Chapter C: O N T E N T S (1)

PAGE
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 5
INTRODUCTION 6
HOW TO USE THESE GUIDE-BOOKS 12
ORIGINS OF THE BELGIAN TOWNS 13
ORDER OF THE TOUR 20
I BRUGES—
_A._ Origins of Bruges 22
_B._ The Heart of the City 25
_C._ The Hospital of St. John 35
_D._ The Town in General 45
_E._ The Churches 49
_F._ The Academy 59
II GHENT—
_A._ Origins of Ghent 66
_B._ The Core of Ghent 69
_C._ The Cathedral 77
_D._ The Outskirts 90
III BRUSSELS—
_A._ Origins of Brussels 98
_B._ The Heart of Brussels 100
_C._ The Picture Gallery 105
_D._ The Cathedral 138
_E._ The Upper Town 145
_F._ Surroundings 156
IV ANTWERP—
_A._ Origins of Antwerp 164
_B._ The Cathedral 168
_C._ The Picture Gallery 176
_D._ The Town in General 205
V HISTORICAL NOTES 217
INDEX 229

HOW TO USE THESE GUIDEBOOKS

_T__HE portions of this book intended to be read at leisure_ =at home=, _before proceeding to explore each town or monument, are enclosed in brackets [thus]. The portion relating to each_ =principal object= _should be quietly read and digested_ =before= _a visit, and referred to again afterwards. The portion to be read_ =on the spot= _is made as brief as possible, and is printed in large legible type, so as to be easily read in the dim light of churches, chapels, and galleries. The_ =key-note words= _are printed in_ =bold type=, _to catch the eye. Where objects are numbered, the numbers used are always those of the latest official catalogues._

_Baedeker’s Guides are so printed that each principal portion can be detached entire from the volume. The traveller who uses Baedeker is advised to carry in his pocket one such portion, referring to the place he is then visiting, together with the plan of the town, while carrying this book in his hand. These Guides do_ =not= _profess to supply practical information_.

_Individual works of merit are distinguished by an asterisk (*); those of very exceptional interest and merit have two asterisks._ =Nothing= _is noticed in this book which does not seem to the writer worthy of attention_.

_See little at a time, and see it thoroughly._ =Never= _attempt to “do” any place or any monument. By following strictly the order in which objects are noticed in this book, you will gain a conception of the_ =historical evolution= _of the town which you cannot obtain if you go about looking at churches and palaces hap-hazard. The order is arranged, not quite chronologically, but on a definite_ =plan=, _which greatly facilitates comprehension of the subject_.

ORIGINS OF THE BELGIAN TOWNS

THE somewhat heterogeneous country which we now call =Belgium= formed =part of Gaul= under the Roman Empire. But though rich and commercial even then, it seems to have been relatively little Romanised; and in the beginning of the 5th century it was overrun by the =Salic Franks=, on their way towards Laon, Soissons, and Paris. When civilization began to creep northward again in the 9th century through the districts barbarised by the Teutonic invasion, it was the Frankish =Charlemagne= (Karl the Great) who introduced Roman arts afresh into the Upper and Lower Rhinelands. The Rhine from Basle to Cologne was naturally the region most influenced by this new Roman revival; but as Charlemagne had his chief seat at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), near the modern Belgian frontier, the western Frankish provinces were also included in the sphere of his improvements. When the kingdom of the Franks began to divide more or less definitely into the Empire and France, the Flemish region formed nominally part of the Neustrian and, later, of the French dominions. From a very early date, however, it was practically almost independent, and it became so even in name during its later stages. But Brabant (with Brussels) remained a portion of the Empire.

The =Rhine= constituted the great central waterway of mediæval Europe; the =Flemish towns= were its =ports= and its manufacturing centres. They filled in the 13th and 14th centuries much the same place that Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmingham fill in the 20th. Many causes contributed to this result. Flanders, half independent under its own Counts, occupied a middle position, geographically and politically, between France and the Empire; it was comparatively free from the disastrous wars which desolated both these countries, and in particular (_see_ under Ghent) it largely escaped the long smouldering quarrel between French and English which so long retarded the development of the former. Its commercial towns, again, were not exposed on the open sea to the attacks of pirates or hostile fleets, but were safely ensconced in inland flats, reached by rivers or canals, almost inaccessible to maritime enemies. Similar conditions elsewhere early ensured peace and prosperity for Venice. The canal system of Holland and Belgium began to be developed as early as the 12th century (at first for drainage), and was one leading cause of the commercial importance of the Flemish cities in the 14th. In so flat a country, locks are all but unnecessary. The two towns which earliest rose to greatness in the Belgian area were thus =Bruges= and =Ghent=; they possessed in the highest degree the combined advantages of easy access to the sea and comparative inland security. Bruges, in particular, was one of the chief stations of the Hanseatic League, which formed an essentially commercial alliance for the mutual protection of the northern trading centres. By the 14th century Bruges had thus become in the north what Venice was in the south, the capital of commerce. Trading companies from all the surrounding countries had their “factories” in the town, and every European king or prince of importance kept a resident minister accredited to the merchant Republic.

Some comprehension of the =mercantile condition of Europe= in general during the Middle Ages is necessary in order to understand the early importance and wealth of the Flemish cities. Southern Europe, and in particular Italy, was then still the seat of all higher civilization, more especially of the trade in manufactured articles and objects of luxury. Florence, Venice, and Genoa ranked as the polished and learned cities of the world. Further east, again, Constantinople still remained in the hands of the Greek emperors, or, during the Crusades, of their Latin rivals. A brisk trade existed _viâ_ the Mediterranean between Europe and India or the nearer East. This double stream of traffic ran along two main routes—one, by the Rhine, from Lombardy and Rome; the other, by sea, from Venice, Genoa, Florence, Constantinople, the Levant, and India. On the other hand, France was still but a half civilized country, with few manufactures and little external trade; while England was an exporter of raw produce, chiefly wool, like Australia in our own time. The Hanseatic merchants of Cologne held the trade of London; those of Wisby and Lübeck governed that of the Baltic; Bruges, as head of the Hansa, was in close connection with all of these, as well as with Hull, York, Novgorod, and Bergen. The position of the Flemish towns in the 14th century was thus not wholly unlike that of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston at the present day; they stood as intermediaries between the older civilized countries, like Italy or the Greek empire, and the newer producers of raw material, like England, North Germany, and the Baltic towns.

The local =manufactures= of Flanders consisted chiefly of woollen goods and linens; the imports included Italian luxuries, Spanish figs and raisins, Egyptian dates, Oriental silks, English wool, cattle, and metals, Rhenish wines, and Baltic furs, skins, and walrus tusks.

In the early 16th century, when navigation had assumed new conditions, and trade was largely diverted to the Atlantic, Antwerp, the port of the Schelde, superseded the towns on the inland network. As Venice sank, Antwerp rose.

The =art= that grew up in the Flemish cities during their epoch of continuous commercial development bears on its very face the visible impress of its mercantile origin. France is essentially a monarchical country, and it is centralized in Paris; everything in old French art is therefore regal and lordly. The Italian towns were oligarchies of nobles; so the principal buildings of Florence and Venice are the castles or palaces of the princely families, while their pictures represent the type of art that belongs in its nature to a cultivated aristocracy. But in Flanders, everything is in essence =commercial=. The architecture consists mainly, not of private palaces, but of guilds, town halls, exchanges, belfries: the pictures are the portraits of solid and successful merchants, or the devotional works which a merchant donor presented to the patron saint of his town or business. They are almost overloaded with details of fur, brocade, jewellery, lace, gold, silver, polished brass, glasswork, Oriental carpets, and richly carved furniture. In order to understand Flemish art, therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind at every step that it is =the art of a purely commercial people=.

Another point which differentiates Flemish painting from the painting of Italy during the same period is the complete absence of any opportunity for the display of frescoes. In the Italian churches, where the walls serve largely for support, and the full southern light makes the size of the windows of less importance, great surfaces were left bare in the nave and aisles, or in the lower part of the choir, crying aloud for decoration at the hands of the fresco-painter. But in the northern Gothic, which aimed above all things at height and the soaring effect, and which almost annihilated the wall, by making its churches consist of rows of vast windows with intervening piers or buttresses, the opportunity for mural decoration occurred but seldom. The climate also destroyed frescoes. Hence the works of pictorial art in Flemish buildings are almost confined to =altar-pieces and votive tablets=. Again, the great school of painting in early Italy (from Giotto to Perugino) was a school of fresco-painters; but in Flanders no high type of art arose till the discovery of oil-painting. Pictures were usually imported from the Rhine towns. Hence, pictorial art in the Low Countries seems to spring almost full-fledged, instead of being traceable through gradual stages of evolution as in Italy. Most of the best early paintings are small and highly finished; it was only at a comparatively late date, when Antwerp became the leading town, that Italian influence began to produce the larger and coarser canvases of Rubens and his followers.

=Very early Flemish art= greatly resembles the art of the School of Cologne. Only with Hubert and Jan van Eyck (about 1360-1440) does the distinctively Flemish taste begin to show itself—the taste for delicate and minute workmanship, linked with a peculiar realistic idealism, more dainty than German work, more literal than Italian. It is an art that bases itself upon truth of imitation and perfection of finish: its chief æsthetic beauty is its jewel-like colour and its wealth of decorative adjuncts. The subsequent development of Flemish painting—the painting that pleased a clique of opulent commercial patrons—we shall trace in detail in the various cities.

Whoever wishes to gain a deeper insight into Flemish painting should take in his portmanteau Sir Martin =Conway’s “Early Flemish Artists,”= a brilliant and masterly work of the first importance, to which this Guide is deeply indebted.

The =political history= of the country during this flourishing period of the Middle Ages has also stamped itself, though somewhat less deeply, on the character of the towns and of the art evolved in them. The =Counts of Flanders=, originally mere lords of Bruges and its district, held their dominions of the Kings of France. Their territory included, not only Arras (at first the capital, now included in France) with Bruges, Ghent, Courtrai, Tournay, and Ypres, but also the towns and districts of Valenciennes, Lille, and St. Omer, which are now French. From the time of Baldwin VIII. (1191), however, Arras became a part of France, and =Ghent= was erected into the capital of Flanders. In the beginning of the 13th century, two women sovereigns ruled in succession; under them, and during the absence of the elective Counts on crusades, the towns rose to be practically burgher republics. Bruges, Ypres, Ghent, and Lille were said to possess each 40,000 looms; and though this is certainly a mediæval exaggeration, yet the Flemish cities at this epoch were at any rate the chief manufacturing and trading centres of northern Europe, while London was still a mere local emporium.

In the 14th century, the cities acquired still greater freedom. The citizens had always claimed the right to elect their Count; and the people of Ghent now made treaties without him on their own account with Edward III. of England. To this age belongs the heroic period of the Van Arteveldes at Ghent, when the burghers became the real rulers of Flanders, as will be more fully described hereafter. In 1384, however, Count Louis III. died, leaving an only daughter, who was married to =Philip the Bold of Burgundy=; and the wealthy Flemish towns thus passed under the sway of the powerful princes of Dijon. Brabant fell later by inheritance to Philip the Good. It was under the =Burgundian dynasty=, who often held their court at Ghent, that the arts of the Netherlands attained their first great development. Philip the Good (1419-1467) employed Jan van Eyck as his court painter; and during his reign or just after it the chief works of Flemish art were produced in Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and Tournai.

=Charles the Bold=, the last Duke of Burgundy, left one daughter, Mary, who was married to Maximilian, afterwards Emperor. From that date forward the history of the Flemish towns is practically merged in that of the dynasty of Charles V., and finally becomes the story of an unwilling and ever justly rebellious Spanish province. The subsequent vicissitudes of Belgium as an Austrian appanage, a part of Holland, and an independent kingdom, belong to the domain of European history. For the visitor, it is the period of the Burgundian supremacy that really counts in the cities of Belgium.

Yet the one great point for the tourist to bear in mind is really this—that the art of the Flemish towns is essentially =the art of a group of burgher communities=. It is frankly commercial, neither royal nor aristocratic. In its beginnings it develops a strictly municipal architecture, with a school of painters who aimed at portraiture and sacred panel pictures. After the Reformation had destroyed sacred art in Holland, painting in that part of the Netherlands confined itself to portraits and to somewhat vulgar popular scenes: while in Belgium it was Italianised, or rather Titianised and Veronesed, by Rubens and his followers. But in its best days it was national, local, and sacred or personal.

Take =Conway’s “Early Flemish Artists”= with you in your portmanteau, and read over in the evening his account of the works you have seen during the day.

ORDER OF THE TOUR

IF possible, visit the cities of Belgium in =the order in which they are treated in this Guide=:—Bruges first; then Ghent, Brussels, and Antwerp. For this order you will find very good reasons. Bruges is the most antique in tone and the least spoiled of all the Flemish towns; it best exhibits the local peculiarities we have here specially to consider; and it leads up naturally to the other cities. It is true, Memling, the great painter whom we have chiefly to study at Bruges, is later in date than Jan van Eyck, whose principal work (with that of his brother Hubert) is to be seen at Ghent. But historical sequence in this minor matter is somewhat less important than a due apprehension of the general air of an old Flemish town such as those in which the art of the Van Eycks arose; and besides, there is at least one characteristic Van Eyck at Bruges, while there are many Memlings for comparison in other cities.

As a rule, too little time is given by tourists to Bruges and Ghent, and too much to Brussels. I should advise three or four days each to the first-named towns, and a week to the capital.

Those who intend to combine a visit to =Holland= in the same tour should certainly see Belgium in the order here given first, and then proceed to Rotterdam, the Hague, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. For such a sequence, which is geographically the easiest, is also chronologically natural. Bruges is the most mediæval of all the towns, and has for its principal great artist Memling. Ghent comes next, with the Van Eycks and a few later painters. Brussels represents the end of the Middle Ages, and contains a general metropolitan collection of early and middle Flemish art. Antwerp gives us in particular Quentin Matsys and his contemporaries, as well as Rubens and Van Dyck. And the Dutch towns lead us on through Van Dyck and the later transitionals to Rembrandt, Van der Helst, Frans Hals, and the other mighty masters of Holland. I may add that as the arrangement of this Guide is roughly chronological, the tourist will use it best if he follows its order.

The =Ostend route= takes the towns naturally in the sequence I suggest. Visitors arriving by =Harwich= or =Calais= should not stop first at Antwerp or Brussels, but go straight to Bruges, and then double back again.

I
BRUGES

_A._ ORIGINS OF BRUGES

IN a lost corner of the great lowland flat of Flanders, defended from the sea by an artificial dyke, and at the point of intersection of an intricate network of canals and waterways, there arose in the early Middle Ages a trading town, known in Flemish as =Brugge=, in French as =Bruges= (that is to say, =The Bridge=), from a primitive structure that here crossed the river. (A number of bridges now span the sluggish streams. All of them open in the middle to admit the passage of shipping.) Bruges stood originally on a little river, the =Reye=, once navigable, now swallowed by canals: and the Reye flowed into the =Zwin=, long silted up, but then the safest harbour in the Low Countries. At first the capital of a petty Count, this land-locked internal harbour grew in time to be the Venice of the North, and to gather round its quays, or at its haven of Damme, the ships and merchandise of all neighbouring peoples. Already in 1200 it ranked as the central mart of the Hanseatic League. It was the port of entry for English wool and Russian furs: the port of departure for Flemish broadcloths, laces, tapestries, and linens. Canals soon connected it with Ghent, Dunkirk, Sluys, Furnes, and Ypres. Its nucleus lay in a little knot of buildings about the Grand’ Place and the Hôtel de Ville, stretching out to the Cathedral and the Dyver; thence it spread on all sides till in 1362 it filled the whole space within the existing ramparts, now largely abandoned or given over to fields and gardens. It was the wealthiest town of Europe, outside Italy. In the 14th century, Bruges was frequently the residence of the Counts of Flanders; and in the 15th it became the seat of the brilliant court of the Dukes of Burgundy. Under their rule, the opulent burghers and foreign merchants began to employ a group of famous artists who have made the city a place of pilgrimage for Europe and America, and to adorn the town with most of those buildings which now beautify its decay.

The foreign traders in Bruges lived in “factories” or guilds, resembling monasteries or colleges, and were governed by their own commercial laws. The Bardi of Florence were among its famous merchants: the Medici had agents here: so had the millionaire Fuggers of Augsburg.

Bruges is the best place in which to make =a first acquaintance= with the towns and art of Flanders, because here almost all the principal buildings are mediæval, and comparatively little that is modern comes in to mar the completeness of the picture. We see in it the architecture and the painting of Flanders, in the midst of the houses, the land, and the folk that gave them origin. Brussels is largely modernised, and even Ghent has great living manufactures; but Bruges is =a fossil of the 15th century=. It was the first to flourish and the first to decay of the towns of Belgium.

The =decline= of the town was due partly to the break-up of the Hanseatic system; partly to the rise of English ports and manufacturing towns; but still more (and especially as compared with other Flemish cities) to the silting of the Zwin, and the want of adaptation in its waterways to the needs of great ships and modern navigation. The old sea entrance to Bruges was through the Zwin, by way of Sluys and Kadzand; up that channel came the Venetian merchant fleet and the Flemish galleys, to the port of Damme. By 1470, it ceased to be navigable for large vessels. The later canal is still open, but as it passes through what is now Dutch territory, it is little used; nor is it adapted to any save ships of comparatively small burden. Another canal, suitable for craft of 500 tons, leads through Belgian territory to Ostend; but few vessels now navigate it, and those for the most part only for local trade. The town has shrunk to half its former size, and has only a quarter of its mediæval population. The commercial decay of Bruges, however, has preserved its charm for the artist, the archæologist, and the tourist; its sleepy streets and unfrequented quays are among the most picturesque sights of bustling and industrial modern Belgium. The great private palaces, indeed, are almost all destroyed: but many public buildings remain, and the domestic architecture is quaint and pretty.

Bruges was the mother of the arts in Flanders. Jan van Eyck lived here from 1428 to 1440: Memling, probably, from 1477 till 1494. Caxton, the first English printer, lived as a merchant at Bruges (in the Domus Anglorum or English factory) from 1446 to 1476, and probably put in the press here the earliest English printed book (though strong grounds have been adduced in favour of Cologne). Colard Mansion, the great printer of Bruges at that date, was one of the leaders in the art of typography.

Those who desire further information on this most interesting town will find it in James Weale’s _Bruges et ses Environs_, an admirable work, to which I desire to acknowledge my obligations.

* * * * *

At least two whole days should be devoted to Bruges: more if possible. But the hasty traveller, who has but time for a glimpse, should neglect the churches, and walk round the Grand’ Place and the Place du Bourg to the Dyver: spending most of his time at the =**Hôpital de St. Jean=, which contains the glorious works of =Memling=. These are by far the most important objects to be seen in the city. The description in this Guide is written from the point of view of the more leisurely traveller.

Expect the frequent recurrence of the following =symbols= on houses or pictures: (1) the Lion of Flanders, heraldic or otherwise, crowned, and bearing a collar with a pendant cross; (2) the Bear of Bruges; (3) the Golden Fleece (_Toison d’or_), the device of the Order founded by Philippe le Bon in 1430, and appropriate to a country which owed its wealth to wool; it consists of a sheep’s skin suspended from a collar. The Flemish emblem of the Swan is also common as a relief or decoration.

St. Donatian, Archbishop of Rheims, is the patron saint. His mark is a wheel with five lighted candles.

_B._ THE HEART OF THE CITY

[The original =nucleus of Bruges= is formed by the =Bourg=,
which stands near the centre of the modern city. In 865, Baldwin
Bras-de-Fer, Count of Flanders, built a _château_ or _burg_ by
the Reye, in a corner of land still marked by the modern canal
of the Dyver, and near it a chapel, into which he transported
the relics of St. Donatian. This _burg_ grew in time into the
chief palace of the Counts of Flanders, now replaced by the
Palais de Justice; while the chapel by its side developed into
the first cathedral of Bruges, St. Donatian, now wholly
demolished. A bridge hard by crossed the little river Reye; and
from this bridge the town ultimately derives its name. The
_burg_ was built as a _tête-du-pont_ to protect the passage. A
town of traders gradually sprang up under the protection of the
castle, and developed at last into the great trading port of
Bruges. To this centre, then, we will first direct ourselves.]

Go from your hotel, down the Rue St. Amand, or the Rue St. Jacques, to the =Grand’ Place= or market-place of Bruges, noticing on your way the numerous handsome old houses, with high-pitched roofs and gable-ends arranged like steps, mostly of the 16th and 17th centuries. (Bruges is a Flemish-speaking town: note the true names of the streets in Flemish.)

The very tall square tower which faces you as you enter the Grand’ Place is the =*Belfry=, the centre and visible embodiment of the town of Bruges. The Grand' Place itself was the forum and meeting-place of the soldier-citizens, who were called to arms by the chimes in the Belfry. The centre of the Place is therefore appropriately occupied by a colossal =statue group= (modern) of Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breidel, the leaders of the citizens of Bruges at the Battle of the Spurs before the walls of Courtrai in 1302, a conflict which secured the freedom of Flanders from the interference of the Kings of France. The group is by Devigne. The _reliefs_ on the pedestal represent scenes from the battle and its antecedents.

The majestic =Belfry= itself represents the first beginnings of freedom in Bruges. Leave to erect such a bell-tower, both as a mark of independence and to summon the citizens to arms, was one of the first privileges which every Teutonic trading town desired to wring from its feudal lord. This (brick) tower, the pledge of municipal rights, was begun in 1291 (to replace an earlier one of wood), and finished about a hundred years later, the octagon (in stone) at the summit (which holds the bells) having been erected in 1393-96. It consists of three stories, the two lower of which are square and flanked by balconies with turrets; the windows below are of the simple Early Gothic style, but show a later type of architecture in the octagon. The _niche_ in the centre contains the Virgin and Child (restored, after being destroyed by the French revolutionists). Below it on either side are smaller figures holding escutcheons. From the balcony between these last, the laws and the rescripts of the Counts were read aloud to the people assembled in the square.

The Belfry can be =ascended= by steps. Apply to the _concierge_; 25 c. per person. Owing to the force of the wind, it leans slightly to the S.E. The =*view= from the top is very extensive and striking; it embraces the greater part of the Plain of Flanders, with its towns and villages: the country, though quite flat, looks beautiful when thus seen. In early times, however, the look-out from the summit was of practical use for purposes of observation, military or maritime. It commanded the river, the Zwin, and the sea approach by Sluys and Damme; the course of the various canals; and the roads to Ghent, Antwerp, Tournai, and Courtrai. The Belfry contains a famous set of =chimes=, the mechanism of which may be inspected by the visitor. He will have frequent opportunities of hearing the beautiful and mellow carillon, perhaps to excess. The existing bells date only from 1680: the mechanism from 1784.

The square building on either side of the Belfry, known as =Les Halles=, was erected in or about 1248, and is a fine but sombre specimen of Early Gothic civic architecture. The wing to the left was originally the =Cloth Hall=, for the display and sale of the woollen manufactures of Ghent and Bruges. It is now used as municipal offices. A door to the L. gives access to a small Museum of Antiquities on the ground floor, which may be safely neglected by all save specialist archæologists. (Admission 50 c.) The wing to the right is the meat market.

Now, stand with your back to the Belfry to survey the =Square=. The brick building on your right is the Post Office (modern); the stone one beyond it (also modern) is the Palace of the Provincial Government of Flanders. Both have been erected in a style suitable to the town. In the Middle Ages, ships could come up to this part of the Grand’ Place to discharge their cargo. The quaint houses that face you, with high-pitched gable-ends, are partly modern, but mostly old, though restored. On the left (W.) side of the Place, at the corner of the Rue St. Amand, stands the square castle-like building known as _Au Lion de Flandre_ and marked by its gold lion. It is one of the best brick mediæval buildings in Bruges. According to a doubtful tradition, it was occupied by Charles II. of England during his exile, when he was created by the Brugeois King of the Crossbowmen of St. Sebastian (see later). In the house beside it, known as the Craenenburg, the citizens of Bruges imprisoned Maximilian, King of the Romans, from the 5th to the 17th of February, 1488, because he would not grant the care of his son Philip, heir to the crown of the Netherlands, to the King of France. They only released him after he had sworn before an altar erected at the spot, on the Host, the true Cross, and the Relics of St. Donatian, to renounce his claim to the guardianship of his son, and to grant a general amnesty. However, he was treacherously released from his oath by a congress of Princes convened a little later by his father, the Emperor Frederic IV.

* * * * *

From the corner of the Post Office, take the short Rue Breydel to the =Place du Bourg=, the still more intimate centre and focus of the early life of Bruges. This Place contained the old Palace of the Counts of Flanders, and the original Cathedral, both now destroyed, as well as the Town Hall and other important buildings still preserved for us.

The tallest of the three handsome edifices on the S. side of the Square (profusely adorned with sculpture) is the =**Hôtel de Ville=, a beautiful gem of Middle Gothic architecture, begun about 1376, and finished about 1387. This is one of the finest pieces of civic architecture in Belgium. The _façade_, though over-restored, and the six beautiful turrets and chimneys, are in the main of the original design. The sculpture in the niches, destroyed during the French Revolution, has been only tolerably replaced by modern Belgian sculptors in our own day. The lower tier contains the Annunciation, R. and L. of the doorway, with figures of various saints and prophets. In the tiers above this are statues of the Counts of Flanders of various ages. The _reliefs_ just below the windows of the first floor represent episodes from Biblical history:—David before Saul, David dancing before the Ark, the Judgment of Solomon, the Building of Solomon’s Temple, and other scenes which the visitor can easily identify. The Great Hall in the interior is interesting only for its fine pendant Gothic wooden roof.

The somewhat lower building, to the right of the Hôtel de Ville, is the =**Chapelle du Saint Sang=. The decorated portal round the corner also forms part of the same building.

[In the 12th and 13th centuries (age of the Crusades) the
chivalrous and credulous knights of the North and West who
repaired to the Holy Land, whether as pilgrims or as soldiers of
the Faith, were anxious to bring back with them relics of the
saints or of still more holy personages. The astute Greeks and
Syrians with whom they had to deal rose to the occasion, and
sold the simple Westerns various sacred objects of more or less
doubtful authenticity at fabulous prices. Over these treasured
deposits stately churches were often raised; for example, St.
Louis of France constructed the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, to
contain the Crown of Thorns and part of the True Cross, which he
had purchased at an immense cost from Baldwin, Emperor of
Constantinople. Among the earlier visitors to the Holy Land who
thus signalised their journey was Theodoric of Alsace, elected
Count of Flanders in 1128; he brought back with him in 1149 some
drops of the =Holy Blood= of the Saviour, said to have been
preserved by Joseph of Arimathea, which he presented to his
faithful city of Bruges. Fitly to enshrine them, Theodoric
erected a chapel in the succeeding year, 1150; and this early
church forms the lower floor of the existing building. Above it,
in the 15th century, when Bruges grew richer, was raised a
second and more gorgeous chapel (as at the Sainte Chapelle), in
which the holy relic is now preserved. Almost all the works of
art in the dainty little oratory accordingly bear special
reference to the Holy Blood, its preservation, and its transport
to Bruges. The dedication is to =St. Basil=, the founder of
eastern monasticism—a Greek Father little known in the West,
whose fame Theodoric must have learned in Syria. The nobles of
Flanders, it must be remembered, were particularly active in
organising the Crusades.]

The =exterior= has a fine figure of St. Leonard (holding the fetters which are his symbol) under a Gothic niche. He was the patron of Christian slaves held in duress by the Saracens. The beautiful flamboyant =portal= and =staircase=, round the corner, erected in 1529-1533, in the ornate decorative style of the period, have (restored) figures of Crusaders and their Queens in niches, with incongruous Renaissance busts below.

To visit the =interior=, ring the bell in the corner: admission, 50 c. per person.

The =Museum= of the Brotherhood of the Holy Blood, on the first floor, which we first visit, contains by the =left wall= the handsome silver-gilt Reliquary (of 1617), studded with jewels, which encloses the drops of the Holy Blood. The figures on it represent Christ (the source of the Blood), the Blessed Virgin, St. Basil (patron of the church), and St. Donatian (patron of the town). The Blood is exhibited in a simpler _châsse_ in the chapel every Friday; that is to say, on the day of the Crucifixion. The great Reliquary itself is carried in procession only, on the Monday after the 3rd of May. Right and left of the _châsse_ are portraits of the members of the Confraternity of the Holy Blood by P. Pourbus, 1556: unusually good works of this painter. A triptych to the right, by an unknown master of the early 16th century, figures the Crucifixion, with special reference to the Holy Blood, representing St. Longinus in the act of piercing the side of Christ (thus drawing the Blood), with the Holy Women and St. John in attendance; on the wings, the Way to Calvary, and the Resurrection.

=Between the windows= is a curious chronological picture of the late 15th century, representing the History of Our Lady in the usual stages, with other episodes. To the R. of it, a painting of the 15th century shows Count Theodoric receiving the Holy Blood from his brother-in-law, Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, and the bringing of the Holy Blood to Bruges.

On the =right wall= there is a famous =*triptych= by Gerard David (the finest work here), representing the Deposition in the Tomb, with the Maries, St. John, Nicodemus, and an attendant holding a dish to contain the Holy Blood, which is also seen conspicuously flowing from the wounds; the left wing shows the Magdalen with Cleophas; the right wing, the preservation of the Crown of Thorns by Joseph of Arimathea. The portrait character of the faces is admirable: stand long and study this fine work.

The original designs for the windows of the Chapel are preserved in a =glass case= by the window; behind which are fragments of early coloured glass; conspicuous among them, St. Barbara with her tower.

On the =exit wall= is a fine piece of late Flemish tapestry, representing the bringing of the body of St. Augustine to Pavia, with side figures of San Frediano of Lucca and Sant’ Ercolano of Perugia—executed, no doubt, for an Italian patron.

The =Chapel= itself, which we next enter, is gorgeously decorated in polychrome, recently restored. The stained glass windows, containing portraits of the Burgundian Princes from the beginning of the dynasty down to Maria Theresa and Francis I., were executed in 1845 from earlier designs. The large window facing the High Altar is modern. It represents appropriately the history of the Passion, the origin of the Sacred Blood, its Transference to Bruges, and the figures of the Flemish Crusaders engaged in its transport. At the summit of the window, notice the frequent and fitting symbol of the pelican feeding its young with its own blood.

In the little =side chapel= to the R., separated from the main building by an arcade of three arches, is the _tabernacle_ or canopy from which the Sacred Blood is exhibited weekly. To the right is hung a Crown of Thorns. Notice, also, the Crown of Thorns held by the angel at the top of the steps. The window to the L. (modern) represents St. Longinus, the centurion who pierced the side of Christ, and St. Veronica, displaying her napkin which she gave to the Saviour to wipe his face on the way to Calvary, and which retained ever after the impress of the Divine Countenance. Almost all the other objects in the chapel bear reference, more or less direct, to the Holy Blood. Observe particularly in the main chapel the handsome modern High Altar with its coloured reliefs of scenes of the Passion. Such scenes as the Paschal Lamb on its base, with the Hebrew smearing the lintel of the door, are of course symbolical.

The =Lower Chapel=, to which we are next conducted, is a fine specimen of late Romanesque architecture. It was built by Theodoric in 1150. Its solid short pillars and round arches contrast with the lighter and later Gothic of the upper building. The space above the door of the eastern of the two chapels which face the entrance, is occupied by an interesting mediæval relief representing a baptism with a dove descending. Notice as you pass out, from the Place outside, the two beautiful _turrets_ at the west end of the main chapel.

* * * * *

To the left of the Hôtel de Ville stands the ornate and much gilded Renaissance building known as the =*Maison de l’Ancien Greffe=, originally the municipal record office, but now employed as a police-court. It bears the date 1537, and has been recently restored and profusely covered with gold decoration. Over the main doorway is the Lion of Flanders; on the architrave of the first floor are heads of Counts and Countesses; and the building is surmounted by a figure of Justice, with Moses and Aaron and emblematical statues. Note the Golden Fleece and other symbols. The interior is uninteresting.

The E. side of the square is formed by the =Palais de Justice=, which stands on the site of an old =palace of the Counts of Flanders=, presented by Philippe le Beau to the Liberty of Bruges, and employed by them as their town hall of the _Buitenpoorters_, or inhabitants of the district outside the gate, known as the _Franc de Bruges_. The Renaissance building, erected between 1520 and 1608, was burnt down and replaced in the 18th century by the very uninteresting existing building. Parts of the old palace, however, were preserved, one room in which should be visited for the sake of its magnificent =**chimney-piece=. In order to see it, enter the quadrangle: the porter’s room faces you as you enter; inquire there for the key; admission, 50 c. per person. The _concierge_ conducts you to the Court-Room, belonging to the original building. Almost the entire side of the room is occupied by a splendid Renaissance chimney-piece, executed in 1529, after designs by Lancelot Blondeel of Bruges (a painter whose works are frequent in the town), and Guyot de Beaugrant of Malines, for the Council of the Liberty of Bruges, in honour of Charles V., as a memorial of the Treaty of Cambrai, in 1526. (This was the treaty concluded after the battle of Pavia, by which François I^{er} of France was compelled to acknowledge the independence of Flanders. Some of the figures in the background are allusive to the victory.) The lower part, or chimney-piece proper, is of black marble. The upper portion is of carved oak. The marble part has four bas-reliefs in white alabaster by Guyot de Beaugrant, representing the History of Susannah, a mere excuse for the nude: (1) Susannah and the Elders at the Bath; (2) Susannah dragged by the Elders before the Judge; (3) Daniel before the Judge exculpating Susannah; (4) The Stoning of the Elders. The genii at the corners are also by Beaugrant. The whole is in the pagan taste of the Renaissance. The upper portion in oak contains in the centre a statue of Charles V., represented in his capacity as Count of Flanders (as shown by the arms on his cuirass): the other figures represent his descent and the cumulation of sovereignties in his person. On the throne behind Charles (ill seen) are busts of Philippe le Beau, his father, through whom he inherited the Burgundian dominions, and Johanna (the Mad) of Spain, his mother, through whom he inherited the united Peninsula. The statues L. and R. are those of his actual royal predecessors. The figures to the L. are his paternal grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian, from whom he derived his German territories, and his paternal grandmother, *Mary of Burgundy, who brought into the family Flanders, Burgundy, etc. Mary is represented with a hawk on her wrist, as she was killed at twenty-five by a fall from her horse while out hawking. (We shall see her tomb later at Notre-Dame.) The figures on the R. are those of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the maternal grandfather and grandmother of Charles, from whom he inherited the two portions of his Spanish dominions. The medallions at the back represent the personages most concerned in the Treaty of Cambrai, and the Victory of Pavia which rendered it possible. (De Lannoy, the conqueror, to whom François gave up his sword, and Margaret of Austria.) The tapestry which surrounds the hall is modern; it was manufactured at Ingelmünster after the pattern of a few old fragments found in the cellars of the ancient building. The mediocre painting on the wall depicts a sitting of the court of the Liberty of Bruges in this room (1659).

* * * * *

The N. side of the square is now occupied by a small Place planted with trees. Originally, however, the =old cathedral= of Bruges occupied this site. It was dedicated to St. Donatian, the patron of the city, whose relics were preserved in it; but it was barbarously destroyed by the French Revolutionary army in 1799, and the works of art which it contained were dispersed or ruined. Figures of St. Donatian occur accordingly in many paintings at Bruges. Jan van Eyck was buried in this cathedral, and a =statue= has been erected to him under the trees in the little Place. In order, therefore, mentally to complete the picture of the Place du Bourg in the 16th century, we must imagine not only the Hôtel de Ville, the Chapelle du Saint Sang, and the Ancien Greffe in something approaching their existing condition, but also the stately cathedral and the original Renaissance building of the _Franc de Bruges_ filling in the remainder.

An archway spans the space between the Ancien Greffe and the Hôtel de Ville. Take the narrow street which dives beneath it, looking back as you pass at the archway with its inscription of S.P.Q.B. (for Senatus Populusque Brugensis). The street then leads across a bridge over the river Reye or principal canal, and affords a good view of the back of the earlier portion of the Palais de Justice, with its picturesque brick turrets, and a few early arches belonging to the primitive palace. I recommend the visitor to turn to the R. after crossing the bridge, traverse the little square, and make his way home by the bank of the Dyver and the church of Notre-Dame. The view towards the Hôtel de Ville and the Belfry, from the part of the Dyver a little to the east behind the Belfry, is one of the most picturesque and striking in Bruges.

_C._ THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN

[The =Hospital of St. John=, one of the most ancient
institutions in Bruges, or of its kind in Europe, was founded
not later than 1188, and still retains, within and without, its
mediæval arrangement. =Its Augustinian brothers and nuns= tend
the sick in the primitive building, now largely added to. It
derives its chief interest for the tourist, however, from its
small =Picture Gallery=, the one object in Bruges which must
above everything else be visited. This is the only place for
studying in full the exquisite art of =Memling=, whose charming
and poetical work is here more fully represented than elsewhere.
In this respect the Hospital of St. John may be fitly compared
with the two other famous “one-man shows” of Europe—the Fra
Angelicos at San Marco in Florence, and the Giottos in the
Madonna dell’ Arena at Padua. Many of the pictures were painted
for the institution which they still adorn; so that we have here
the opportunity of seeing works of mediæval art in the precise
surroundings which first produced them.

=Hans Memling=, whose name is also written _Memlinc_ and
_Memlin_, etc. (long erroneously cited as _Hemling_; through a
mistaken reading of the initial in his signature) is a painter
of whom little is known, save his work; but the work is the man,
and therefore amply sufficient. He was born about 1430, perhaps
in Germany, and is believed to have been a pupil of Roger van
der Weyden, the Brussels painter, whose work we shall see later
at Antwerp and elsewhere. Mr. Weale has shown that he was a
person of some wealth, settled at Bruges in his own house (about
1478), and in a position to lend money to the town. He died in
1495. His period of activity as a painter is thus coincident
with the earlier work of Carpaccio and Perugino in Italy; and he
died while Raphael was still a boy. In relation to the artists
of his own country, whose works we have still to see, Memling
was junior by more than a generation to Jan van Eyck, having
been born about ten years before Van Eyck died; he was also
younger by thirty years than Roger van der Weyden; and by twenty
or thirty years than Dierick Bouts; but older by at least twenty
than Gerard David. Memling has been called the Fra Angelico of
Flanders; but this is only true so far as regards Fra Angelico’s
panel works; the saintly Frate, when he worked in fresco,
adopted a style wholly different from that which he displays in
his miniature-like altar-pieces. It would be truer to say that
Memling is the Benozzo Gozzoli of the North: he has the same
love of decorative adjuncts, and the same naïve delight in the
beauty of external nature.

Before visiting the Hospital, it is also well to be acquainted
in outline with =the history of St. Ursula=, whose _châsse_ or
=shrine= forms one of its greatest treasures. The Hospital
possessed an important relic of the saint—her holy arm—and
about 1480-1489 commissioned Memling to paint scenes from her
life on the shrine destined to contain this precious deposit.
The chest or reliquary which he adorned for the purpose forms
the very best work of Memling’s lifetime.

=St. Ursula= was a British (or Bretonne) princess, brought up as
a Christian by her pious parents. She was sought in marriage by
a pagan prince, Conon, said to be the son of a king of England.
The English king, called Agrippinus in the legend, sent
ambassadors to the king of Britain (or Brittany) asking for the
hand of Ursula for his heir. But Ursula made three conditions:
first, that she should be given as companions ten noble virgins,
and that she herself and each of the virgins should be
accompanied by a thousand maiden attendants; second, that they
should all together visit the shrines of the saints; and third,
that the prince Conon and all his court should receive baptism.
These conditions were complied with; the king of England
collected 11,000 virgins; and Ursula, with her companions,
sailed for Cologne, where she arrived miraculously without the
assistance of sailors (but Memling adds them). Here, she had a
vision of an angel bidding her to repair to Rome, the threshold
of the apostles. From Cologne, the pilgrims went up the Rhine by
boat, till they arrived at Basle, where they disembarked and
continued their journey on foot over the Alps to Italy. At
length they reached the Tiber, which they descended till they
approached the walls of Rome. There, the Pope, St. Cyriacus,
went forth with all his clergy in procession to meet them. He
gave them his blessing, and lest the maidens should come to harm
in so wicked a city, he had tents pitched for them outside the
walls on the side towards Tivoli. Meanwhile, prince Conon had
come on pilgrimage by a different route, and arrived at Rome on
the same day as his betrothed. He knelt with Ursula at the feet
of the Pope, and, being baptized, received in exchange the name
of Ethereus.

After a certain time spent in Rome, the holy maidens bethought
them to return home again. Thereupon, Pope Cyriacus decided to
accompany them, together with his cardinals, archbishops,
bishops, patriarchs, and many others of his prelates. They
crossed the Alps, embarked again at Basle, and made their way
northward as far as Cologne. Now it happened that the army of
the Huns was at that time besieging the Roman colony; and the
pagans fell upon the 11,000 virgins, with the Pope and their
other saintly companions. Prince Ethereus was one of the first
to die; then Cyriacus, the bishops, and the cardinals perished.
Last of all, the pagans turned upon the virgins, all of whom
they slew, save only St. Ursula. Her they carried before their
king, who, beholding her beauty, would fain have wedded her. But
Ursula sternly refused the offer of this son of Satan; whereupon
the king, seizing his bow, transfixed her breast with three
arrows. Hence her symbol is an arrow; also, she is the patroness
of young girls and of virgins, so that her shrine is
particularly appropriate in a nunnery.

Most of the bones of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins are
preserved at Cologne, the city of her martyrdom, where they are
ranged in cases round the walls of a church dedicated in her
honour; but her arm is here, and a few other relics are
distributed elsewhere.

The Hospital is open daily from 9 to 6; Sundays, 3 to 6. 1 franc
per person. If you have Conway, take it with you.]

From the Grand’ Place, turn down the Rue des Pierres, the principal shopping street of Bruges, with several fine old _façades_, many of them dated. At the Place Simon Stévin turn to the L., and go straight on as far as the church of Notre-Dame. The long brick building with Gothic arches, on your right, is the =**Hospital of St. John= the Evangelist.

First, examine the brick Gothic =exterior=. Over the outer doorway is the figure of a bishop with a flaming heart, the emblem of St. Augustine, this being an Augustinian hospital. Continue on to the original main portal (now bricked up) with a broken pillar, and two 13th century reliefs in the tympanum. That to the _right_ represents the Death of the Virgin, with the Apostles grouped around, and the figure of the Christ receiving her naked new-born soul as usual. Above is the Coronation of Our Lady. That to the _left_ seems like a reversed and altered _replica_ of the same subject, with perhaps the Last Judgment above it. It is, however, so much dilapidated that identification is difficult. (Perhaps the top is a Glory of St. Ursula.) Go on as far as the little bridge over the canal, to inspect the picturesque river front of the Hospital.

Return to the main portal and ring the inner bell. Admission, see above. The =pictures= are collected in the former Chapter-house of the Hospital, above the door of which is another figure of St. Augustine.

The centre of the room is occupied by the famous _châsse_ or =**shrine= containing the arm of =St. Ursula=, a dainty little Gothic chapel in miniature. It is painted with exquisite scenes from the legend, by Memling, with all the charm of a fairy tale. He treats it as a poetical romance. Begin the story on the side towards the window. (For a penetrating criticism of these works, see Conway.)