from some special monastic body—Benedictine,
Dominican, Franciscan—and may therefore be full of the peculiar
symbolism and historical allusion of the order who founded it. Wherever
I have to deal with such a church, I try as far as possible to exhibit
the effect which its origin had upon its architecture and decoration; to
trace the image of the patron saint in sculpture or stained glass
throughout the fabric; and to set forth the connection of the whole
design with time and place, with order and purpose. In short, instead of
looking upon monuments of the sort mainly as the product of this or that
architect, I look upon them rather as material embodiments of the spirit
of the age—crystallizations, as it were, in stone and bronze, in form
and colour, of great popular enthusiasms.
By thus concentrating attention on what is essential and important in a
town, I hope to give in a comparatively short space, though with
inevitable conciseness, a fuller account than is usually given of the
chief architectural and monumental works of the principal art-cities. In
dealing with Paris, for example, I shall have little to say about such
modern constructions as the Champs Élysées or the Eiffel Tower; still
less, of course, about the Morgue, the Catacombs, the waxworks of the
Musée Grévin, and the celebrated Excursion in the Paris Sewers. The
space thus saved from vulgar wonders I shall hope to devote to fuller
explanation of Notre-Dame and the Sainte Chapelle, of the mediæval
carvings or tapestries of Cluny, and of the pictures or sculptures in
the galleries of the Louvre. Similarly in Florence, whatever I save from
description of the Cascine and even of the beautiful Viale dei Colli
(where explanation is needless and word-painting superfluous), I shall
give up to the Bargello, the Uffizi, and the Pitti Palace. The passing
life of the moment does not enter into my plan; I regard each town I
endeavour to illustrate mainly as a museum of its own history.
For this reason, too, I shall devote most attention in every case to
what is locally illustrative, and less to what is merely adventitious
and foreign. In Paris, for instance, I shall have more to say about
truly Parisian art and history, as embodied in St. Denis, the Île de la
Cité, and the shrine of Ste. Geneviève, than about the Egyptian and
Assyrian collections of the Louvre. In Florence, again, I shall deal
rather with the Etruscan remains, with Giotto and Fra Angelico, with the
Duomo and the Campanile, than with the admirable Memlincks and Rubenses
of the Uffizi and the Pitti, or with the beautiful Van der Goes of the
Hospital of Santa Maria. In Bruges and Brussels, once more, I shall be
especially Flemish; in the Rhine towns, Rhenish; in Venice, Venetian. I
shall assign a due amount of space, indeed, to the foreign collections,
but I shall call attention chiefly to those monuments or objects which
are of entirely local and typical value.
As regards the character of the information given, it will be mainly
historical, antiquarian, and, above all, explanatory. I am not a
connoisseur—an adept in the difficult modern science of distinguishing
the handicraft of various masters, in painting or sculpture, by minute
signs and delicate inferential processes. In such matters, I shall be
well content to follow the lead of the most authoritative experts. Nor
am I an art-critic—a student versed in the technique of the studios and
the dialect of the modelling-room. In such matters, again, I shall
attempt little more than to accept the general opinion of the most
discriminative judges. What I aim at rather is to expound the history
and meaning of each work—to put the intelligent reader in such a
position that he may judge for himself of the æsthetic beauty and
success of the object before him. To recognise the fact that this is a
Perseus and Andromeda, that a St. Barbara enthroned, the other an
obscure episode in the legend of St. Philip, is not art-criticism, but
it is often an almost indispensable prelude to the formation of a right
and sound judgment. We must know what the artist was trying to represent
before we can feel sure what measure of success he has attained in his
representation.
For the general study of Christian art, alike in architecture,
sculpture, and painting, no treatises are more useful for the tourist to
carry with him for constant reference than Mrs. Jameson’s _Sacred and
Legendary Art_, and _Legends of the Madonna_ (London, Longmans). For
works of Italian art, both in Italy and elsewhere, Kugler’s _Italian
Schools of Painting_ is an invaluable _vade-mecum_. These books should
be carried about by everybody everywhere. Other works of special and
local importance will occasionally be noticed under each particular
city, church, or museum.
I cannot venture to hope that handbooks containing such a mass of facts
as these will be wholly free from errors and misstatements, above all in
early editions. I can only beg those who may detect any such to point
them out, without unnecessary harshness, to the author, care of the
publisher, and if possible to assign reasons for any dissentient
opinion.
GRANT ALLEN
C O N T E N T S
PAGE
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 5
INTRODUCTION 6
HOW TO USE THESE GUIDE-BOOKS 12
ORIGINS OF THE BELGIAN TOWNS 13
ORDER OF THE TOUR 20
I BRUGES—
_A._ Origins of Bruges 22
_B._ The Heart of the City 25
_C._ The Hospital of St. John 35
_D._ The Town in General 45
_E._ The Churches 49
_F._ The Academy 59
II GHENT—
_A._ Origins of Ghent 66
_B._ The Core of Ghent 69
_C._ The Cathedral 77
_D._ The Outskirts 90
III BRUSSELS—
_A._ Origins of Brussels 98
_B._ The Heart of Brussels 100
_C._ The Picture Gallery 105
_D._ The Cathedral 138
_E._ The Upper Town 145
_F._ Surroundings 156
IV ANTWERP—
_A._ Origins of Antwerp 164
_B._ The Cathedral 168
_C._ The Picture Gallery 176
_D._ The Town in General 205
V HISTORICAL NOTES 217
INDEX 229
HOW TO USE THESE GUIDEBOOKS
_T__HE portions of this book intended to be read at leisure_ =at
home=, _before proceeding to explore each town or monument, are enclosed
in brackets [thus]. The portion relating to each_ =principal object=
_should be quietly read and digested_ =before= _a visit, and referred to
again afterwards. The portion to be read_ =on the spot= _is made as
brief as possible, and is printed in large legible type, so as to be
easily read in the dim light of churches, chapels, and galleries. The_
=key-note words= _are printed in_ =bold type=, _to catch the eye. Where
objects are numbered, the numbers used are always those of the latest
official catalogues._
_Baedeker’s Guides are so printed that each principal portion can be
detached entire from the volume. The traveller who uses Baedeker is
advised to carry in his pocket one such portion, referring to the place
he is then visiting, together with the plan of the town, while carrying
this book in his hand. These Guides do_ =not= _profess to supply
practical information_.
_Individual works of merit are distinguished by an asterisk (*); those
of very exceptional interest and merit have two asterisks._ =Nothing=
_is noticed in this book which does not seem to the writer worthy of
attention_.
_See little at a time, and see it thoroughly._ =Never= _attempt to “do”
any place or any monument. By following strictly the order in which
objects are noticed in this book, you will gain a conception of the_
=historical evolution= _of the town which you cannot obtain if you go
about looking at churches and palaces hap-hazard. The order is arranged,
not quite chronologically, but on a definite_ =plan=, _which greatly
facilitates comprehension of the subject_.
ORIGINS OF THE BELGIAN TOWNS
THE somewhat heterogeneous country which we now call =Belgium= formed
=part of Gaul= under the Roman Empire. But though rich and commercial
even then, it seems to have been relatively little Romanised; and in the
beginning of the 5th century it was overrun by the =Salic Franks=, on
their way towards Laon, Soissons, and Paris. When civilization began to
creep northward again in the 9th century through the districts
barbarised by the Teutonic invasion, it was the Frankish =Charlemagne=
(Karl the Great) who introduced Roman arts afresh into the Upper and
Lower Rhinelands. The Rhine from Basle to Cologne was naturally the
region most influenced by this new Roman revival; but as Charlemagne had
his chief seat at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), near the modern Belgian
frontier, the western Frankish provinces were also included in the
sphere of his improvements. When the kingdom of the Franks began to
divide more or less definitely into the Empire and France, the Flemish
region formed nominally part of the Neustrian and, later, of the French
dominions. From a very early date, however, it was practically almost
independent, and it became so even in name during its later stages. But
Brabant (with Brussels) remained a portion of the Empire.
The =Rhine= constituted the great central waterway of mediæval Europe;
the =Flemish towns= were its =ports= and its manufacturing centres. They
filled in the 13th and 14th centuries much the same place that
Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmingham fill in the 20th. Many
causes contributed to this result. Flanders, half independent under its
own Counts, occupied a middle position, geographically and politically,
between France and the Empire; it was comparatively free from the
disastrous wars which desolated both these countries, and in particular
(_see_ under Ghent) it largely escaped the long smouldering quarrel
between French and English which so long retarded the development of the
former. Its commercial towns, again, were not exposed on the open sea to
the attacks of pirates or hostile fleets, but were safely ensconced in
inland flats, reached by rivers or canals, almost inaccessible to
maritime enemies. Similar conditions elsewhere early ensured peace and
prosperity for Venice. The canal system of Holland and Belgium began to
be developed as early as the 12th century (at first for drainage), and
was one leading cause of the commercial importance of the Flemish cities
in the 14th. In so flat a country, locks are all but unnecessary. The
two towns which earliest rose to greatness in the Belgian area were thus
=Bruges= and =Ghent=; they possessed in the highest degree the combined
advantages of easy access to the sea and comparative inland security.
Bruges, in particular, was one of the chief stations of the Hanseatic
League, which formed an essentially commercial alliance for the mutual
protection of the northern trading centres. By the 14th century Bruges
had thus become in the north what Venice was in the south, the capital
of commerce. Trading companies from all the surrounding countries had
their “factories” in the town, and every European king or prince of
importance kept a resident minister accredited to the merchant Republic.
Some comprehension of the =mercantile condition of Europe= in general
during the Middle Ages is necessary in order to understand the early
importance and wealth of the Flemish cities. Southern Europe, and in
particular Italy, was then still the seat of all higher civilization,
more especially of the trade in manufactured articles and objects of
luxury. Florence, Venice, and Genoa ranked as the polished and learned
cities of the world. Further east, again, Constantinople still remained
in the hands of the Greek emperors, or, during the Crusades, of their
Latin rivals. A brisk trade existed _viâ_ the Mediterranean between
Europe and India or the nearer East. This double stream of traffic ran
along two main routes—one, by the Rhine, from Lombardy and Rome; the
other, by sea, from Venice, Genoa, Florence, Constantinople, the Levant,
and India. On the other hand, France was still but a half civilized
country, with few manufactures and little external trade; while England
was an exporter of raw produce, chiefly wool, like Australia in our own
time. The Hanseatic merchants of Cologne held the trade of London; those
of Wisby and Lübeck governed that of the Baltic; Bruges, as head of the
Hansa, was in close connection with all of these, as well as with Hull,
York, Novgorod, and Bergen. The position of the Flemish towns in the
14th century was thus not wholly unlike that of New York, Philadelphia,
and Boston at the present day; they stood as intermediaries between the
older civilized countries, like Italy or the Greek empire, and the newer
producers of raw material, like England, North Germany, and the Baltic
towns.
The local =manufactures= of Flanders consisted chiefly of woollen goods
and linens; the imports included Italian luxuries, Spanish figs and
raisins, Egyptian dates, Oriental silks, English wool, cattle, and
metals, Rhenish wines, and Baltic furs, skins, and walrus tusks.
In the early 16th century, when navigation had assumed new conditions,
and trade was largely diverted to the Atlantic, Antwerp, the port of the
Schelde, superseded the towns on the inland network. As Venice sank,
Antwerp rose.
The =art= that grew up in the Flemish cities during their epoch of
continuous commercial development bears on its very face the visible
impress of its mercantile origin. France is essentially a monarchical
country, and it is centralized in Paris; everything in old French art is
therefore regal and lordly. The Italian towns were oligarchies of
nobles; so the principal buildings of Florence and Venice are the
castles or palaces of the princely families, while their pictures
represent the type of art that belongs in its nature to a cultivated
aristocracy. But in Flanders, everything is in essence =commercial=. The
architecture consists mainly, not of private palaces, but of guilds,
town halls, exchanges, belfries: the pictures are the portraits of solid
and successful merchants, or the devotional works which a merchant donor
presented to the patron saint of his town or business. They are almost
overloaded with details of fur, brocade, jewellery, lace, gold, silver,
polished brass, glasswork, Oriental carpets, and richly carved
furniture. In order to understand Flemish art, therefore, it is
necessary to bear in mind at every step that it is =the art of a purely
commercial people=.
Another point which differentiates Flemish painting from the painting of
Italy during the same period is the complete absence of any opportunity
for the display of frescoes. In the Italian churches, where the walls
serve largely for support, and the full southern light makes the size of
the windows of less importance, great surfaces were left bare in the
nave and aisles, or in the lower part of the choir, crying aloud for
decoration at the hands of the fresco-painter. But in the northern
Gothic, which aimed above all things at height and the soaring effect,
and which almost annihilated the wall, by making its churches consist of
rows of vast windows with intervening piers or buttresses, the
opportunity for mural decoration occurred but seldom. The climate also
destroyed frescoes. Hence the works of pictorial art in Flemish
buildings are almost confined to =altar-pieces and votive tablets=.
Again, the great school of painting in early Italy (from Giotto to
Perugino) was a school of fresco-painters; but in Flanders no high type
of art arose till the discovery of oil-painting. Pictures were usually
imported from the Rhine towns. Hence, pictorial art in the Low Countries
seems to spring almost full-fledged, instead of being traceable through
gradual stages of evolution as in Italy. Most of the best early
paintings are small and highly finished; it was only at a comparatively
late date, when Antwerp became the leading town, that Italian influence
began to produce the larger and coarser canvases of Rubens and his
followers.
=Very early Flemish art= greatly resembles the art of the School of
Cologne. Only with Hubert and Jan van Eyck (about 1360-1440) does the
distinctively Flemish taste begin to show itself—the taste for delicate
and minute workmanship, linked with a peculiar realistic idealism, more
dainty than German work, more literal than Italian. It is an art that
bases itself upon truth of imitation and perfection of finish: its chief
æsthetic beauty is its jewel-like colour and its wealth of decorative
adjuncts. The subsequent development of Flemish painting—the painting
that pleased a clique of opulent commercial patrons—we shall trace in
detail in the various cities.
Whoever wishes to gain a deeper insight into Flemish painting should
take in his portmanteau Sir Martin =Conway’s “Early Flemish Artists,”= a
brilliant and masterly work of the first importance, to which this Guide
is deeply indebted.
The =political history= of the country during this flourishing period of
the Middle Ages has also stamped itself, though somewhat less deeply, on
the character of the towns and of the art evolved in them. The =Counts
of Flanders=, originally mere lords of Bruges and its district, held
their dominions of the Kings of France. Their territory included, not
only Arras (at first the capital, now included in France) with Bruges,
Ghent, Courtrai, Tournay, and Ypres, but also the towns and districts of
Valenciennes, Lille, and St. Omer, which are now French. From the time
of Baldwin VIII. (1191), however, Arras became a part of France, and
=Ghent= was erected into the capital of Flanders. In the beginning of
the 13th century, two women sovereigns ruled in succession; under them,
and during the absence of the elective Counts on crusades, the towns
rose to be practically burgher republics. Bruges, Ypres, Ghent, and
Lille were said to possess each 40,000 looms; and though this is
certainly a mediæval exaggeration, yet the Flemish cities at this epoch
were at any rate the chief manufacturing and trading centres of northern
Europe, while London was still a mere local emporium.
In the 14th century, the cities acquired still greater freedom. The
citizens had always claimed the right to elect their Count; and the
people of Ghent now made treaties without him on their own account with
Edward III. of England. To this age belongs the heroic period of the Van
Arteveldes at Ghent, when the burghers became the real rulers of
Flanders, as will be more fully described hereafter. In 1384, however,
Count Louis III. died, leaving an only daughter, who was married to
=Philip the Bold of Burgundy=; and the wealthy Flemish towns thus passed
under the sway of the powerful princes of Dijon. Brabant fell later by
inheritance to Philip the Good. It was under the =Burgundian dynasty=,
who often held their court at Ghent, that the arts of the Netherlands
attained their first great development. Philip the Good (1419-1467)
employed Jan van Eyck as his court painter; and during his reign or just
after it the chief works of Flemish art were produced in Bruges, Ghent,
Brussels, and Tournai.
=Charles the Bold=, the last Duke of Burgundy, left one daughter, Mary,
who was married to Maximilian, afterwards Emperor. From that date
forward the history of the Flemish towns is practically merged in that
of the dynasty of Charles V., and finally becomes the story of an
unwilling and ever justly rebellious Spanish province. The subsequent
vicissitudes of Belgium as an Austrian appanage, a part of Holland, and
an independent kingdom, belong to the domain of European history. For
the visitor, it is the period of the Burgundian supremacy that really
counts in the cities of Belgium.
Yet the one great point for the tourist to bear in mind is really
this—that the art of the Flemish towns is essentially =the art of a
group of burgher communities=. It is frankly commercial, neither royal
nor aristocratic. In its beginnings it develops a strictly municipal
architecture, with a school of painters who aimed at portraiture and
sacred panel pictures. After the Reformation had destroyed sacred art in
Holland, painting in that part of the Netherlands confined itself to
portraits and to somewhat vulgar popular scenes: while in Belgium it was
Italianised, or rather Titianised and Veronesed, by Rubens and his
followers. But in its best days it was national, local, and sacred or
personal.
Take =Conway’s “Early Flemish Artists”= with you in your portmanteau,
and read over in the evening his account of the works you have seen
during the day.
ORDER OF THE TOUR
IF possible, visit the cities of Belgium in =the order in which they
are treated in this Guide=:—Bruges first; then Ghent, Brussels, and
Antwerp. For this order you will find very good reasons. Bruges is the
most antique in tone and the least spoiled of all the Flemish towns; it
best exhibits the local peculiarities we have here specially to
consider; and it leads up naturally to the other cities. It is true,
Memling, the great painter whom we have chiefly to study at Bruges, is
later in date than Jan van Eyck, whose principal work (with that of his
brother Hubert) is to be seen at Ghent. But historical sequence in this
minor matter is somewhat less important than a due apprehension of the
general air of an old Flemish town such as those in which the art of the
Van Eycks arose; and besides, there is at least one characteristic Van
Eyck at Bruges, while there are many Memlings for comparison in other
cities.
As a rule, too little time is given by tourists to Bruges and Ghent, and
too much to Brussels. I should advise three or four days each to the
first-named towns, and a week to the capital.
Those who intend to combine a visit to =Holland= in the same tour should
certainly see Belgium in the order here given first, and then proceed to
Rotterdam, the Hague, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. For such a sequence, which
is geographically the easiest, is also chronologically natural. Bruges
is the most mediæval of all the towns, and has for its principal great
artist Memling. Ghent comes next, with the Van Eycks and a few later
painters. Brussels represents the end of the Middle Ages, and contains a
general metropolitan collection of early and middle Flemish art. Antwerp
gives us in particular Quentin Matsys and his contemporaries, as well as
Rubens and Van Dyck. And the Dutch towns lead us on through Van Dyck and
the later transitionals to Rembrandt, Van der Helst, Frans Hals, and the
other mighty masters of Holland. I may add that as the arrangement of
this Guide is roughly chronological, the tourist will use it best if he
follows its order.
The =Ostend route= takes the towns naturally in the sequence I suggest.
Visitors arriving by =Harwich= or =Calais= should not stop first at
Antwerp or Brussels, but go straight to Bruges, and then double back
again.
I
BRUGES
_A._ ORIGINS OF BRUGES
IN a lost corner of the great lowland flat of Flanders, defended from
the sea by an artificial dyke, and at the point of intersection of an
intricate network of canals and waterways, there arose in the early
Middle Ages a trading town, known in Flemish as =Brugge=, in French as
=Bruges= (that is to say, =The Bridge=), from a primitive structure that
here crossed the river. (A number of bridges now span the sluggish
streams. All of them open in the middle to admit the passage of
shipping.) Bruges stood originally on a little river, the =Reye=, once
navigable, now swallowed by canals: and the Reye flowed into the =Zwin=,
long silted up, but then the safest harbour in the Low Countries. At
first the capital of a petty Count, this land-locked internal harbour
grew in time to be the Venice of the North, and to gather round its
quays, or at its haven of Damme, the ships and merchandise of all
neighbouring peoples. Already in 1200 it ranked as the central mart of
the Hanseatic League. It was the port of entry for English wool and
Russian furs: the port of departure for Flemish broadcloths, laces,
tapestries, and linens. Canals soon connected it with Ghent, Dunkirk,
Sluys, Furnes, and Ypres. Its nucleus lay in a little knot of buildings
about the Grand’ Place and the Hôtel de Ville, stretching out to the
Cathedral and the Dyver; thence it spread on all sides till in 1362 it
filled the whole space within the existing ramparts, now largely
abandoned or given over to fields and gardens. It was the wealthiest
town of Europe, outside Italy. In the 14th century, Bruges was
frequently the residence of the Counts of Flanders; and in the 15th it
became the seat of the brilliant court of the Dukes of Burgundy. Under
their rule, the opulent burghers and foreign merchants began to employ a
group of famous artists who have made the city a place of pilgrimage for
Europe and America, and to adorn the town with most of those buildings
which now beautify its decay.
The foreign traders in Bruges lived in “factories” or guilds, resembling
monasteries or colleges, and were governed by their own commercial laws.
The Bardi of Florence were among its famous merchants: the Medici had
agents here: so had the millionaire Fuggers of Augsburg.
Bruges is the best place in which to make =a first acquaintance= with
the towns and art of Flanders, because here almost all the principal
buildings are mediæval, and comparatively little that is modern comes in
to mar the completeness of the picture. We see in it the architecture
and the painting of Flanders, in the midst of the houses, the land, and
the folk that gave them origin. Brussels is largely modernised, and even
Ghent has great living manufactures; but Bruges is =a fossil of the 15th
century=. It was the first to flourish and the first to decay of the
towns of Belgium.
The =decline= of the town was due partly to the break-up of the
Hanseatic system; partly to the rise of English ports and manufacturing
towns; but still more (and especially as compared with other Flemish
cities) to the silting of the Zwin, and the want of adaptation in its
waterways to the needs of great ships and modern navigation. The old sea
entrance to Bruges was through the Zwin, by way of Sluys and Kadzand; up
that channel came the Venetian merchant fleet and the Flemish galleys,
to the port of Damme. By 1470, it ceased to be navigable for large
vessels. The later canal is still open, but as it passes through what is
now Dutch territory, it is little used; nor is it adapted to any save
ships of comparatively small burden. Another canal, suitable for craft
of 500 tons, leads through Belgian territory to Ostend; but few vessels
now navigate it, and those for the most part only for local trade. The
town has shrunk to half its former size, and has only a quarter of its
mediæval population. The commercial decay of Bruges, however, has
preserved its charm for the artist, the archæologist, and the tourist;
its sleepy streets and unfrequented quays are among the most picturesque
sights of bustling and industrial modern Belgium. The great private
palaces, indeed, are almost all destroyed: but many public buildings
remain, and the domestic architecture is quaint and pretty.
Bruges was the mother of the arts in Flanders. Jan van Eyck lived here
from 1428 to 1440: Memling, probably, from 1477 till 1494. Caxton, the
first English printer, lived as a merchant at Bruges (in the Domus
Anglorum or English factory) from 1446 to 1476, and probably put in the
press here the earliest English printed book (though strong grounds have
been adduced in favour of Cologne). Colard Mansion, the great printer of
Bruges at that date, was one of the leaders in the art of typography.
Those who desire further information on this most interesting town will
find it in James Weale’s _Bruges et ses Environs_, an admirable work, to
which I desire to acknowledge my obligations.
* * * * *
At least two whole days should be devoted to Bruges: more if possible.
But the hasty traveller, who has but time for a glimpse, should neglect
the churches, and walk round the Grand’ Place and the Place du Bourg to
the Dyver: spending most of his time at the =**Hôpital de St. Jean=,
which contains the glorious works of =Memling=. These are by far the
most important objects to be seen in the city. The description in this
Guide is written from the point of view of the more leisurely traveller.
Expect the frequent recurrence of the following =symbols= on houses or
pictures: (1) the Lion of Flanders, heraldic or otherwise, crowned, and
bearing a collar with a pendant cross; (2) the Bear of Bruges; (3) the
Golden Fleece (_Toison d’or_), the device of the Order founded by
Philippe le Bon in 1430, and appropriate to a country which owed its
wealth to wool; it consists of a sheep’s skin suspended from a collar.
The Flemish emblem of the Swan is also common as a relief or decoration.
St. Donatian, Archbishop of Rheims, is the patron saint. His mark is a
wheel with five lighted candles.
_B._ THE HEART OF THE CITY
[The original =nucleus of Bruges= is formed by the =Bourg=,
which stands near the centre of the modern city. In 865, Baldwin
Bras-de-Fer, Count of Flanders, built a _château_ or _burg_ by
the Reye, in a corner of land still marked by the modern canal
of the Dyver, and near it a chapel, into which he transported
the relics of St. Donatian. This _burg_ grew in time into the
chief palace of the Counts of Flanders, now replaced by the
Palais de Justice; while the chapel by its side developed into
the first cathedral of Bruges, St. Donatian, now wholly
demolished. A bridge hard by crossed the little river Reye; and
from this bridge the town ultimately derives its name. The
_burg_ was built as a _tête-du-pont_ to protect the passage. A
town of traders gradually sprang up under the protection of the
castle, and developed at last into the great trading port of
Bruges. To this centre, then, we will first direct ourselves.]
Go from your hotel, down the Rue St. Amand, or the Rue St. Jacques, to
the =Grand’ Place= or market-place of Bruges, noticing on your way the
numerous handsome old houses, with high-pitched roofs and gable-ends
arranged like steps, mostly of the 16th and 17th centuries. (Bruges is a
Flemish-speaking town: note the true names of the streets in Flemish.)
The very tall square tower which faces you as you enter the Grand’ Place
is the =*Belfry=, the centre and visible embodiment of the town of
Bruges. The Grand' Place itself was the forum and meeting-place of the
soldier-citizens, who were called to arms by the chimes in the Belfry.
The centre of the Place is therefore appropriately occupied by a
colossal =statue group= (modern) of Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breidel,
the leaders of the citizens of Bruges at the Battle of the Spurs before
the walls of Courtrai in 1302, a conflict which secured the freedom of
Flanders from the interference of the Kings of France. The group is by
Devigne. The _reliefs_ on the pedestal represent scenes from the battle
and its antecedents.
The majestic =Belfry= itself represents the first beginnings of freedom
in Bruges. Leave to erect such a bell-tower, both as a mark of
independence and to summon the citizens to arms, was one of the first
privileges which every Teutonic trading town desired to wring from its
feudal lord. This (brick) tower, the pledge of municipal rights, was
begun in 1291 (to replace an earlier one of wood), and finished about a
hundred years later, the octagon (in stone) at the summit (which holds
the bells) having been erected in 1393-96. It consists of three stories,
the two lower of which are square and flanked by balconies with turrets;
the windows below are of the simple Early Gothic style, but show a later
type of architecture in the octagon. The _niche_ in the centre contains
the Virgin and Child (restored, after being destroyed by the French
revolutionists). Below it on either side are smaller figures holding
escutcheons. From the balcony between these last, the laws and the
rescripts of the Counts were read aloud to the people assembled in the
square.
The Belfry can be =ascended= by steps. Apply to the _concierge_; 25 c.
per person. Owing to the force of the wind, it leans slightly to the
S.E. The =*view= from the top is very extensive and striking; it
embraces the greater part of the Plain of Flanders, with its towns and
villages: the country, though quite flat, looks beautiful when thus
seen. In early times, however, the look-out from the summit was of
practical use for purposes of observation, military or maritime. It
commanded the river, the Zwin, and the sea approach by Sluys and Damme;
the course of the various canals; and the roads to Ghent, Antwerp,
Tournai, and Courtrai. The Belfry contains a famous set of =chimes=, the
mechanism of which may be inspected by the visitor. He will have
frequent opportunities of hearing the beautiful and mellow carillon,
perhaps to excess. The existing bells date only from 1680: the mechanism
from 1784.
The square building on either side of the Belfry, known as =Les Halles=,
was erected in or about 1248, and is a fine but sombre specimen of Early
Gothic civic architecture. The wing to the left was originally the
=Cloth Hall=, for the display and sale of the woollen manufactures of
Ghent and Bruges. It is now used as municipal offices. A door to the L.
gives access to a small Museum of Antiquities on the ground floor, which
may be safely neglected by all save specialist archæologists. (Admission
50 c.) The wing to the right is the meat market.
Now, stand with your back to the Belfry to survey the =Square=. The
brick building on your right is the Post Office (modern); the stone one
beyond it (also modern) is the Palace of the Provincial Government of
Flanders. Both have been erected in a style suitable to the town. In the
Middle Ages, ships could come up to this part of the Grand’ Place to
discharge their cargo. The quaint houses that face you, with
high-pitched gable-ends, are partly modern, but mostly old, though
restored. On the left (W.) side of the Place, at the corner of the Rue
St. Amand, stands the square castle-like building known as _Au Lion de
Flandre_ and marked by its gold lion. It is one of the best brick
mediæval buildings in Bruges. According to a doubtful tradition, it was
occupied by Charles II. of England during his exile, when he was created
by the Brugeois King of the Crossbowmen of St. Sebastian (see later). In
the house beside it, known as the Craenenburg, the citizens of Bruges
imprisoned Maximilian, King of the Romans, from the 5th to the 17th of
February, 1488, because he would not grant the care of his son Philip,
heir to the crown of the Netherlands, to the King of France. They only
released him after he had sworn before an altar erected at the spot, on
the Host, the true Cross, and the Relics of St. Donatian, to renounce
his claim to the guardianship of his son, and to grant a general
amnesty. However, he was treacherously released from his oath by a
congress of Princes convened a little later by his father, the Emperor
Frederic IV.
* * * * *
From the corner of the Post Office, take the short Rue Breydel to the
=Place du Bourg=, the still more intimate centre and focus of the early
life of Bruges. This Place contained the old Palace of the Counts of
Flanders, and the original Cathedral, both now destroyed, as well as the
Town Hall and other important buildings still preserved for us.
The tallest of the three handsome edifices on the S. side of the Square
(profusely adorned with sculpture) is the =**Hôtel de Ville=, a
beautiful gem of Middle Gothic architecture, begun about 1376, and
finished about 1387. This is one of the finest pieces of civic
architecture in Belgium. The _façade_, though over-restored, and the six
beautiful turrets and chimneys, are in the main of the original design.
The sculpture in the niches, destroyed during the French Revolution, has
been only tolerably replaced by modern Belgian sculptors in our own day.
The lower tier contains the Annunciation, R. and L. of the doorway, with
figures of various saints and prophets. In the tiers above this are
statues of the Counts of Flanders of various ages. The _reliefs_ just
below the windows of the first floor represent episodes from Biblical
history:—David before Saul, David dancing before the Ark, the Judgment
of Solomon, the Building of Solomon’s Temple, and other scenes which the
visitor can easily identify. The Great Hall in the interior is
interesting only for its fine pendant Gothic wooden roof.
The somewhat lower building, to the right of the Hôtel de Ville, is the
=**Chapelle du Saint Sang=. The decorated portal round the corner also
forms part of the same building.
[In the 12th and 13th centuries (age of the Crusades) the
chivalrous and credulous knights of the North and West who
repaired to the Holy Land, whether as pilgrims or as soldiers of
the Faith, were anxious to bring back with them relics of the
saints or of still more holy personages. The astute Greeks and
Syrians with whom they had to deal rose to the occasion, and
sold the simple Westerns various sacred objects of more or less
doubtful authenticity at fabulous prices. Over these treasured
deposits stately churches were often raised; for example, St.
Louis of France constructed the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, to
contain the Crown of Thorns and part of the True Cross, which he
had purchased at an immense cost from Baldwin, Emperor of
Constantinople. Among the earlier visitors to the Holy Land who
thus signalised their journey was Theodoric of Alsace, elected
Count of Flanders in 1128; he brought back with him in 1149 some
drops of the =Holy Blood= of the Saviour, said to have been
preserved by Joseph of Arimathea, which he presented to his
faithful city of Bruges. Fitly to enshrine them, Theodoric
erected a chapel in the succeeding year, 1150; and this early
church forms the lower floor of the existing building. Above it,
in the 15th century, when Bruges grew richer, was raised a
second and more gorgeous chapel (as at the Sainte Chapelle), in
which the holy relic is now preserved. Almost all the works of
art in the dainty little oratory accordingly bear special
reference to the Holy Blood, its preservation, and its transport
to Bruges. The dedication is to =St. Basil=, the founder of
eastern monasticism—a Greek Father little known in the West,
whose fame Theodoric must have learned in Syria. The nobles of
Flanders, it must be remembered, were particularly active in
organising the Crusades.]
The =exterior= has a fine figure of St. Leonard (holding the fetters
which are his symbol) under a Gothic niche. He was the patron of
Christian slaves held in duress by the Saracens. The beautiful
flamboyant =portal= and =staircase=, round the corner, erected in
1529-1533, in the ornate decorative style of the period, have (restored)
figures of Crusaders and their Queens in niches, with incongruous
Renaissance busts below.
To visit the =interior=, ring the bell in the corner: admission, 50 c.
per person.
The =Museum= of the Brotherhood of the Holy Blood, on the first floor,
which we first visit, contains by the =left wall= the handsome
silver-gilt Reliquary (of 1617), studded with jewels, which encloses the
drops of the Holy Blood. The figures on it represent Christ (the source
of the Blood), the Blessed Virgin, St. Basil (patron of the church), and
St. Donatian (patron of the town). The Blood is exhibited in a simpler
_châsse_ in the chapel every Friday; that is to say, on the day of the
Crucifixion. The great Reliquary itself is carried in procession only,
on the Monday after the 3rd of May. Right and left of the _châsse_ are
portraits of the members of the Confraternity of the Holy Blood by P.
Pourbus, 1556: unusually good works of this painter. A triptych to the
right, by an unknown master of the early 16th century, figures the
Crucifixion, with special reference to the Holy Blood, representing St.
Longinus in the act of piercing the side of Christ (thus drawing the
Blood), with the Holy Women and St. John in attendance; on the wings,
the Way to Calvary, and the Resurrection.
=Between the windows= is a curious chronological picture of the late
15th century, representing the History of Our Lady in the usual stages,
with other episodes. To the R. of it, a painting of the 15th century
shows Count Theodoric receiving the Holy Blood from his brother-in-law,
Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, and the bringing of the Holy Blood to
Bruges.
On the =right wall= there is a famous =*triptych= by Gerard David (the
finest work here), representing the Deposition in the Tomb, with the
Maries, St. John, Nicodemus, and an attendant holding a dish to contain
the Holy Blood, which is also seen conspicuously flowing from the
wounds; the left wing shows the Magdalen with Cleophas; the right wing,
the preservation of the Crown of Thorns by Joseph of Arimathea. The
portrait character of the faces is admirable: stand long and study this
fine work.
The original designs for the windows of the Chapel are preserved in a
=glass case= by the window; behind which are fragments of early coloured
glass; conspicuous among them, St. Barbara with her tower.
On the =exit wall= is a fine piece of late Flemish tapestry,
representing the bringing of the body of St. Augustine to Pavia, with
side figures of San Frediano of Lucca and Sant’ Ercolano of
Perugia—executed, no doubt, for an Italian patron.
The =Chapel= itself, which we next enter, is gorgeously decorated in
polychrome, recently restored. The stained glass windows, containing
portraits of the Burgundian Princes from the beginning of the dynasty
down to Maria Theresa and Francis I., were executed in 1845 from earlier
designs. The large window facing the High Altar is modern. It represents
appropriately the history of the Passion, the origin of the Sacred
Blood, its Transference to Bruges, and the figures of the Flemish
Crusaders engaged in its transport. At the summit of the window, notice
the frequent and fitting symbol of the pelican feeding its young with
its own blood.
In the little =side chapel= to the R., separated from the main building
by an arcade of three arches, is the _tabernacle_ or canopy from which
the Sacred Blood is exhibited weekly. To the right is hung a Crown of
Thorns. Notice, also, the Crown of Thorns held by the angel at the top
of the steps. The window to the L. (modern) represents St. Longinus, the
centurion who pierced the side of Christ, and St. Veronica, displaying
her napkin which she gave to the Saviour to wipe his face on the way to
Calvary, and which retained ever after the impress of the Divine
Countenance. Almost all the other objects in the chapel bear reference,
more or less direct, to the Holy Blood. Observe particularly in the main
chapel the handsome modern High Altar with its coloured reliefs of
scenes of the Passion. Such scenes as the Paschal Lamb on its base, with
the Hebrew smearing the lintel of the door, are of course symbolical.