Chapter II: Preface: 5

INTRODUCTION 15

CHAPTER I

THE COAL WOOD 29
Celts and Germans--Roman conquest--Roads of Roman civilization--First
Christianization--Germanic invasion--Natural obstacle presented by
the "Silva Carbonaria"--Origins of racial and linguistic division.

CHAPTER II

FROM SAINT AMAND TO CHARLEMAGNE 37
Frankish capital transferred from Tournai to Paris--Second
Christianization--St. Amand--Restoration of the old bishoprics--
Romanization of the Franks and germanization of the Walloons--
Unification under Charlemagne--Aix-la-Chapelle, centre of the
Empire--First period of economic and intellectual efflorescence.

CHAPTER III

LOTHARINGIA AND FLANDERS 47
Partition after Charlemagne--Treaty of Verdun--The frontier of
the Scheldt--Struggle of feudal lords against the central
power--The Normans.

CHAPTER IV

REGNER LONG NECK 52
Policy of the Lotharingian princes--Influence of the German
bishops--Alliance with Flanders against the Emperor--Decadence
of the central power--Religious reform of Gerard de Brogne--The
Clunisians and the struggle for the investitures--The first
crusade.

CHAPTER V

BALDWIN THE BEARDED 60
Policy of the counts of Flanders--Imperial Flanders--The English
alliance--First prospect of unification--Robert the Frisian.

CHAPTER VI

THE BELFRIES 66
Origin of the Communes; trade and industry--Resistance of feudal lords;
Cambrai--Protection given by the counts of Flanders and the dukes of
Brabant--Social transformation extending to the country-side--The
meaning of the belfries.

CHAPTER VII

THE GOLDEN SPURS 78
Attraction of Flanders on the rest of the country--Attempts at
maintaining neutrality between France and England--Thierry and Philippe
d'Alsace--Baldwin IX--Ferrand of Portugal--Bouvines--Increasing French
influence--Flemish reaction--"Matines Brugeoises"--Consequences of the
Battle of Courtrai--Edward III and Van Artevelde.

CHAPTER VIII

THE CATHEDRAL OF TOURNAI 88
Religious spirit of Belgium in the Middle Ages--The Romanesque
churches--Introduction of Gothic; Period of transition, early
Gothic, secondary period, third period--French and Flemish
languages during the Middle Ages--Picard writers in Walloon
Flanders--First translations and chronicles in French--Origin
of Flemish letters, Willem's _Reinaert_, Van Maerlant.

CHAPTER IX

THE GREAT DUKES OF THE WEST 102
Decline of the Communes--Policy of the Burgundian dukes: Philip
the Bold, John the Fearless, Philip the Good--Territorial
unification and political centralization--Philip's external
policy--Charles the Bold--Dream of a new central Empire.

CHAPTER X

THE TOWN HALLS 112
The meaning of Belgium's Gothic Town Halls--Result of a compromise
between centralization and local liberties--Decline of the cloth
industry--Economic prosperity under the new regime--Transformation
of trade--Antwerp succeeds Bruges.

CHAPTER XI

THE ADORATION OF THE LAMB 124
Civilization under Burgundian rule--French and Flemish;
bilingualism--Flemish letters: Jean Boendaele, Ruysbroeck--The
Brothers of the Common Life--Writers in French: Jean Le Bel,
Froissart, Chastellain--Development of music: Dufay, Ockeghem,
etc.--Life in fifteenth-century Belgium--The early "Flemish
School of Painting"--Its place in the history of Art--The
brothers Van Eyck--Origins of the school; sculpture, illuminating.

CHAPTER XII 140
Reaction after the death of Charles the Bold--The "Great
Privilege" of Mary of Burgundy--Her marriage with Maximilian;
its consequences--Conflict between Burgundian and Hapsburgian
policies--Philip the Handsome--Margaret of Austria--Accession
of Charles to the Empire--Projects of founding a separate
kingdom--Margaret's second governorship.

CHAPTER XIII

THE LAST STAGE OF CENTRALIZATION 154
Mary of Hungary--Revolt of Ghent--Complete unification--Augsburg
transaction--Pragmatic Sanction--Abdication of Charles V.

CHAPTER XIV

ANTWERP 163
Development of modern trade--Rural industry--Humanism and
Lutheranism--The placards--Anabaptism--Calvinism.

CHAPTER XV

THE BEGGARS 174
Philip II--Marguerite of Parma and the Consulta--Resistance
of the Council of State--The "Compromise"--The
Iconoclasts--Catholic reaction.

CHAPTER XVI

SEPARATION 182
North and South--The Duke of Alba and the Council of
Blood--Requesens--"Spanish Fury"--Pacification of Ghent--Don
Juan--Policy of Orange--Archduke Matthias--The Duke of
Anjou--The "Malcontents"--Confederation of Arras--Union of
Utrecht--"French Fury"--The fall of Antwerp.

CHAPTER XVII

DREAM OF INDEPENDENCE 204
Albert and Isabella--Catholic reaction--Siege of Ostend--Policy
of the Spanish kings--The Walloon League--The States-General.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE TWELVE YEARS' TRUCE 213
Period of reconstruction--Ruin of Antwerp--Revival of industry
and agriculture--Social conditions under Albert and
Isabella--Influence of the Church.

CHAPTER XIX

RUBENS 221
Contrast between Flemish Art in the fifteenth and seventeenth
centuries--Italian influence--Intellectual action of the
Jesuits--Neglect of Flemish--Popular Art: Breughel, Jordaens.

CHAPTER XX

POLITICAL DECADENCE UNDER SPAIN 230
Situation of the Southern Netherlands between the United
Provinces and France--Projects of Partition--Muenster
Treaty--Wars of the Spanish Succession--The Anglo-Batavian
Conference--Treaty of Utrecht--The Barrier system.

CHAPTER XXI

THE OSTEND COMPANY 245
Economic Renaissance under the Austrian regime--Efforts
to liberate Belgian trade--War of Austrian Succession--Charles
de Lorraine--Intellectual decadence--Popular restlessness.

CHAPTER XXII

THE BRABANCONNE REVOLUTION 254
Joseph II and Philip II--Strength of the Burgundian tradition--
Suppression of the Barrier--The "War of the Cauldron"--The emperor's
internal reforms--Popular resistance: Van der Noot and Vonck--The
"Etats Belgiques Unis"--"Statists" and "Vonckists"--The Reichenbach
Convention--Restoration of the Austrian regime.

CHAPTER XXIII

LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY 268
Jemappes--Excesses of the "Sans Culottes"--Neerwinden--Treaty
of The Hague--Policy of the Convention towards occupied
territory--Annexation--The "War of the Peasants"--Napoleonic
rule--The Vienna Treaty.

CHAPTER XXIV

BLACK, YELLOW AND RED 279
The Joint Kingdom--Causes of failure--Belgian grievances--Policy
of William I--Reconciliation of Catholics and Liberals--The
September days.

CHAPTER XXV

THE SCRAP OF PAPER 289
The Conference of London--Attitude of the Belgian delegates--The
"Bases of Separation"--The Luxemburg question--The XVIII
Articles--Prince Leopold--Dutch invasion--The XXIV Articles--Their
final acceptance--Guaranteed neutrality.

CHAPTER XXVI

NEUTRAL INDEPENDENCE 301
The meaning of neutrality--The question of national defence--Risquons
Tout--The policy of Napoleon III--The entrenched camp of
Antwerp--British action in 1870--Leopold II and Emile Banning--Liege
and Namur--Military reform.

CHAPTER XXVII

ECONOMIC RENAISSANCE 315
The Belgian Constitution--Influence of neutrality on internal
politics--Struggle between Liberals and Catholics--The "School
War"--The Labour Party--The Franchise--Economic prosperity:
agriculture, industry, trade--The opening of the Scheldt--The
search for colonial outlet--Leopold II and the Congo Free
State--The Belgian Congo.

CHAPTER XXVIII

INTELLECTUAL RENAISSANCE 331
Architecture and Sculpture in modern Belgium--The Modern School
of painting--A National School of Literature in French and
Flemish--The Flemish movement.

CHAPTER XXIX