Mary of Burgundy; or, The Revolt of Ghent

by G. P. R. James

Casting off the monk's gown, he rolled it hastily up and threw it into the water; and then striding along the narrow quay, between the Cours du Prince and the river, he directed his way at once towards the bridge. It was still covered with people; and some one, recognising him as he came upon it, pronounced his name, which was instantly spoken by a hundred other voices. Still Albert Maurice passed on, forcing his way through the crowd, but marking attentively the various countenances, as he went, by the light which the flames of the burning buildings cast upon them. There were many he recognised, but he spoke to none for some moments, till he came to a stout honest-looking clothworker, near whom he stopped for an instant.

"Are you ready to obey my commands, Gibelin?" he demanded.

"To the death, Master Albert," replied the other; "the rogues have set fire to the hall of justice."

"I see," answered Albert Maurice; "follow me thither, and, as you go, collect as many as you can who will obey without question."

He then strode on, stopping from time to time at the various crowds, wherever he recognised a person on whom he could depend. With each of these, a momentary conversation took place, of the same nature as that which he had held with the man he called Gibelin. To some, however, his address was much more brief. To others, merely, "Follow me, Kold! follow me Gastner!"

His commands were instantly obeyed; those whom he charged to collect more, were successful in doing so; and as he made his way forward, a body of two or three hundred men, gathered in this manner from the different crowds, continued pushing their way after him in an irregular manner, up the great street, in which the old prison and hall of justice were situated. Those buildings had been built so as to retire a little from the general facade of the houses; and, being placed exactly opposite to each other, left a sort of square between them. The edifices on both sides were now on fire; but notwithstanding the intense heat, the place or square was filled to overflowing with people, whose appearance and occupation seemed altogether those of devils in human form. The blaze of the burning buildings cast upon their swarthy and excited countenances, disfigured as they already were by drink and passion, a glare that was perfectly infernal. Loud shouts of exultation, or rather screams of triumphant hatred, rent the air: and, round about the square, suspended by the neck to the long stone water-spouts which then distinguished the city of Ghent, were to be seen a number of human figures, quivering and convulsed in the agonies of death, while the demon yells of the populace hailed the contortions of their victims with horrible delight.

Such, it is well known, was the death of the unhappy eschevins, whom Charles of Burgundy had appointed for the city of Ghent; but the vengeance which was immediately taken on some of the perpetrators of that cruel act is not so generally recorded. Albert Maurice found the multitude in the first exultation of the barbarous feat they had committed; and many of those who had taken a leading part therein were still making a parade of their activity. The young citizen, however, hesitated not a moment; but striding up to a wretch who held the end of one of the ropes used as the means of inflicting death upon the eschevins, he seized him at once by the collar of his jerkin, and dragged him towards the middle of the square.

A momentary movement was made by the people to resent this interference, and to rescue their comrade; but he was instantly passed from the hands of Albert Maurice to the trustworthy followers whom he had called together, with the words, "To the town-house!" The next moment the young citizen, without appearing even to see, or notice the threatening aspect of the people, again strode through the midst of them, and made another prisoner of a better class, thundering no measured terms of reproach upon him as he cast him back into the hands of those that followed. The multitude now perceived that amongst themselves, in every part of the square, there were persons of their own rank and appearance, acting with the young burgher, whose name, never mentioned by any of the citizens without respect and applause, also began to circulate rapidly amongst them. Even those most bent upon evil, not knowing who was prepared to support, and who to oppose them, lost confidence in themselves. Fear, the most contagious of all diseases, seized them; and, one by one, they made their way from the scene of their criminal excesses. Those on the outside of the mass felt those within pressing to escape, and catching the alarm, began to run also; so that in a few minutes, Albert Maurice, and the men who had followed him, alone remained in the square, together with three prisoners, while a fourth had been hurried away.

To cut down the bodies of the unhappy men who had become the victims of popular fury was the proceeding of the burgher and his companions; but as all aid in their case was found to be in vain, the attention of Albert Maurice was soon turned to prevent the conflagration from spreading further than the public buildings to which it had been communicated. As they were very much isolated in their situation, this object was easily effected; and, as soon as it was accomplished, the young citizen proceeded with hasty steps towards the town-house, where he found a number of the municipal officers in somewhat lengthy debate concerning the measures to be pursued for tranquillizing the city. The superior mind of Albert Maurice instantly brought all wordy discussions to an end; and while armed parties of the burgher guard were despatched with peremptory orders to disperse the crowds, the attention of those who now ruled in Ghent was called to the case of the ruffians taken redhanded in the crime they had committed. The ancient laws of the city were hastily consulted; were found to be conclusive in regard to their guilt and punishment; a confessor was summoned; and, ere daybreak the next morning, the four persons who had acted the most prominent part in the death of the eschevins had tasted the same fate before the town-hall of Ghent.

With a sternness which formed no part of his original nature, but which grows sadly and destructively upon the human heart in such scenes of excitement and violence, Albert Maurice with his own eyes saw the decree of the municipal council carried into effect ere he trod his way homeward. But as soon as the execution was over, he returned to his dwelling; and, exhausted with all he had gone through during the last eight and forty hours, he cast himself upon his bed, and slept.