Every attempt has been made to replicate the original as printed. Some typographical errors have been corrected; . In certain versions of this etext, in certain browsers, clicking on this symbol will bring up a larger version of the image. [Contents]
[Illustrations]
[Genealogical Tables]
[Index]: [A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [Q], [R], [S], [T], [V], [W], [Y], [Z]
[Footnotes] (etext transcriber's note)

The Story of Bruges

‘I do love these ancient ruins;
We never tread upon them but we set
Our foot upon some reverend history.’
Duchess of Malfi.

All Rights Reserved.



The Story of Bruges
by Ernest Gilliat-Smith
Illustrated by Edith Calvert
and H e r b e r t R a i l t o n

London: J. M. Dent & Co.
Aldine House, 29 and 30 Bedford Street
Covent Garden W.C.

1909

First Edition, July 1901.
Second Edition, October 1903.
Third Edition, December 1905.
Fourth Edition, November 1909.

PREFACE

FEW great mediæval towns possess so many memorials of the past, alike in masonry and on parchment, as does ‘the ancient town of Bruges.’

They have been indited by the patience of the scribe in breviary and in charter-roll; they have been perpetuated by the art of the painter, in gold and glowing tones, in portrait and in altar-piece; they have been graven with an iron pen in wood and metal and stone; they have been handed down by word of mouth through countless generations.

The municipal rolls go back to the year 1280, and included amongst them are the annual accounts of the city from 1281 to 1789, almost complete; those of the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame to early in the eleven hundreds; and there are, too, the rolls of St. Sauveur, of the old Cathedral of St. Donatian, of the great Abbey of Dunes, and of many other time-honoured corporations; whilst the Municipal Library and the Library of the Diocesan Seminary contain together, no less than seven hundred and thirty-four manuscripts, not a few of which were written in the city itself or in its immediate neighbourhood.

There are buildings in Bruges which carry us back to the days of Baldwin Bras de Fer, perhaps to a still more remote period; four of the seven parish churches date from the twelve hundreds; the oldest of the civic monuments to at latest 1280, and from this epoch until the close of the Middle Age almost every year is marked by the erection of stately edifices, of which very many have come down to us.

Lack of material will not hamper the future historian of Bruges, for the history of Bruges has yet to be written. The present work lays no claim to such title. It is but a bare outline, a mere sketch, and in this it resembles, in some degree, the beautiful map at the end of the volume, and many of the illustrations by which the book is adorned.

The artists who designed these fascinating pictures have succeeded by means of a few skilful touches in laying before us a faithful reflection of the beauty of Bruges, and, following in their footsteps, I, too, have essayed to render my story of the men who created it alike faithful and picturesque.

If my efforts have not been crowned with the same measure of success, the fault lies not in the material, but rather in the manner in which it has been handled; for the life’s story of the builders of Bruges is no less marvellous and no less alluring than are the monuments which they reared.

E. G.-S.

Bruges, June 1901.

CONTENTS

[CHAPTER I]
PAGE
The First Flemings[1]
[CHAPTER II]
Earliest Bruges[9]
[CHAPTER III]
Arnulph the Great[21]
[CHAPTER IV]
Progress of the City[26]
[CHAPTER V]
The Murder of Charles the Good[38]
[CHAPTER VI]
Vengeance[57]
[CHAPTER VII]
Bruges in the Days of Charles the Good[75]
[CHAPTER VIII]
William Cliton[81]
[CHAPTER IX]
Dierick of Alsace and the Precious Blood[90]
[CHAPTER X]
Philip of Alsace and the Charter of the Franc[105]
[CHAPTER XI]
Baldwin of Constantinople[111]
[CHAPTER XII]
The Love Story of Bourchard d’Avesnes[122]
[CHAPTER XIII]
The French Annexation[136]
[CHAPTER XIV]
Peter De Coninck[144]
[CHAPTER XV]
The Battle of the Golden Spurs[153]
[CHAPTER XVI]
The Great Charter[164]
[CHAPTER XVII]
Louis of Nevers[172]
[CHAPTER XVIII]
Louis of Maele[195]
[CHAPTER XIX]
Bruges under the Princes of the House of Burgundy[210]
[CHAPTER XX]
The Great Humiliation[230]
[CHAPTER XXI]
The Terrible Duke and his Gentle Daughter[248]
[CHAPTER XXII]
The Final Catastrophe[268]
[CHAPTER XXIII]
The Architects and Architecture of Bruges in the Fifteenth Century[306]
[CHAPTER XXIV]
The Painters and the Pictures of Bruges in the Fifteenth Century[334]
[CHAPTER XXV]
Modern Bruges[389]
Index[411]

GENEALOGICAL TABLES

PAGE

[I]

Table of the Counts of Flanders fromBaldwin I. to Baldwin V. ... facing

[36]

[II]

Table of the Counts of Flanders fromBaldwin V. to Baldwin VII. ... facing

[82]

[III]

Table of the Counts of Flanders fromBaldwin VIII. to Guy de Dampierre ... facing

[162]

[IV]

Table of the Counts of Flanders fromGuy de Dampierre to Marguerite of Maele ... facing

[208]

[V]

Table of the Counts of Flanders fromPhilippe le Hardi to Philippe le Beau ... facing

[304]

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
The Belfry of Bruges (photogravure)[Frontispiece]
Godshuis on the Quai Vert[1]
View of the Quai Vert[12]
Palais du Franc and the Hôtel de Ville from River[13]
The Crypt of St. Basil’s[16]
The Church of Notre Dame[19]
Charles the Good (from an old Bruges print)[38]
Angle of the Rue de l’Ane Aveugle[56]
The Porch of Notre Dame[79]
A Renaissance Gable[89]
Hôtel de Ville and Chapel of the Holy Blood[93]
The Minne Water Bridge and Round Tower[97]
Baptistry Chapel in the Crypt of St. Basil’s[100]
Porch of the Chapel of St. Basil[101]
Godshuis in the Rue du Marécage[104]
The Palais du Franc[109]
Interior of Notre Dame[130]
Hospital of St. John and South Aisle of Notre Dame[132]
The Beguinage, with Tower of Notre Dame[134]
Old Houses on the Roya[151]
A Fourteenth Century Chimney[163]
Thirteenth-Century Iron Gates in Belfry[168]
Madonna and Niche[194]
Maele Castle[196]
The Hôtel de Ville[206]
Porte de Gand[219]
Old Houses at Damme[235]
The Church of St. Sauveur[238]
The Lepers’ Hospital, Marché au Fil[241]
Old Roofs below the Belfry[255]
The Belfry from the Quai Vert[263]
Porte des Baudets[280]
Hôtel Gruthuise[287]
Kitchen in Gruthuise[290]
Chimney-piece in the Gruthuise Palace[292]
The ‘Paradise’ of Notre Dame and Gruthuise[307]
Hooded Fire-place in the Gruthuise[312]
Tribune of the Gruthuise in Notre Dame[314]
The Hôtel Bladelin[317]
The Ghistelhof[321]
Courtyard of the Hôtel Adornes[322]
Tomb of Anselm Adornes[324]
Van Oudvelde’s Window by the Pont Flamand[328]
Quai du Rosaire[329]
Guild Hall of Archers of St. Sebastian[332]
Portrait of George Van der Pale[349]
Gerard David’s ‘Baptism of Christ’[359]
Memlinc’s ‘Adoration of the Magi’[377]
Memlinc’s ‘St. John the Baptist’[382]
Memlinc’s ‘St. Veronica’[383]
Bruges from the River Yperlet[392]
Godshuis, Quai des Marbriers[394]
Lancelot Blondeel’s Chimney-piece in the Palais du Franc[399]
The Vlissinghe Tavern, frequented by Rubens[404]
Quai des Ménétriers[406]
Pont St. Augustin[408]
Plan of Bruges[Facing 410]