THE PRINCIPALITY OF LIÉGE
The map of Belgium during the Middle Ages, and down to the period
of the French Revolution, shows the outlines of a large territory
lying to the south of Brabant. On the west it extends to the French
dominions; on the east are Germany and the Duchy of Limbourg; the Duchy
of Luxembourg bounds it on the south. This territory was known as the
Principality of Liége.
The aspect of this part of Belgium is entirely different from that of
the other provinces. The River Semois, rising near Arlon, the capital
of Belgian Luxembourg, flows through quiet meadows, a slow and placid
streamlet, bordered by rushes and willow-trees, till it reaches the
western extremity of the mountainous forests of Ardennes. There it
enters a narrow winding valley, thickly wooded, with rocky dells, and
banks so precipitous that in some places there is not even a footpath,
and travellers must pass from side to side in boats when making their
way along the margin of the stream. Emerging from this defile, it
crosses the French frontier, and joins the Meuse near Monthermé. From
thence the Meuse flows to the north till it enters Belgium a short
distance beyond the town of Givet.
The romantic valley of the Meuse stretches on for miles, past Hastière,
with its abbey of the eleventh century, peaceful Waulsort, in former
times a Benedictine settlement, but now a favourite summer resort,
and the picturesque château of Freyr, with its well-ordered gardens.
On either side are steep slopes clothed with trees, and broken here
and there by bold, outstanding pinnacles of rock. The sweet village
of Anseremme straggles along the road beside the river; and near it
the Lesse rushes down, between overhanging trees and towering cliffs,
to meet the Meuse. Then comes Dinant, nestling on the right bank of
the river, below the fortress which rises on the steep hillside. From
Dinant the Meuse winds on to where the Sambre joins it at Namur, and so
onwards to Liége and Maestricht.
[Illustration: THE CHÂTEAU DE WAULSORT ON THE MEUSE]
To the south of this valley of the Meuse, for mile after mile, a broad,
undulating tableland is covered by thick forests, where deer and wild
boars abound, or opens out into a wide rolling country, dotted
with villages, farm-houses, church spires, modern châteaux, and the
ruins of feudal strongholds perched on inaccessible rocks.
The appearance of this region has thus nothing in common with any
other part of Belgium, with the flat, densely populated plain which
extends southwards from the coast of Flanders. The people, too, are
different--of quite another type, and speaking, most of them, another
tongue. For this is the country of the Walloons, that hard-working
race whose aptitude for strenuous labour distinguishes them from the
light-hearted, easy-going people of Flanders and Brabant, and whose
language is a form of old French mingled with words derived from German
roots.
While, moreover, the old-time history of northern Belgium is the
history of great commercial cities, rolling in wealth and trading to
all parts of the world, with the merchant princes and the members of
the guilds for their great men, the history of these southern provinces
is the long story of how the Principality of Liége was evolved out of
the chaos of small lordships which existed in the sixth century, and
was governed, not by laymen, but by a dynasty of priests, who made war
and concluded alliances on equal terms with the surrounding princes.
It is a story of feudal barons, of the romance of chivalry, of terrible
deeds, of ferocious bandits, of bishops who led armies into the field
and shed blood like water, often for very trifling causes.
When, at the end of the fifteenth century, Belgium was the most
opulent country in Europe, the valley of the Meuse and the wide forest
of Ardennes remained a waste. When, under the house of Burgundy,
Flanders and Brabant flourished and grew rich, the Principality of
Liége was impoverished and steeped in misery. It remained separate and
independent, and has, therefore, a history of its own--the history
of a State governed by the clergy, the nobles, and the people; where
taxes could not be levied without the assent of these three estates;
where no man could be condemned except by the judges, and in accordance
with the laws; where such a thing as arbitrary arrest was unknown, at
least in theory; where the home of the poorest subject was inviolable;
but where, in spite of all these privileges, year after year saw one
revolution follow another, all the horrors of foreign and domestic war,
and innumerable acts of cruelty, oppression, and treachery.
[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DE WALZIN, IN THE LESSE VALLEY]
This state of things continued, with scarcely a pause, till the close
of the seventeenth century, after which the country, though exhausted,
prolonged its independence for another hundred years, till, with the
rest of Belgium, it was annexed to France, and broken up into several
departments. In later days, from the fall of Napoleon and the Congress
of Vienna down to the present time, it has shared the fortunes of the
modern kingdom of Belgium.
The whole story cannot be told within the compass of a few pages; but
enough may be set down to excite, perhaps, the interest of those who
may chance to travel in this part of Europe.