HOW BRUGES BECAME "THE VENICE OF THE NORTH"
After the murder of Charles the Good had been so thoroughly avenged,
the King of France sought to foist one of his own underlings upon the
people of Flanders, but they would have none of him, and he fell
fighting before the gates of one of the Flemish cities. Dierick of
Alsace was the popular hero and became Count on the death of this
rival. The King of France sought once more to interpose, but the
burghers of Bruges retorted proudly: "Be it known to the King and to
all princes and peoples, and to their posterity throughout all time,
that the King of France hath no part in the election of a Count of
Flanders."
Of all the Counts of Flemish blood Dierick proved to be the greatest
and the wisest who ever ruled over the land. During his long reign of
forty years (from 1128 to 1168) and that of his son, Philip of Alsace,
who ruled until 1191, the country prospered and grew rich. Both
princes encouraged commerce, industry and the arts, and were liberal
in their policy toward the cities. It was during this Golden Age of
Flemish history--the longest period of happiness the country ever
knew--that municipal charters were granted to the cities of Bruges,
Ghent, Ypres, Furnes, Gravelines, Nieuport, Dunkerque and Damme.
While the memory of Dierick of Alsace deserves to be fondly cherished
by the people of Flanders as that of a wise and liberal ruler, his
most famous exploit was bringing back the relic of the Precious Blood
from Jerusalem. Like most princes of his time, Dierick joined in the
Crusades, but, unlike many of them, he left his government so strong
and secure that no harm came to the country during his absence. It was
the second Crusade, and Dierick departed in 1147, and returned in
1150, bringing with him this relic, a portion of the most precious
possession of the Holy Church of Palestine, consisting of a small
crystal vial filled with what was alleged to be the blood of Christ,
preserved by Joseph of Aramathea who prepared the body for burial.
Deeming himself unworthy to bear so holy a relic, the Count entrusted
it to his chaplain, who never parted with it until the returning
crusaders delivered it to the chaplains of the court who placed it in
the chapel built by Baldwin of the Iron Arm, where it still remains in
its original receptacle.
On the 2nd of May every year from 1303 until now--save for a brief
interruption during the stormy times of the French Revolution--the
city of Bruges has celebrated its possession of this holy relic by the
great Procession of the Holy Blood. At first simply a religious
ceremony, the procession gradually took on spectacular features such
as the Flemings love, including representations of the Apostles, the
Nativity, King Herod, and so on. At present _La Noble Confrerie du
Precieux Sang_, or Honourable Society of the Holy Blood, is a very
wealthy and aristocratic organisation, even its affiliated members--of
whom there are several thousands, of every nationality--esteeming
their connection with it a great honour.
During the French Revolution mobs stripped the chapel of everything
that could be torn down or broken, leaving it such a wreck that the
municipal authorities were considering tearing it down, but were
happily prevented from doing so by Napoleon. The lower chapel was,
however, used as a jail for drunken and disorderly persons--and even
as a pound for stray dogs--until 1818. The upper chapel meanwhile was
roofless and windowless, a sad wreck of so ancient and famous a
structure. Both have since been restored, the lower--or Chapel of St.
Basil--being now just as it was in 1150, and, in the opinion of many
critics, "the most beautiful and perfect specimen of Romanesque
architecture in Europe." We had already inspected the lower chapel
while exploring the Vieux Bourg of Baldwin of the Iron Arm our first
day at Bruges, but had not spent much time in the upper one. Here the
most interesting object was naturally the chasse, or casket,
containing the holy relic after which the chapel is named. This is on
one side of the little museum of the chapel and is of silver-gilt,
standing four feet, three inches high. It was made in 1617 by a
silversmith of Bruges and, while not regarded as a masterpiece of its
kind, is very graceful and elegant. The chapel itself is richly
decorated and has some excellent stained glass windows, all of this
work dating from the middle of the last century.
Adjoining the Chapelle du Saint-Sang is the Hotel de Ville. This
structure is a very fine example of Flemish municipal architecture,
dating from the last quarter of the fourteenth century. Here the
Counts of Flanders formerly took the oath to respect the rights and
privileges of the city, this formality taking place in the last window
to the right. Originally there were statues of former princes on the
façade and six of these were coloured by Jean Van Eyck in 1435. All
were destroyed during the Revolution. Part of the interior is still
used by various government officials, while up-stairs the tourists
usually visit the ancient Salle Echinivale, or Council Chamber. This
was restored in 1895 and decorated with a series of twelve mural
paintings representing notable scenes in the history of the city. Of
these eleven are by Albrecht de Vriendt, and the last by his brother,
Julian, the first artist dying just before his work was completed. As
these pictures form an interesting epitome of the history of the city,
the subjects are given herewith:
1.--Return of the Brugeois from the Battle of the Golden
Spurs at Courtrai in 1302.
2.--Foundation of the Order of the Golden Fleece by
Philip of Burgundy at Bruges in 1430.
3.--Dierick of Alsace bringing the Holy Blood to the
chapel of St. Basil in 1150.
4.--The interior of the ancient Hospital of St. Jean.
5.--Magistrates of Bruges renewing the privileges of the
Hanseatic League.
6.--Count Philip of Alsace granting a charter to Bruges
(1190).
7.--Magistrates visiting the Studio of Jean Van Eyck
(1433).
8.--The printing by movable type in Bruges by Jean
Britto in 1446.
9.--Count Louis of Maele laying the foundation of the
Town-hall (1376).
10.--Jacob Van Maerlant, father of Flemish poetry, born
at Damme.
11.--The Free-fair.
12.--Opening of the new Zwyn canal in 1404.
[Illustration: _Palais du Franc, Bruges_]
One of the most interesting of the almost innumerable mediæval
buildings in Bruges is the Palais du Franc which, with its many quaint
turrets and gables, overlooks the fish market on the Quai Vert. The
associations and history of this sumptuous bit of sixteenth century
architecture date from the twelfth century--1190 to be exact--when
Philip of Alsace granted a charter to the region stretching to the
northward from the city to the sea, and from Aardenburg (now just
across the Dutch frontier) to Dixmude. This wide tract of territory
was called the Franc or Liberty of Bruges, and comprised ninety-one
parishes and the towns of Ostende, Blankenburghe, Eccloo, Lissweghe,
Aardenburg, Sluys and Dixmude. Of these only the first two are known
to the tourists of the present day, while one must needs search the
map very closely to find one or two of the others at all, but in the
time of Philip all were busy centres of trade and industry. This was
the hereditary land of the Karls, whose revolt against the attempt of
Charles the Good to force them under the feudal yoke cost that monarch
his life.
The charter was called the _Keurbrief_ and laid the foundation for the
administration of a code of justice that, rude as it was, meant
liberty for those who otherwise would have been utterly at the mercy
of any feudal lord or wandering knight. It was the _Magna Carta_ of a
large part of the Count's dominions and even its stern eye-for-eye and
life-for-life doctrine was tempered by equivalents in cash that might
be paid. The life of a Karl was worth twice as much as that of a monk
or priest, while for each injury there was an appropriate fine. He who
broke a dyke must lose the hand that did the damage, besides
forfeiting all his goods; for false weights the penalty was a fine of
three livres for each offence. Fencing one's property against game
entailed branding with a red hot iron, or trial by the Count--who
might confiscate the goods of the guilty party, but his life and
liberty were to be safe. This cruel game law was not repealed for
nearly three centuries, and must have entailed much hardship. On the
whole, however, the charter was liberal for its day, and the country
under it flourished exceedingly--a sure evidence of wise laws.
The Keurbrief was administered by the Magistrates of the Franc in the
Palais du Franc, which was therefore a sort of special court. The
present edifice is not the one erected by Philip, or used by him for
the purpose, but dates from the early part of the fifteenth century.
Part of it is still used as the Palais de Justice, but that part of
the present structure is for the most part modern. The most
interesting portion of the edifice, and the only one shown to
tourists, is the Court Room containing the magnificent Cheminée du
Franc, or chimney-piece, erected in honour of the Ladies' Peace
negotiated by Margaret of Austria while Regent of the Netherlands in
1529. The work was executed from designs by Lancelot Blondeel, a
painter of Bruges, and was completed in 1530. The fireplace itself is
of black marble, surmounted by a frieze in white marble containing
four bas-reliefs representing the history of the chaste Suzanne. One
cannot but wonder what was the connection of thought that suggested
this story in conjunction with the commemoration of the Treaty of
Cambrai, but at all events here it is. The reliefs are of varying
excellence, the one showing Suzanne about to be seized by her aged
admirers being very sharp and clear, while the fourth which shows the
culprits being stoned to death is rather indistinct.
The upper part of the monumental chimney is of oak and occupies almost
the entire side of the room. In the centre stands Charles V,
represented as a Count of Flanders, nearly life size and finely
carved. At his right are statues of Maximilian and Marie of Burgundy,
and at the left Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile--these
being the Emperor's ancestors on his father's and mother's sides
respectively. On the throne behind the Emperor are the busts of Philip
the Handsome and Joanna of Spain, his father and mother, and below
these are the portraits in small medallions of Charles de Lannoy, who
won the victory of Pavia where Francis I, the King of France, was
captured, and Margaret of Austria, who negotiated the treaty. As the
last mentioned portrait is almost invisible in the shadow of the
Emperor it hardly seems as though the chimney-piece does justice to
the loyal and talented woman whose successful diplomacy the entire
work is intended to commemorate. As an example of sixteenth-century
wood-carving, however, and as a most important historical monument,
this chimney-piece is by no means the least interesting of the many
things to be seen at Bruges.
[Illustration: THE BELFRY, BRUGES.]
Unlike most tourists, the Professor seemed to be in no hurry to
inspect the famous Belfry, although we had passed it a score of times
during our stay. Facing the Grande Place, and towering three hundred
and fifty-three feet into the air, it could not be overlooked, while
its loud chimes--which rang every quarter of an hour, and can be heard
for many blocks around--insured that it could not be forgotten.
Moreover, we more than once took our evening meal at a little
restaurant just across the Place from it and saw its graceful
octagonal parapet on one occasion outlined against the fast-flying
grey clouds of a summer storm and the next day against the blue sky of
one of the few perfect June days it was our fortune to enjoy. "Too
soon," he said, in answer to our inquiring glances--"the Belfry
belongs to the period of Bruges' splendour, while the buildings we
have seen thus far date from the formative period when she was still
little more than a fortress on a marsh."
The original structure dates from the very early Counts of
Flanders--possibly from the time of the first Baldwin--but was
practically destroyed by a fire in the year 1280. It was then that the
present edifice was begun, at a period when the commercial and
industrial importance of the city was already very great. The city's
seal and archives were stored in a strong room within the belfry
walls, where four wrought iron doors secured by ten locks and ten keys
guarded them against abstraction by the emissaries of some Count who
might desire to curtail the privileges of the city. Eight of these
keys were kept by the deans of the eight leading guilds--the butchers,
bakers, shoemakers, tailors, weavers, brokers, carpenters and
blacksmiths--who thus virtually controlled the government. This room
the Professor desired to see above all else in the old structure. We
found the four wrought iron doors, but the archive chamber no longer
contains archives or the city's seal. It was a most interesting old
room, nevertheless, and one that ought to particularly interest the
builders of the elaborate burglar-proof and earthquake-proof vaults
that extend below so many great banking houses in America. Alas!
neither the four doors nor the ten locks rendered this ancient
strong-room for the protection of the city's liberties proof against
the cunning and power of tyrants, and the precious charters it once
held were gradually taken away, despite the stout handiwork of one
Erembald, blacksmith, who received eighty-one pounds for forging the
doors in the year 1290.
To reach the bells one mounts a steep, dark staircase which is said to
contain four hundred and two steps, although we did not count them.
The chimes are claimed to be the finest in Europe, and comprise
forty-nine bells weighing in the aggregate fifty-six thousand, one
hundred and sixty-six pounds. They were cast by George Dumery in 1743
and are noted for their soft tone. The _tambour_ which operates the
chimes that ring every quarter of an hour weighs nineteen thousand,
nine hundred and sixty-six pounds and is pierced by thirty thousand,
five hundred square holes in which are fixed the pegs that pull the
strings commanding the hammers hanging outside the bells. By altering
the position of these pegs the tunes can be varied, but the programme
played while we were in the city was as follows:
At the hour: "Rondo, 15th sonata," by Mozart; at the quarter past: "Le
Carillon de Dunkerque," a popular air; at the half: "The Day of
Happiness," by Mozart; at the three-quarters past: "The Three
Drummers," a Flemish popular air. The official bell-ringer is M. Toon
Nauwelaerts, a native of Lierre, where his ancestors have been
bell-ringers for more than a hundred years. Although a young man, M.
Nauwelaerts won an international competition of bell-ringers organised
by the city of Bruges in 1911.
The view from the summit of the Belfry is one of the most superb in
Flanders, especially if the visitor is so fortunate as to have fallen
on one of those days when the clouds roll in great fleecy masses of
dazzling white that form a wondrous background for the grim grey tower
of St. Sauveur and the tapering red spire of the cathedral. As one
looks down upon the sea of tiny red-roofed houses far below he is
transported in fancy to the time, centuries ago, when watchmen peered
off across these very parapets day and night to sound the alarm of an
approaching foe, or announce the approach of their mighty Count or
some noble visitor. In so doing he can realise what the old Belfry has
meant to the city on the Roya. "For six hundred years," wrote M.
Gilliodts, one of the city's learned archivists, "this belfry has
watched over the city of Bruges. It has beheld her triumphs and her
failures, her glory and her shame, her prosperity and her gradual
decay, and, in spite of so many vicissitudes, it is still standing to
bear witness to the genius of our forefathers, to awaken alike
memories of old times and admiration for one of the most splendid
monuments of civic architecture which the Middle Ages have produced."
The best time of all in which to study and admire the external aspect
of this noble structure is when the sun is sinking to rest and its
rays fall slantingly across the sombre pile of tawny brick, touching
up its projections here and there with high lights that contrast
sharply with the deep shadows behind them, and listen--as did so often
our poet Longfellow--to the wonderfully sweet chimes as they ring the
quarter hours:
"Low and loud and sweetly blended,
Low at times and loud at times,
And changing like a poet's rhymes
Ring the beautiful wild chimes
From the Belfry in the market
Of the ancient town of Bruges."
The Halles themselves, of which the Belfry is the chief ornament, are
notable for their considerable size, forming a rectangle one hundred
and forty-three feet broad and two hundred and seventy-six feet deep.
The archeological museum in one wing--which is in course of removal
to the Gruuthuise Palace--enabled us to see the interior of the
structure, the extent of which indicates the volume of business that
was transacted there when Bruges was known as "the Venice of the
North." The great commercial activity of Bruges during the period of
its prosperity, from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, was due
primarily to the fact that the Counts of Flanders decreed that it
should be the sole port of entry for the entire country. The burghers
quickly perceived the priceless value of this privilege, and by their
enterprise and liberality made the city the foremost metropolis in
Europe in the volume and variety of its international trade. With
London its relations were especially intimate and cordial, each city
granting to the merchants of the other privileges that in those days
were almost unheard of. For example, the merchants of Bruges in time
of war were granted forty days of grace in which to dispose of their
property and provide for their personal safety. On one occasion, while
a war was actually going on, they were given a special truce of ninety
days in which to traffic freely with the subjects of the King of
England. The reason for these unusual favours was that Bruges was the
great market where the wool of England, on which the prosperity of
the country depended, was disposed of. Not infrequently the archives
record instances where the Kings of England treated with the chief
magistrates of Bruges on terms of complete equality, as if with a
sovereign power.
Nor was England the only country represented in the market places of
Bruges during this period. The Doges of Venice often treated directly
with the Burgomasters of the Italian city's Flemish rival, while the
powerful Hanseatic League established here their chief establishment
for the Netherlands. The list of the "Nations," as the groups of
foreign merchants were called, makes curious reading at the present
day. There were English, Scotch, French, Lusitanians, Castilians,
Venetians, Genoans, Florentines; merchants from Aragon, Biscay, Lucca,
Milan, Lombardy and Navarre. The German merchants from the Hanseatic
towns of Lubeck, Hamburg, Cologne, Dantzig and Bremen numbered no less
than forty houses in the year 1362, while the Italian and Spanish
firms resident in the city were still more numerous. Many of these
concerns were among the foremost trading and banking houses of the
Middle Ages, with mercantile transactions extending into every part of
the known world and strong enough financially to loan money to
princes. When the Duke of Pembroke was captured by Du Guesclin in the
Hundred Years' War between England and France it was in Bruges that
his countrymen borrowed the seventy thousand pounds demanded as
ransom.
As befitted the first mercantile city in the world, business methods
were more advanced at Bruges than anywhere else. It is claimed that
the first insurance policies ever drawn up were devised and signed in
Bruges about the year 1300. A form of registration of land titles was
in use there as early as the fifteenth century. Its Bourse, or central
exchange for merchandise of all kinds, is claimed to have been the
first ever established.
In a single day in the year 1456 no less than 150 foreign vessels
arrived at Bruges through its canals and the River Zwyn, and while
these were, of course, small craft as compared to those of the present
day there was then no port in the world that could boast of an equal
quantity of shipping. Industrially, the town was no less important,
having some fifty thousand artisans belonging to fifty-two different
guilds.
The silting up of the Zwyn, rendering the approach and departure of
shipping difficult and uncertain, started a downward movement that
in less than a century destroyed all of this great activity and
prosperity. Had it come alone it is probable that the sturdy merchants
of Bruges would have found a way to overcome this adverse factor to
their continued success, either by digging a new channel to the sea or
by dredging, but misfortunes--as is their proverbial wont--did not
come singly. In 1488, as a result of a conflict between the city and
Maximilian, the stores and exchanges were closed for three months and
all business came to a standstill. Seven years later it was said that
nearly five thousand houses stood vacant and abandoned, no one caring
either to buy or rent them. One by one the great merchants of the city
closed their counting-rooms and went away; one by one the artisans
departed. The last of the "Nations" to desert the declining city was
the Hanseatic League, which stood by it loyally until 1516, when it
removed its offices to Antwerp, by that time the acknowledged
metropolis of the North.
[Illustration: THE MINNEWATER, BRUGES.]
The Minnewater, or Lac d'Amour, is--apart from its exquisite
beauty--of interest as another memento of the city's former commerce.
This was the chief harbour for shipping, and, no doubt, was thronged
with sailing craft, while its banks must have swarmed with merchants
checking their arriving or departing cargoes, stevedores carrying
bales and boxes to and fro, clumsy wagons and carts for transporting
merchandise to the warehouses of the city and all the varied noise and
bustle of a great seaport. It is strangely silent and deserted now,
and the grass grows tall around the round tower built in 1398 by Jan
van Oudenaarde, and the white swans float slowly and majestically
beneath the black arches of the adjoining bridge which is eight years
older than the tower. It is said that he, or she, who stands on the
central arch of this bridge at midnight and expresses a desire will
have the wish fulfilled, but we did not try it. Before leaving this
charming spot, however, we went along the banks of the little lake to
a point where, looking back, we had the round tower and the bridge in
the middle distance, the lake in the foreground, and the towers of the
city on the horizon. This view is, without doubt, the finest the old
town affords.
The visitor to Bruges who is interested in the past should devote at
least half a day to a pilgrimage to Damme, distant about an hour's
walk along the canal that leads from the new port of Bruges to the
sea. In 1180 this now all but forgotten town was made an independent
commune with two burgomasters, and for two centuries thereafter it
enjoyed a great and increasing prosperity. It became the chief
entrepôt for the great commercial city of Bruges during its period of
splendour, and most of the leading merchants maintained offices there.
Its warehouses were crowded with merchandise from every corner of
Europe--wines from France and Spain, beer from England, wool from
Scotland, silk from Italy, all manner of cloths and stuffs, spices of
all kinds, metals of every variety known to the metal workers of those
days, rare and precious goods of every description.
To-day the very scene of all this mercantile activity has vanished.
Gone are the busy warehouses, the docks and wharves, even the very
harbour in which--according to ancient chroniclers--a score of ships
of the largest size then built could anchor easily. All that remains
is a diminutive Grande Place surrounded by several ancient edifices,
and the ruins of a huge church. In the centre of the Place is a modern
statue of Jacob van Maerlant, called "the Father of Flemish Poets."
Fame has surely never played any more astounding trick than that out
of the great host who lived in this busy commercial town in the days
of its prosperity--portly burgomasters, skilled in winning the
plaudits of the populace; shrewd, far-sighted merchants grown rich
from the commerce with distant lands; skilled artisans and craftsmen
in a hundred guilds--all, all are forgotten, while an obscure poet,
whom very likely many of those who knew him derided as a fool, is
alone remembered as the one great man of Damme.
Facing the Grande Place is the ancient Hotel de Ville, which, in
addition to being the most notable monument of the dead town, is also
an estaminet where the living can get a little refreshment. The main
floor of this edifice is divided into three large rooms. The first one
is the estaminet, with its array of bottles and its beer pump
contrasting most incongruously with the remaining vestiges of its
ancient grandeur.
Adjoining this is a large, irregular and unfurnished room, bare of
ornamentation save for two corbels, or Gothic brackets, which support
the main rafters of the ceiling. These are of wood, elaborately
carved. One represents Van Maerlant in his study, seated at a desk,
with what M. Havard calls a "chaste Suzanne" bathing in a tub over his
head. The other shows King David with his harp, and is embellished
with sundry other figures.
The remaining room is by far the most interesting, for it was here
that Charles the Bold publicly betrothed Margaret of York. The room,
which is officially termed the _Salle des Délibérations_, or Council
Hall, has a fine old fireplace said to have been restored during the
seventeenth century. It is decorated with two female figures in hoop
skirts and bears the motto "_Parcere subjectis et debellare
superbos_." This quotation from Vergil (Æneid 6:853) sounds rather
pompous and out of place in the council chamber of this now completely
vanquished and ruined city, and must have seemed so even in the
seventeenth century, but it may have been a survival of an inscription
placed over the original fireplace in the days when Damme dared to
close its gates even against the men from Bruges itself, and the
puissant Counts of Flanders had to use force to compel it to open
them.
It was in the year 1468 that this room in which we are now standing
had its one great day and became, for a brief space, the setting of
one of those splendid mediæval scenes that bards and novelists so
fondly recall, and that--in our age of up-to-date inventions--the
moving-picture men are so busily reconstructing and re-enacting. The
Princess had landed at Sluys, near the mouth of the River Zwyn, where
the Duke of Burgundy paid her a brief visit in secret--possibly to see
what she looked like, for this was a marriage of state and intended to
further his far-reaching ambitions. Probably if she had been as homely
as a witch the wedding would have taken place just the same, but as
the reverse was the case the preliminary inspection must have been
very gratifying. The following day the royal lady and her company rode
to Damme in a fleet of barges gorgeously decorated with gold, rich
velvets and rare silks. Here she was lodged in this very Council
Chamber of the Hotel de Ville, and here the Duke came in great state
to perform the public ceremony of betrothal. The wedding ring was
given in the presence of the English Bishop who had accompanied the
Princess, and Charles announced that he would await her presence on
the morrow at Bruges, where the wedding itself was to be celebrated in
the Cathedral.
The wedding procession as it departed for Bruges the next day must
have been another brave sight for the proud citizens of Damme. The
bride, reclining in a litter borne by four white horses, wore a
magnificent gown of cloth of gold, a crown on her forehead, a jewelled
necklace, and a mantle clasped with precious stones. Around her
pranced her ladies of honour, mounted on white horses gaily bedecked
with crimson satin. Immediately behind this picturesque group came
five decorated chariots bearing a score of beautiful ladies from the
English court, and following these came the guard of honour, or
escort, provided by the Duke--a squadron of counts, barons and
knights, with their faithful squires, their horses covered with gold
and silver, the riders resplendent in bright coloured velvet and rich
lace. The good people of the Middle Ages dearly loved a pageant, and
this surely was one to rejoice the heart of every citizen of Damme,
for here was the pride of the chivalry of all Europe--fair ladies and
brave men from oversea and from every corner of the great Duke's wide
dominions--thronging the Grande Place as the procession formed, and
then falling into their respective places as the long line passed out
through the city gate and proceeded on the straight, tree-lined
_grande route_ that led to Bruges.