GHENT IN THE DAYS OF THE FLEMISH COUNTS
During the Middle Ages Ghent was, for nearly five centuries, one of
the greatest cities in the Occidental world. "If you have ever been in
Flanders," wrote Jean Froissart, near the close of the fourteenth
century, "you are aware that Ghent is the sovereign city of Flanders
in power, in wisdom, in government, in the number of its houses, in
position and in all else that goes to make a great and noble city, and
that three great rivers serve to bring to it ships from every part of
the world." After further eulogising the three rivers referred to,
which were the Scheldt, the Lys and the Lieve, the chronicler of
Valenciennes added that the city could put eighty thousand men in the
field, and that it would require a host of two hundred thousand
warriors to capture it. These statements, though no doubt
exaggerations, do not seem to the tourist so impossible of belief as
corresponding figures regarding the former greatness of the other
cities in Flanders, for Ghent is still "a great and noble city," while
some of its once puissant rivals are now little more than country
villages. In fact, to the visitor who approaches the centre of the
town from either of its two principal railway stations--it has five in
all--the city seems to be essentially a modern one, with fine streets
similar in every way to those to be found in Antwerp or Brussels, and
it is therefore with a shock of surprise that he suddenly finds
himself riding past one hoary old structure after another whose
frowning grey walls and massive architecture bespeak an antiquity
strangely at variance with their surroundings.
To the Professor, and to all students of the thrilling history of this
famous old Flemish town, the most interesting of these reminders of
the Ghent of five hundred or one thousand years ago is the imposing
Château des Comtes, or Castle of the Counts, the ruins of which stand
in the very heart of the town with the busy life and bustle of the
Ghent of to-day surging about them. Hither, as soon as our belongings
were safely deposited in the hotel, we came--almost as a matter of
course. In part this magnificent relic of the feudal ages dates from
the ninth century, when it was called the new castle, _Novum
Castellum_, to distinguish it from a still older castle situated hard
by that was destroyed about the year 1010. Two of the three stories
composing this original structure are still intact and can be seen by
the visitor when he inspects the cellar of the keep. Here the columns
and arches are of later construction, but the walls--which are over
five and a half feet thick--are the work of builders who put these
stones in place more than a thousand years ago. It was in 1180,
according to the Latin inscription that can still be read just inside
of the main entrance from the Place Ste. Pharaïlde, that Philip of
Alsace--son of the Dierick of Alsace who brought the Holy Blood to the
chapel of St. Basil at Bruges--erected the present structure. Its
purpose was "to check the unbounded arrogance of the inhabitants of
Ghent, who had become too proud of their riches and of their fortified
houses, which looked like towers." The Count had been in Palestine two
years before and had greatly admired some of the strong castles
erected there by the crusaders and instructed his builders to imitate
these models, which he no doubt described to them.
[Illustration: Photograph by E. Sacré. CASTLE OF THE COUNTS, GHENT.]
After inspecting the remains of the earlier castle we mounted the
staircase at the left of the entrance tower. This leads to the top of
the outer castle wall and can be followed entirely around the great
ellipse formed by the complete structure. From every side fine views
can be had of the surrounding city and the moat and River Lieve which
guard the castle on the opposite side from the Place. Coming to the
square tower behind the entrance gateway we were shown a room on the
first story formerly used as a prison and torture chamber. From the
top of this tower the banner of the Count was hoisted when the men of
Ghent were called upon to follow their over-lord to war. The gateway
below, at the corner of the Place Ste. Pharaïlde and the rue de la
Monnaie, has a tragic interest from the fact that here were placed the
two railings, called _les bailles_, between which those sentenced to
death by the Council of Flanders were executed. Executions also often
took place in the outer courtyard between the exterior wall and the
Keep, or inner structure. In this yard, in 1445, the procession of the
Order of the Golden Fleece formed for its march to the church of St.
Bavon, and one can imagine how gay with banners and fair ladies the
old castle must have been on that occasion.
The inner castle, usually styled the Palace, was the actual residence
of the Counts of Flanders whenever they chanced to be stopping in the
city. Thanks to the skilful restoration of the government, the various
parts of this edifice can be seen in approximately their original
condition, save for the rich tapestries and the scant but solid
furniture with which the rooms were formerly made habitable. The
chambers of the Count and Countess are particularly fine specimens of
the living quarters of the mediæval nobility, quite apart from their
many historic associations. Below the former is the entrance to the
underground prison built by Philip of Alsace. It is eighteen feet
deep, and extends ten and one-half feet below the level of the
courtyard, while one of the walls is seven and the others six feet
thick. A little air filters in from a zig-zag opening in one wall, but
no light. The prisoners were let down into this horrible cavern by
means of a ladder, or a basket attached to a rope, after which even
the opening by which they entered was closed and they were left alone
in the dark. For more than six centuries this cell was in constant
use, and one cannot but wonder whether milady the Countess in her
sweet chamber overhead ever had her dreams troubled by visions of the
despairing victims in their beds of slime who were here awaiting the
Count's decision as to their final fate. It seems that this prison,
fearful though it must have been to those incarcerated there, was not
one of those _oubliettes_ of which the Bastille and many another
mediæval castle had so many. So far as known, it was only used for
prisoners awaiting trial, or as a species of solitary confinement for
serious crimes. In 1657 a school-teacher accused of teaching heretical
doctrines to his pupils was confined here thirteen months, but there
is no record of any one being flung down into this pit to be
"forgotten." Still, it must be said that such proceedings would not be
likely to become a matter of record, and very little is known about
what went on behind these grim walls when the Counts of Flanders and
Dukes of Burgundy held absolute and undisputed sway. Any one who asked
inconvenient questions would very probably have come here himself!
The Great Hall, which is about one hundred and twenty-five feet long
by from fifty to sixty feet in width, is a chapter in the history of
Flanders by itself. Here the Counts, and their successors, the Dukes
of Burgundy, held many of their great banquets and state functions of
various kinds. Louis of Maele in 1346 and Philip the Good in 1445 gave
state banquets in this hall of which long accounts have been preserved
in the contemporary chronicles. The latter, which was held on the
occasion of the seventh meeting of the Knights of the Golden Fleece
already mentioned, must have been quite a tremendous affair. At one
end of this Hall the Council of the Vieux-Bourg used to pronounce
sentence upon prisoners, and half a dozen famous treaties and many of
minor importance were proclaimed in this room. No doubt, also, the
Great Hall was used as the chief living-room of the castle on less
formal occasions, when the Count and Countess perhaps dined on a
raised dais at one end, while the throng of courtiers and retainers
feasted noisily farther down the hall. On such occasions one can
imagine how the great stone fireplace, a dozen feet wide and seven or
eight feet high, must have roared, while the torches and candles used
to supplement the feeble light from the narrow windows flared and sent
their smoke up to the grimy rafters overhead. The great room, now so
empty and silent, was then gay with the variegated costumes of the
olden time, while its walls echoed to the songs and laughter of the
boisterous throng.
There are half a score of other rooms to be seen: the kitchen with its
fireplace big enough to roast an ox whole; the residence of the
Castellane or keeper of the castle; the small audience chamber near
the bedrooms of their highnesses--which was used on ordinary occasions
instead of the great hall--and several others. Of them all the most
interesting is the ancient stable, which is entered from the castle
yard. It seems hard to believe that this vast vaulted room, with its
splendid columns and Romanesque arches was ever designed or used as a
stable, but such the historians all aver was the case. In appearance
it resembles an early church or chapel. In a glass case at one side is
a gruesome collection of skeletons that were uncovered here in 1904,
presumably those of prisoners who were secretly executed no one knows
how many years ago. After the fourteenth century the castle ceased to
be occupied by the sovereigns as a residence, and the stable, no
longer needed for horses, became a torture chamber and continued to be
used for this purpose until the close of the eighteenth century. It is
here that the beautiful and unfortunate Jacqueline, Countess of
Hainaut and Holland, is said to have been confined by Philip the Good
when that amiable monarch was trying to persuade her to part with her
patrimony. She resisted bravely and was finally released, but her
powerful and wily antagonist subjugated her at last. The Professor
read, or was told, that there is another prison cell below the waters
of the moat, and also a passage, miles in length, leading out to the
open country and intended for escape in case a foe besieging the
castle seemed likely to take it, but these we were not able to
discover nor did the official guide to the castle appear to know
anything about them.
Speaking of sieges, the castle has witnessed more than one. The _Novum
Castellum_, which preceded the present edifice, was besieged in 1128
by Dierick of Alsace. In 1302, a few months before the Battle of the
Spurs, the citizens of Ghent rose en masse against the sheriffs of
King Philip of France, who took refuge here. The infuriated crowd,
armed with pikes, axes and swords, beat upon the gates and finally set
fire to the castle. At this the besieged gave up, and all within were
forced to run a fearful gauntlet. Without the castle gates the people
formed a dense mass, bristling with pikes and spears, through which a
narrow lane was kept open. As the late defenders of the castle emerged
they had to pass down this avenue of steel, and whoever had committed
any crime against the burghers never reached the farther end alive,
whether he was one of the lord high sheriffs or a page. In 1338 the
Count himself, Louis of Maele, was here besieged by Jacques Van
Artevelde, and forced to make terms with the great tribune.
The later history of the structure itself is interesting and curious.
Already in 1302 hovels had been built against the castle walls on the
land side. In 1350 a mint was installed within the castle, where it
remained until suppressed in the sixteenth century, and from the same
year the Court of the Count held sessions here. It was used less and
less as a residence after this, but from 1407 to 1778 was the seat of
the Council of Flanders, which succeeded the Court of the Counts. In
1779 the buildings used by the court were sold and in 1797 and 1798
those of the Assembly of the Vieux Bourg also passed into private
hands. The Castellany of the Vieux Bourg was for many years a public
inn, and in 1807 a factory was established in the Keep, the Great Hall
being used as a machine-room. The Castellany then became a cotton
spinning mill, was partly burned in 1829, but rebuilt and continued in
use as a mill until 1884. Meanwhile other small buildings were
erected around the old walls until they were entirely concealed, and a
guidebook of this period states that of the old castle "nothing now
remains but the entrance." In 1887 some archeologists stirred the
municipal and national governments to action with a view to saving and
restoring this splendid monument of the Middle Ages, the Gateway
having already been acquired by the nation in 1872. The work of
demolishing the buildings that had clustered about the old walls and
of restoration lasted from 1889 till 1913, when at last the structure
was brought into the condition that the visitor beholds to-day. In its
present form it is unquestionably one of the most interesting and
important examples of feudal architecture in Europe. Within its sombre
walls the student has, in records of stone, an epitome of the history
of ten centuries.
The Professor informed us that, in the course of his researches, he
had run across a reference to some legend or popular tradition
concerning a siege of Ghent in the year 930, or thereabouts, by the
Kings of England, Scotland and Ireland. The city, according to this
tale, was bravely defended by Dierick, Lord of Dixmude, and all the
attacks of the besiegers were repelled for many months. Their
majesties from across the Channel were naturally much incensed at this
unexpected resistance, and warned the burghers and their valiant chief
that if they did not surrender within twenty-four hours, they would
raze the city to the ground and sow corn on its ruins. Notwithstanding
this threat, to the fulfilment of which the kings aforesaid took a
mighty oath, the men of Ghent fought stubbornly on, and finally the
besiegers were forced to give up their enterprise. The English
monarch, however, in order to fulfil his vow and thereby ease his
conscience, humbly begged permission of the victors to allow him to
throw a grain of corn in the market-place. This modest request was
granted, but to prevent any such stratagem as the one that proved so
successful in the famous siege of Troy, a tiny hole was made in the
city wall and the monarch required to crawl through alone, returning
the same way after the corn-throwing performance was over. From this
circumstance the name of Engelande-gat was derisively given to the
little street leading from the Bestroom-Porte to St. Michel--a name
which Pryse L. Gordon in his book on Holland and Belgium, written in
1834, stated was still retained at that time. We were unable to find
it, however, in one of our early morning tramps, although we found a
rue d'Angleterre which runs into the Place St. Michel directly in
front of the church, and may have derived its name from that of the
earlier street which, quite possibly, it may have replaced. The great
plan of the city drawn by Hondius shows a vast number of streets and
lanes that to-day have entirely disappeared. The legend, however, may
have had some basis in fact, although the three kings were no doubt a
fanciful embellishment added by the peasants as they repeated the
story of some early attack. There were plenty of small potentates in
those days prowling about to seize whatever was not well defended, or
gave promise of rich booty, without going across the Channel to look
for them.
It was at about this period, in fact a little earlier, that another of
the famous "monuments" of Ghent was erected. This is the Abbey of St.
Bavon, which alone would justify a visit to the city if there were
nothing else to see. A primitive abbey on this site is said to have
been founded about the year 631 by St. Amand, an early missionary, who
dedicated it to St. Peter. One of this prelate's converts was a rich
nobleman named Allowin, who took the name of Bavon on his conversion
and retired into a monastery. A second abbey took the name of St.
Bavon, the deceased monk having been canonized, and around these two
religious institutions a little settlement grew up that was destined
to expand into the mighty city of Ghent. At St. Bavon, therefore, the
visitor beholds not merely the ruins of an ancient and famous abbey
but the birthplace of the city that has played so great a part in the
history of Flanders and of Europe. When Baldwin II died his widow, the
daughter of Alfred the Great, had him buried at the monastery of St.
Peter, to which she made liberal donations. Successive Counts and
Countesses followed this example, the two abbeys becoming rich and
powerful, and the town soon became the home of numerous merchants who
took advantage of the protection afforded by these religious
institutions, and also of the strategic location of the town at the
junction of three rivers. The Quai au Blé and the Quai aux Herbes date
from this epoch, the merchants speedily establishing a market for the
sale of grain and other products. The Fish Market and the famous
Marché du Vendredi, or Friday Market, soon followed and Ghent had
begun the development that was destined to make it, for three
centuries, one of the greatest trading centres in the world.
The present buildings of the Abbey date from the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, the original structures having been destroyed during the
tenth century. It was during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
that the Abbey attained the zenith of its power. Here, in 1369, was
solemnised the marriage of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, with
Margaret, the daughter of Louis of Maele, the last of the Counts of
Flanders to be known by that title only. This event virtually ended
the long line of Flemish Counts, for the title thereafter became one
of many similarly held by the powerful Dukes of Burgundy and their
successors and was only used on state occasions, or when it served
their purpose. The unfortunate Michelle, the first wife of Philip the
Good, was interred here. By a strange irony of fate it was Charles the
Fifth of all men, the valiant Protector of the Faith, head and front
of the monarchs who remained steadfastly loyal to the Catholic Church,
who began the work of destroying this splendid and ancient monastery.
To build the great fortress by which he held in awe the turbulent
citizens of Ghent he ordered the demolishment of a considerable part
of its buildings and the erection on its site of his citadel, the
_Château des Espagnols_. The Calvinists continued the work of
destruction in 1581, the French wrecking the buildings still further,
and the revolt of 1830 completing the ruin of what was in its day of
prosperity one of the finest monastic institutions in Europe.
Since 1834 the ruins have been carefully protected against further
injury; and, as they stand, give the observer a most imposing
realisation of their former grandeur. The Refectory, or dining-hall,
is still fairly intact, and is used as a museum of sculptures saved
from the wreck of the other buildings, and including some found in
other parts of the city. One of these is a tombstone thought to be
that of Hubert Van Eyck, while another is the _Homme du Beffroi_, one
of the four stone statues erected in 1338 on the corners of the
Belfry. A baptismal font found in the ruins of the Abbey contains a
curious bas-relief representing Adam and Eve being expelled from
Paradise. It is not, however, in these detached items that the visitor
will find the chief interest and inspiration of the ancient Abbey, but
in the general views that in every direction give a conception of the
former vast extent and richness of the buildings. In their present
condition the ruins form a series of pictures of wonderful beauty,
not only in the remains of their architectural and artistic splendour,
but because Nature, kinder than man, has covered the scars made by the
despoilers with her choicest tapestries of trailing vines and glowing
flowers and spread her softest carpets of verdure along the silent and
deserted cloisters.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE ABBEY OF ST. BAVON, GHENT.]
Returning to the heart of the city, another memento of the earliest
period of the city's growth attracted our attention. This was the
Château of Girard le Diable (Girard the Devil) the first of the
"monuments" to be encountered if one arrives by the Southern railway
station. This edifice, now completely restored and used as the
depository of the provincial archives, dates from 1216. Apart from the
exterior, however, which reproduces the original appearance of the
castle, the only portion of interest to the visitor is the crypt which
is over one hundred feet long and nearly forty-five feet in width,
making it one of the largest in Flanders. The vaulted roof is
supported by massive round columns and forms a notable example of the
ogival style of architecture. We sought in vain to find what the noble
Sir Girard did or did not do to receive his satanic appellation. From
the records he appears to have been a tolerably worthy citizen,
holding, as did his father before him, the position of Châtelain of
Ghent. A fortunate marriage, apparently, gave him the means to erect
this exceptionally fine castle, which has--like many of the old
buildings in the city--had a most varied history. For two or three
centuries it remained the residence of the Châtelains of Ghent, then,
for a time, was used by the city as an arsenal, was occupied by the
Hiéronimites, and then became in succession a school, a mad-house, an
orphan asylum, a house of correction, and a fire house. Its spacious
halls now contain the precious charters of the Counts of Flanders and
innumerable historic documents of Ghent and the other cities of the
province.
The most ancient church in Ghent is that of St. Nicholas in the Marché
aux Grains. It was founded in 912, or slightly more than a thousand
years ago. The original edifice was burned in 1120, so that the
present structure dates from that century. A picturesque feature of
the exterior is the row of tiny one-story houses snuggling up against
the side of the great church on the rue Petite Turquis. The west
window is an extremely lofty lancet of great beauty. The doorway on
this side was for many years crowded between commonplace three-story
houses, the church builders of Flanders apparently caring very little
how the imposing majesty of their noble churches might be marred by
adjacent buildings, but these have now been removed and this front of
the structure cleared.
Among the treasures of this church are the relics of St. Anne, said to
have been brought from Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon. In the
sacristy is some oil from the tomb of St. Nicholas of Myra and Bari,
after whom the church was named. This saint died in 342 and is the
subject of many picturesque mediæval legends. Even in infancy he is
alleged to have observed the fasts, refusing the breast of his nurse.
He used to look particularly after children, young women, sailors and
travellers. On one occasion he came to an inn where the wicked
inn-keeper fed his guests with the flesh of young children. St.
Nicholas immediately went to the tub where the bodies of the innocents
lay in brine and, reviving them, restored them all alive and whole
again to their parents. This incident is frequently depicted by
Flemish painters. After his death the bones of the Saint were buried
at Myra, but were stolen some centuries later--according to certain
monkish chronicles--and, after many adventures in which the spirit of
the deceased prelate participated, the oil which was found in his
sarcophagus was brought here. Jean Lyon, Dean of the guild of boatmen,
and one of the heroes of the White Hoods in their resistance to the
cruel Louis de Maele, was buried in this church.
One of the other churches of Ghent, the Cathedral of St. Bavon, dates
in part from the same early period as the other monuments described in
this chapter. Originally dedicated to St. John, the name was changed
to St. Bavon in 1540 and it became a cathedral nine years later. It is
not, however, the cathedral--of which the nave and transepts were not
completed until 1533 to 1559--but the earlier church of St. Jean that
figures in the history of Ghent under Counts of Flanders. Of this
church the crypt, which dates from the eleventh or twelfth century,
and the choir, dating from the thirteenth century, still remain. Our
exploration of the cold and gloomy crypt served to bring back the
earlier period of the history of Ghent in two ways--not only is its
present appearance undoubtedly much the same as it was eight or nine
centuries ago, when the city of the weavers was just beginning to
make its power and fame known in the land, but the historian sees here
the tombs of many of the great men of the city. For the most part
there were merchant princes, aristocrats, the leaders of the Liliaert
faction--those who sided with the King of France and took his lilies
as their emblem.
Under its early Flemish Counts, the history of Ghent was, on the
whole, one of rapid and almost uninterrupted expansion. The merchants
who flocked to the little town around the Abbeys of St. Peter and St.
Bavon were followed by similar throngs of artisans, and as the
commerce of the city grew apace so its industrial importance expanded.
On the death of Philip of Alsace, who had erected the Château on the
Place Ste. Pharaïlde to hold the city in check, its burghers wrested
from the feeble hands of his widow the famous _Keure_ of 1191, a sort
of local Magna Carta which confirmed all pre-existing privileges and
granted others. The same year the Treaty of Arras, by which Baldwin
VIII ceded Arras and the County of Artois to Philip Augustus, the wily
and land-grasping King of France, made Ghent virtually the capital of
Flanders--a position that had hitherto been occupied by Bruges. Like
its rival on the Roya, Ghent had become an important centre for the
woollen trade with England, and also for all the branches of woollen
manufacture, the "scarlets" of Ghent being renowned far and wide. The
thirteenth century--in consequence of the folly of Baldwin of
Constantinople who, as we have seen, went off on a fanatical
enterprise to the Far East, leaving the richest county in the world at
the mercy of his enemies--saw a steady decline in the power of the
Counts; and, while the Kings of France profited mightily by this
situation, the shrewd burghers of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres and the other
powerful Flemish communes were not backward in extending and securing
their own powers also. The result was that the successive Counts and
Countesses were forced to submit to repeated encroachments on their
authority. In 1228 Count Ferrand established a Council of thirty-nine
members which soon became a virtual oligarchy and the actual ruler of
the city. This body, while maintaining at first fairly friendly
relations with the Counts, soon began to treat with other nations and
the other cities in Flanders as if it was the actual sovereign. Then,
as the King of France, toward the close of the thirteenth century,
began to give evidence of an intention to seize the rich county of
Flanders for himself--thus despoiling both the Counts and the
burghers at the same time--Ghent joined heartily in the general
movement toward a national resistance. In 1297 the Count Guy granted
the city a new _Keure_, or charter, even more liberal than that of
1191, and formed an alliance with England against the common foe.
This, however, came to nothing, and all Flanders was over-run by the
victorious French troops. Ghent, after a brief resistance, yielded,
and the French King, making liberal concessions to win the support of
the most powerful of all the Flemish communes, the Liliaerts, or
supporters of the Lily of France, were temporarily holding the upper
hand when the astounding tidings came of the Battle of the Spurs.