In another region—that part of Flanders near the sea and known as “maritime Flanders”—stone from Tournai was not used because of the difficulty of access, and here there is also to be found an independence of style. There brick was made use of in place of stone, and, although the inspiration of the architecture came from Tournai, the style of that school underwent some change, owing to the difference in the materials employed. The houses of Bruges reveal the ornaments in brick peculiar to that style.
An entirely rich and original style, a sign of the power and the wealth of the communes, is to be found in the civic monuments, particularly the town halls. Everyone is familiar with the hall of Bruges and the magnificent hall of Ypres, a gem of beauty. With their wonderful belfries, their wide rooms, and the vast proportions of the edifices themselves, they symbolize in a wonderful manner the strength, the pride, and the glory of the Belgian cities in the Middle Ages.
THE SPLENDOR THAT WAS YPRES
Now destroyed by the German bombardments (Cloth Hall, Hôtel de Ville, and Cathedral)
CHAPTER IV
THE POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE TIME OF THE COMMUNES
A consideration of the politics of the Belgian dukes and counts during the course of the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries leads to a division of this epoch into two periods. During the twelfth century a policy of maintaining a balance between their mighty neighbors, France, England, and the Empire, was pursued. At the beginning of the thirteenth century France gained the hegemony in Europe, and the Belgian princes were forced to submit to the strong influence of that country.
In the first quarter of the twelfth century the Struggle for the Investitures had destroyed German influence in the eastern part of Belgium. The influence of the emperors was on the wane. One of the most loyal of the partisans of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the Count of Hainaut, succeeded in remaining neutral during the war between Germany and France. The Count declared that “he was not obliged to put his fortresses in the hands of the imperial troops and to grant them passage through his territory, as that would bring devastation to his country. His country being located between Germany and France, he ought to remain neutral during this war.”
The unsympathetic attitude of the Lotharingian princes toward Germany, however, was not dictated by anything like national hostility or racial prejudice, for the Flemish principalities, with their inhabitants of Germanic descent, were as unfriendly as the Walloon principalities. It was indifference, rather, for the Lotharingian princes had no interests in common with the Empire. They went their own way and had little regard for the Emperor. The social and economic development of the country between the Scheldt and the Meuse likewise prevented the people of that region from sympathizing with Germany. The culture of Germany, at this time a purely agricultural country, was far behind the culture of the Belgian principalities. The Lotharingian princes turned their eyes toward Flanders, with which they enjoyed important commercial relations. On the other hand, the counts of Flanders had sought, ever since the reign of Thierry of Alsace (1168), to interfere with the countries across the Scheldt and to meddle in the politics of Holland, Brabant, Hainaut, Namur, Gueldre, and even Liège. Henceforth the Belgian principalities, having common political and economic interests, will be found to have an increasingly common history. Thanks to its relations with Flanders, Lotharingia now began to come into contact with France and England.
Flanders, at this time, was very powerful. In 1163 Count Philip of Alsace had occupied, in the name of his wife, the French counties of Vermandois, Amiénois, and Valois, and had become the first vassal of the French crown. But at that moment the throne of France was occupied by a king of very strong personality, who himself directed the government of France and who had decided to destroy the power of his restless vassals. That king was Philip August. He directed his efforts especially against Flanders. He is quoted as having once said: “France will absorb Flanders or will be destroyed by it.”