And Brussels is quite different from the fallen towns of Flanders. There are no mouldering ramparts here, and very few uneven causeways, but broad boulevards, shaded by trees; handsome modern houses; wooden pavements in some parts; a Bourse; arcades and bazaars; tempting shops, their windows decked with Parisian art; theatres and music-halls; glittering restaurants and expensive hotels. It is all modern, spacious, full of movement. While Bruges and Ypres live chiefly in the past, Brussels lives chiefly in the present and the future. But in the middle of the city is the famous Grande Place; and the tall houses, so gloriously picturesque with pointed gables and gilded cornices; and the exquisite Hôtel de Ville with its curiously carved façade and steep roof pierced by innumerable little windows, above which the graceful spire, that 'miracle of needlework in stone,' has towered for 500 years. Here, as everywhere in the Netherlands, the traditions of the past are imperishable; and we may look back and see how this bright, gay, pleasant city—the 'petit Paris,' as its people love to call it—rose and grew.
Old Brabant extended from beyond Tournai on the west to what is now the Dutch frontier beyond Turnhout on the east, and from the neighbourhood of Ghent nearly to Liége. Just north of the forest of Soignies a ridge of undulating hills overlooked the little River Senne, which wound along eastwards through sandbanks and brushwood. On an island in this stream, according to tradition, a chapel was built by St. Gery, Bishop of Cambrai; a watch-tower, afterwards named the Tower of St. Nicholas, was erected on a hillock near the island; wooden houses, with thatched roofs, began to appear on the banks and here and there on the up which steep hillside pathways, afterwards to become streets, clambered towards a promontory called the Coudenberg, or Cold Mountain; a market was established; and the village became known as Bruxelles, or (at least so it is said) 'the house in the swamp,' from bruc, swamp, and celle, house.
BRUSSELS
Place de Brouckére.
From a long time, in the early tales about Brabant, there are the usual legends of warriors and saints; but when we reach the period of authentic history there are four chief towns, Louvain, Brussels, Antwerp, and Bois-le-Duc. Of these the most important was Louvain. In 1190 the Counts of Louvain became Dukes of Brabant. They built a castle on the Coudenberg, and for the next 300 years the Court of Brabant was celebrated for its power and splendour.
Lying in the midst of a fertile district, and on the trade-route from Flanders to Germany, Brussels was a convenient stopping-place for travellers. But in the Middle Ages, when Bruges, Ghent, Ypres, and other places were so prosperous, the history of Brussels is less eventful; and it was only when the famous Flemish cities were about to fall that the town on the Senne became an important centre of industry. Its population, too, increased rapidly, owing to the numbers of workmen who came from Louvain in consequence of commercial troubles there.
So trade flourished, and Brussels grew rich; but the continual wars which desolated France, the chief market for the manufactures of the Netherlands, did harm to the linen trade, which suffered also from the keen competition of English merchants. The raw material came from England, and by prohibiting the exportation of wool England was able to wellnigh ruin this branch of the trade of Flanders and Brabant. Fortunately, however, for Brussels, the introduction of new industries at this critical time made the damage to the linen trade less fatal, and with the growth of flax-weaving, the art of tapestry-making, dye-works, and the production of valuable armour, the town more than held its own.
Luxury and display followed, as usual, in the train of wealth, and Brussels became a city of pleasure, of fêtes, and gorgeous festivals. The Court of Brabant was one of the most luxurious and dissolute in Europe. The Dukes set an example of extravagance which was followed by the Barons who surrounded them, and also by the rich bourgeois. 'The people alone,' we are told, 'that is to say, the men without leisure, the artisans, remained apart from excesses.' There was luxury in dress, in armour, in furniture. The rich went about clad in gold brocades and other costly stuffs, attended by servants in fine liveries. Their horses were richly caparisoned, and their wives and daughters spent large sums on magnificent robes, and decked themselves with jewels, and garlands from the rose-gardens for which Brussels was already famous.
Every occasion for a fête was eagerly welcomed. Not only was there the yearly 'Ommegang,' that time-honoured procession through the streets of triumphal cars, bands of music, and giants, which delighted the people of Brabant and Flanders, but each separate guild and confraternity had its own festival. In private life every event—a birth, a baptism, a marriage, or a death—was an excuse for spending money on display. To such an extent, indeed, was this carried, that rules were made forbidding invitations being sent except to near relatives, to prevent people going to fêtes without being asked, and at length even to put some limit on the value of the presents which it was customary to give to guests. The licentious and wasteful habits of the jeunesse dorée became so notorious, that there was a lock-up at each of the city gates for the benefit of young men who were living too fast. In such a state of society the money-lender saw his chance; but a law was passed making it illegal for anyone to sign a promissory note, or anticipate his inheritance, before reaching the age of twenty-eight. Brussels was full of taverns, and there were parts of the town where every house was occupied by women of easy virtue. Fortunes were recklessly squandered, and most of the nobles are said to have been insolvent, and to have left heavy debts behind them.