Now, enter the Chapel by the North Transept, that of the Holy Sacrament, erected in 1535-39, in honour of the Miraculous (Stolen) Hosts, which are still preserved here, and which are carried in procession annually on the Sunday following the 15th of July. The windows in this chapel, each of which bears its date above, were placed in it immediately after its erection, and are the best in the Cathedral. They exhibit the style of the Transitional Renaissance. Each window shows, above, the story of the Stolen Hosts, with, below, the various donors and their patrons. First window as you enter: Above, the Bribery: below, King John III. of Portugal with his patron, St. John-Baptist; and Queen Catherine, his wife (sister of Charles V.), with her patron, St. Catherine, holding her sword of martyrdom and trampling on the tyrant Maximin: (all by Michael Coxcie). Second window: above, the Hosts insulted in the Synagogue: below, Louis of Hungary, with his patron, St. Louis; and Marie, his wife (sister of Charles V.), with her patroness, Our Lady (Coxcie). Third window: above, same subject as in the 3rd of the S. Aisle—perhaps the attack on the Jews: below, Francis I. of France, with his patron, St. Francis, receiving the Stigmata; behind him, Eleonora, his wife (sister of Charles V.), with her patroness, St. Helena (Bernard van Orley). Fourth window: above, Denunciation of the Jews: below, Ferdinand, brother of Charles V., with his patron, St. Ferdinand; and his wife, Anne, with her patron, St. Anna (Bernard van Orley). The end window represents the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament, and of the Lamb that was slain, in a composition suggested by the Van Eyck at Ghent. Below, to the L. are an Emperor and Empress (Charles V. and Isabella), a king and queen, and other representatives of the world secular: to the R. are a pope, a cardinal, bishops, prophets, and other representatives of the church or the world ecclesiastical.
Now, proceed to the opposite chapel, by the S. Transept, that of Our Lady of Deliverance (Notre-Dame de Délivrance). This chapel was erected in 1649-53, to balance that in the N. Transept. Its windows, made after designs by Van Thulden, in 1656, represent the continued decadence of the art of glass-painting. The subjects are taken from the History of Our Lady, above, with the donors and their patrons, princes of the House of Austria, below. Unlike the last, the subjects here begin at the inner end, near the altar. First window: the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple. She mounts the steps to the High Priest: below are St. Joachim and St. Anna. Second window: The Marriage of the Virgin. Third window: The Annunciation, with the Angel Gabriel and the Dove descending in a glory. Fourth window: The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth: the figure of Mary, in its odd hat, taken from the Rubens in Antwerp Cathedral. The Austrian Princes and Princesses below, in the insipid taste of the 17th century, have commemorated their own names so legibly on the bases that I need not enumerate them.
Now, return to the N. Transept, to make the tour of the Ambulatory. At the entrance to the Apse, L., is a colossal statue of the patroness, Ste. Gudule, with the Devil under her feet. The stained glass of the Apse is good modern. Notice the fine pillars to your right. The hexagonal rococo Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, at the end of the Apse, has modern windows of, L. and R., the two patrons, St. Michael and Ste. Gudule, the latter with the lantern and Devil: and, Centre, the Trinity. Exit from the Apse: L., gilded statue of the other patron, St. Michael, to balance the Ste. Gudule. Beside it, curious wooden Easter Sepulchre, with Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, the Mater Dolorosa, and the Maries. Above it, the Risen Christ, with Roman soldiers on the pediment. Fine view from near this point of the Choir and Transepts.
The high Choir has in its Apse stained-glass windows (use your opera-glass), representing Our Lady, and the patron saints, with various kings and queens in adoration (middle of the 16th century). The portraits are (1) Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy: (2) Philippe le Beau, their son, with his wife, Johanna the Mad, of Castille: (3) Charles V. and his brother Ferdinand, sons of Philippe: (4) Philip II. of Spain, son of Charles V., with his second wife. The architecture here is Early Gothic and interesting.
E. THE UPPER TOWN
From the Grand’ Place, two main lines of streets lead towards the Upper Town. The first, which we have already followed, runs straight to the Cathedral; the second, known as the Rue de la Madeleine and then as the Montagne de la Cour, mounts the hill to the Place Royale.
The city of the merchants lay about the Hôtel-de-Ville, the Senne, and the old navigation. The town and court of the Counts of Louvain and Dukes of Brabant clustered about the Castle on the high ground overlooking the Lower City. On this hill, the Caudenberg, the Counts of Louvain built their first palace, close to what is now the Place Royale. Their castle was burnt down in 1731, but the neighbourhood has ever since been the seat of the Belgian court for the time being—Burgundian, Austrian, Dutch, or Coburger. All this quarter, however, has been so greatly altered by modern “improvements” that scarcely a relic of antiquity is now left in it, with the exception of a few mediæval churches.