THE BRUGES MATINS--BATTLE OF THE GOLDEN SPURS
The visitor to Bruges is reminded, wherever he goes, of the stirring
events which fill the chronicles of the town for several centuries.
Opposite the Belfry, in the middle of the Market-Place, is the monument
to Peter De Coninck and John Breidel, on which garlands of flowers are
laid every summer, in memory of what they did when the burghers rose
against the French in May, 1302; and amongst the modern frescoes which
cover the walls of the Grande Salle des Échevins in the Hôtel de Ville,
with its roof of fourteenth-century woodwork, is one which represents
the return from the Battle of the Golden Spurs, that famous fight in
which the hardy peasantry of Flanders overthrew the knights of France
whom Philip the Fair had sent to avenge the blood of the Frenchmen who
had died on the terrible morning of the 'Bruges Matins.'
The fourteenth century had opened. The town had now reached the
limits which have contained it ever since--an irregular oval with a
circumference of between four and five miles, surrounded by double
ditches, and a strong wall pierced by nine fortified gateways; and
as the town had grown, the privileges and liberties of the townsmen
had grown likewise. Sturdy, independent, and resolved to keep the
management of their own affairs in their own hands, the burghers
of Bruges, like those of the other Flemish towns, had succeeded in
establishing a system of self-government so complete that it roused
the opposition of Guy de Dampierre, Count of Flanders, whose efforts
to diminish the power of these communities at length brought about a
crisis which gave Philip the Fair of France an excuse for interfering.
The Count, having to contend both against his own subjects and against
the ambitions of the King of France, fell from power, and in the end
Flanders was annexed to France.
Soon after this rich province had been added to his domains, Philip
came with his wife, Joanna of Navarre, on a visit to Bruges. Already
there were two factions in the town--the Leliarts, or French party,
consisting chiefly of the upper classes, and the Clauwerts, or Flemish
party, to which the mass of the people belonged. By the former Philip
was received in royal fashion, and so magnificent were the dresses
and jewels worn by the wives and daughters of the nobles and rich
burgesses, who sat in the windows and balconies as the royal procession
passed along, that the Queen was moved to jealousy. 'I thought,' she
said, 'that I alone was Queen; but here in this place I have six
hundred rivals.' But in the streets below there were sullen looks and
murmurs of discontent, which grew louder and louder every day, when,
after the departure of the Court, the magistrates, who belonged to the
French party, proposed that the merchant guilds should find money to
defray some of the expenses which had been incurred on this occasion.
At this time Peter De Coninck was Dean of the Guild of Weavers, a man
of substance, popular and eloquent. There was a tumultuous gathering
in the Market-Place, when, standing in front of the Belfry, with the
leaders of five-and-twenty guilds around him, he declaimed on liberty,
and attacked the magistrates, calling on his fellow-townsmen to resist
the taxes. The city officers, on the order of the magistrates, arrested
De Coninck and his chief supporters, and hurried them to the prison in
the Bourg. But in a few hours the mob forced an entrance and released
them. The signal for revolt had been given, and for some months Bruges,
like the rest of Flanders, was in disorder. De Coninck, who had been
joined by John Breidel, Dean of the Guild of Butchers, was busy rousing
the people in all parts of the country. He visited Ghent, amongst other
places, and tried to persuade the magistrates that if Ghent and Bruges
united their forces the whole Flemish people would rise, crush the
Leliarts, and expel the French. But the men of Ghent would not listen
to him, and he returned to Bruges. Here, too, he met with a rebuff,
for the magistrates, having heard that Jacques de Châtillon, whom
Philip had made Governor of Flanders, was marching on the town, would
not allow him to remain amongst them. He went to Damme, and with him
went, not only Breidel, but 5,000 burghers of the national party, stout
Clauwerts, who had devoted themselves to regaining the liberty of their
country.
[Illustration: A FLEMISH YOUNG WOMAN]
When Châtillon rode up to the walls of Bruges and demanded entrance
the magistrates agreed to open the gates, on condition that he brought
with him only 300 men-at-arms. But he broke his word, and the town
was entered by 2,000 knights, whose haughty looks and threatening
language convinced the people that treachery was intended. It was
whispered in the Market-Place that the waggons which rumbled over the
drawbridges carried ropes with which the Clauwerts who had remained in
the town were to be hanged; that there was to be a general massacre,
in which not even the women and children would be spared; and that the
Frenchmen never unbuckled their swords or took off their armour, but
were ready to begin the slaughter at any moment. It was a day of terror
in Bruges, and when evening came some of the burghers slipped out, made
their way to Damme, and told De Coninck what was passing in the town.
That night Châtillon gave a feast to his chief officers, and amongst
his guests was Pierre Flotte, Chancellor of France, perhaps the ablest
of those jurists by whose evil councils Philip the Fair was encouraged
in the ideas of autocracy which led him to make the setting up of a
despotism the policy of his whole life. With Flotte--'that Belial,'
as Pope Boniface VIII. once called him--and the rest, Châtillon sat
revelling till a late hour. The night wore on; De Châtillon's party
broke up, and went to rest; the weary sentinels were half asleep at
their posts; and soon all Bruges was buried in silence. Here and there
lights twinkled in some of the guild-houses, where a few of the
burghers sat anxiously waiting for what the morrow might bring forth,
while others went to the ramparts on the north, and strained their eyes
to see if help was coming from Damme.
At early dawn--it was Friday, May 18, 1302--the watchers on the
ramparts saw a host of armed men rapidly approaching the town. They
were divided into two parties, one of which, led by De Coninck, made
for the Porte Ste. Croix, while the other, under Breidel, marched
to the Porte de Damme, a gateway which no longer exists, but which
was then one of the most important entrances, being that by which
travellers came from Damme and Sluis. Messengers from the ramparts ran
swiftly through the streets, in which daylight was now beginning to
appear, and spread the news from house to house. Silently the burghers
took their swords and pikes, left their homes, and gathered in the
Market-Place and near the houses in which the French were sleeping. The
French slept on till, all of a sudden, they were wakened by the tramp
of feet, the clash of arms, and shouts of 'Flanders for the Lion!'
Breidel had led his men into the town, and they were rushing through
the streets to where Châtillon had taken up his quarters, while De
Coninck, having passed through the Porte Ste. Croix, was marching to
the Bourg. The Frenchmen, bewildered, surprised, and only half awake,
ran out into the streets. The Flemings were shouting 'Schilt ende
Vriendt! Schilt ende Vriendt!'[5] and every man who could not pronounce
these words was known to be a Frenchman, and slain upon the spot. Some
fled to the gates; but at every gate they found a band of guards, who
called out 'Schilt ende Vriendt!' and put them to the sword.
All that summer's morning, and on throughout the day, the massacre
continued. Old men, women, and children hurled stones from the roofs
and windows down upon the enemy. Breidel, a man of great strength,
killed many with his own hand, and those whom he wounded were beaten
to death where they fell by the apprentices with their iron clubs. In
the Market-Place, close to where the monument to De Coninck and Breidel
stands, a party of soldiers, under a gallant French knight, Gauthier
de Sapignies, made a stand; but they were overpowered and slaughtered
to the last man. Châtillon tried to rally his forces, but the surprise
had been too complete, and, disguising himself in the cassock of a
priest, he hid, in company with Chancellor Flotte, till it was dark,
when they managed to escape from the town. By this time the carnage had
ceased; the walls of the houses and the gutters ran with blood; and
the burghers of Bruges had done their work so thoroughly that 2,000
Frenchmen lay dead upon the streets.
But the final reckoning with France was yet to come. When Châtillon
reached Paris and told his master the direful story of the Bruges
Matins, Philip swore revenge; and a few weeks later an army 40,000
strong invaded Flanders, under the Comte d'Artois, with whom rode also
Châtillon, Flotte, and many nobles of France. The Flemings went to meet
them--not only the burghers of Bruges, led by De Coninck and Breidel,
marching under the banners of their guilds, but men from every part of
Flanders--and on July 11, near Courtrai, the Battle of the Golden Spurs
was fought.
[Illustration: A FLEMISH BURGHER]
The ground was marshy, with a stream and pools of water between
the two armies; and just as the Scots at Bannockburn, twelve years
afterwards, prepared pitfalls for the heavy cavalry of England, so the
Flemings laid a trap for the French knights by cutting down brushwood
and covering the water. The horsemen, clad in cumbrous armour,
charged, the brushwood gave way, and most of them sank into the water.
The Comte d'Artois got clear, but was beaten to the ground and killed.
The Chancellor Flotte, who had boasted that he would bring the people
of Bruges to their knees, was trampled to death. Châtillon died too;
and when, at last, a long day's fighting came to an end, the Flemings
had gained a complete victory. By this battle, which took its name from
the thousands of golden spurs which were torn from the French knights
who fell, the victors secured--for a time, at least--the liberty of
their country, and the memory of it was for many a day to Flanders
what the memory of Bannockburn was to Scotland or of Morgarten to
Switzerland.
FOOTNOTES.
[Footnote 5: 'Shield and Friend!']