CHAPTER XVIII

Chapter 196,763 wordsPublic domain

_Conclusion_

The constitution of 1421 continued to be the legal constitution of the city of Brussels until the old order of things was swept away at the close of the seventeen hundreds, save only for a short period--not quite four years--during the reign of Marie of Burgundy. The defeat and death of that stalwart hero, whom men in his lifetime had called the Bold, and afterwards the Rash, was a source of great consolation to all his subjects, for Charles had dreamed dreams of empire, and the people had had to pay for his vain attempts to realise them. The daughter who inherited his throne and his misfortunes was but eighteen years of age, and, with a shattered army and an empty purse, she was wholly dependent on their goodwill.

The times, then, were propitious for asking favours; every commune in the Netherlands was obtaining fresh privileges; and when Marie visited Brussels in the June of 1477 she did not refuse to legalise the result of a successful riot of the year before. But though plebeians could now sit in the College of Aldermen, and the people could now take part in municipal elections, it is worthy of note that the new magistrates were almost all of them members of the old ruling class. Further changes were made in 1480 (this time of a reactionary character), and in the following year the old constitution was once more re-established.

V.--Genealogical Table of the Dukes of Brabant from Philip II. to Philip III.

The great struggle between the patricians and the craftsmen was never again to be renewed. The former, now that they had lost their monopoly, dissociated themselves more and more, as time went on, from trade and from municipal affairs, and, becoming more and more chary in admitting to their order outsiders from below, were little by little absorbed in the ranks of the territorial aristocracy. Before two generations had passed away their numbers had become so reduced that there were not twenty-one patricians in Brussels qualified to sit in the College of Aldermen, and under these circumstances Charles V. deprived them of their last political prerogative: in 1532 he decreed that henceforth any nobleman, whether he were a member of a _lignage_ or not, should be an eligible candidate for the magistracy. The city was not indeed free from dissensions in the ages which followed, but the strife which divided the people was not the outcome of class hatred, but of differences of opinion in religious matters, and of the impolitic measures taken to restore religious unity by alien rulers, who had no sympathy with the customs and traditions of the Netherlands.

It happened thus: Duchess Marie, who in 1477 had married Maximilian of Hapsburg, son of the Emperor Frederick III., died two years later, leaving two children--Van Orley's friend Marguerite, whose acquaintance we have already made; and Philip, surnamed the Handsome, who, inheriting his mother's domains, ruled them from the time that he attained his majority in 1493 till his death in 1506. Philip had married Juana, the daughter and heiress of Isabel, Queen of Castile, and of Ferdinand, King of Aragon; and the eldest born of this union was the famous Charles Quint.

If old King Ferdinand and Cardinal Ximénez had been allowed to have their way, the Spanish succession would have been settled on Charles's younger brother, and Spain and the Netherlands would perhaps have been spared many years of misery. To this arrangement Charles, naturally enough, objected; and no sooner had he attained his majority than he despatched, 'par devers le roy d'Arragon, pour aucuns grans affaires secretz dont n'est besoin ici faire declaration'--thus it was given out--his tutor, Adrian Boyens. This remarkable man, it will be interesting to note, was the son of a brewer of Utrecht; in his early days he had been curate of the Grand Béguinage at Louvain--a portion of the house which he then occupied is still standing (No. 153 Rue des Moutons)--towards the close of his life he ascended the pontifical throne, under the title of Adrian VI., and at the time of which we are writing he held, along with other preferments, a canon's stall in the old Collegiate Church of Saint Guy at Anderlecht. The ex-curate of Louvain ought certainly not to have been a match for the experienced statesman and diplomatist who at this time held the destinies of Spain in his hands, but, somehow or other, he managed to convince him of the justice of his master's claim: presently, with the approval of his all-powerful minister, Ferdinand consented to acknowledge his eldest grandson as his heir; and when he died, two years afterwards, Charles ascended the throne.

Thus were Spain and the Netherlands united under one sceptre; and the inhabitants of the greater realm were the first to rue it; for Charles, who was a native of Ghent and had been brought up at Mechlin, had little liking for Spain, and took no pains to conceal his sentiments: he refused to speak the Spanish tongue, flouted the aged Cardinal Ximénez (a statesman of whom Spaniards were justly proud, and whom the people regarded as a saint), filled the land with foreign officials, levied illegal taxes, violated the most cherished constitutional rights--in a word, treated his southern domain almost like a conquered country; and when at last the Castilians rebelled, and after a bitter struggle were crushed, he deprived them of their time-honoured liberties.

In the Netherlands the course of events was much the same, but the situation developed later, and only became acute during the reign of his son Philip. Karlekin, as the Flemings called their Sovereign, at all events was one of them; and though the Ghenters experienced his lash when they refused to pay his illegal imposts, and though his 'placards' against heresy were stamped with the cruel rigour of the penal code of the day, they only touched a small minority, and to the end of his reign he remained with the bulk of the people sufficiently popular. Upon the rare occasions when he visited Brussels he was welcomed with _fêtes_ and enthusiasm.

Often away from home, he was fortunate in his choice of Regents--Marguerite of Austria, his aunt, and, when she died, his sister, Marie of Hungary. These ladies resided for the most part at Mechlin, in a beautiful Gothic palace, which had formerly been inhabited by Marguerite of York, the widow of Charles the Bold, and which is still standing; and the Court of each of them was rendered brilliant by the artists and scholars who frequented it. They were deservedly loved by their subjects, for they held the reins of government with a gentle hand; and it was in large measure owing to their prudence that when Charles put off his crown, the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands were among the most prosperous in Europe.

When on the 25th of October 1555, leaning on the shoulder of that Prince who was so soon to become the mortal enemy of his race, the Emperor, not old in years but worn out by disease and the weight of a realm on which, as he used to say, the sun never set, bade farewell to the men of Brussels in the great hall of the Coudenberg--we have it on the testimony of an eye-witness--all those who heard him wept. Well might the people weep, if they had only known: they were assisting at the opening scene of a tragedy which lasted a hundred years.

The new Sovereign had been born and bred in Castile, and despite his Flemish ancestry and his Flemish face he was a true Castilian. Of course he knew nothing of Flemish, and he either could not or would not speak French: he was as much a foreigner in the Low Countries as his father had been in Spain. Like him, he had the instincts and the inclinations of a despot; but whereas Charles delighted to mix with his fellow-men and, when he would, could win their affection, Philip was cold, grave, aloof, and kept even the highest of his Court nobles at arm's length; nor were the Netherlanders sorry when, four years after his inauguration, he bade them farewell. But if they imagined that their Sovereign's fingers were not long enough to reach them from Madrid, in this they were mistaken, as presently they learned to their cost, for it was no vain boast when Philip said that 'everywhere in the vast compass of his dominions he was an absolute King.'

The native aristocracy was indeed represented in the Council of State, but there were foreign councillors as well, and one of them, Cardinal Granvelle, had Philip's ear. It was he who governed the Regent--Marguerite of Parma, a natural daughter of Charles V.--and to all intents and purposes the country was ruled from Madrid. Hence not a little heartburning.

Meanwhile the new doctrine was rapidly making headway. The number of Protestants amongst the working population of the great cities must at this time have been considerable; there were thousands in all classes halting between two opinions, and honest men all over the country, who had no sympathy with the tenets proscribed, were sickened and astounded at the cruel rigour with which Charles's 'placards' were being now enforced, and in the midst of it all, and in spite of the opposition of Granvelle himself, Philip took a step which he ought to have known would be certain to breed trouble: he obtained from Pope Paul IV. a Bull (1562) to increase the number of bishoprics from three to fifteen, and the measure was at once opposed by all sorts and conditions of men:--by the secular clergy, because they believed that the presence of so many bishops amongst them would lessen their prestige; by the monks, who knew they would be shorn of revenue for the endowment of the new Sees; by the nobles, who regarded the great abbeys as the appanage of their younger sons; by the people, who were firmly convinced that this step was only the prelude to further persecution; and opposition was increased tenfold when presently it became known that the proposed metropolitan See of Mechlin was to be confided to Cardinal Granvelle. Philip, however, refused to draw back; but, so threatening was the attitude of the nobles, that at last, at the request of the Regent herself, he consented to Granvelle's resignation (1564), though almost immediately afterwards he gave orders that the edicts against heresy should be enforced with increased rigour. Then, on the 15th of February 1565, came the famous _Compromis des nobles_, and a petition for the redress of grievances, which was presented to the Regent two months later by a deputation of four hundred gentlemen, many of whom were Catholics, with a request that she would transmit it to Philip, and which he in due course refused. '_Ne vous inquiétez pas ce ne sont que des gueux_,' the Lord of Berlaymont had whispered to Marguerite, dismayed at the long line of petitioners who solemnly filed before her in the great hall of the Coudenberg; and that night, at a banquet in the palace of the Lord of Culembourg, now the prison of the Petits Carmes, they made this term of reproach their _signe de ralliement_; they were 'gueux,' they said, 'et fidèles au roi jusqu'à la besace.' They proved it by scattering seditious pamphlets broadcast all over the country, and the following year--the _wonder jaar_, as it was afterwards called--the Calvinist mob began to purge the land of idols. In Flanders alone more than four hundred churches and religious houses were sacked, and what happened at Antwerp is significant--every statue in the cathedral was shattered, save that of the unrepentant thief.

The worst of the trouble was, however, over; order had been restored; Antwerp, where the Protestants were strongest, had opened its gates to the Regent; thanks to her firmness and moderation, the country was being rapidly pacified, and a very general reaction in favour of the government and of the old faith had already set in, when Philip, who, when he heard of the havoc wrought by the Protestants, had sworn by the soul of his father to make them pay for it, despatched to the Netherlands a Spanish army under the command of Alva.

The terrible Duke and his soldiers reached Brussels on the 22nd of August 1567, and sooner than have any share in the horrors she foresaw would ensue, Marguerite laid down her office.

The story of Alva's reign of terror is too well known to need recital here. Suffice it to say that the whole country was declared in a state of siege. In utter violation of those constitutional liberties which Philip had solemnly sworn to respect, he constituted that 'Council of Troubles,' which the people called the 'Council of Blood,' and whose mission it was to judge, or rather to condemn, all those whom the Duke deferred to it. Amongst the innocent victims were Lamoral d'Egmont, a member of Marguerite's Council, and Governor of Flanders and Artois, and his friend and kinsman, Martin de Hornes, Admiral of the Netherlands. They had been the leaders of the opposition against Granvelle, along with William of Nassau, but, unlike him, they were loyal to Philip and loyal to the old faith. Alva, however, thought otherwise, and they died the death of traitors, in the Grand' Place at Brussels, on the 5th of June 1568. It is said that the Spanish soldiers wept when they saw these men led forth to execution, and even Alva himself, though he believed them guilty, was loath to condemn them. 'Your Majesty will understand,' he wrote to Philip, 'the regret I feel at seeing these poor lords brought to such an end, and myself obliged to bring them to it, but I have not shrunk from doing what is for your Majesty's service.... The Countess Egmont's condition fills me with the greatest pity, burthened as she is with a family of eleven children, none old enough to take care of themselves; and she a lady of so distinguished a rank and of so virtuous, truly Catholic and exemplary life. There is no man in the country who does not grieve for her! I cannot but commend her to the good grace of your Majesty, beseeching you to call to mind that, if the Count, her husband, came to trouble at the close of his days, he formerly rendered great services to the State.' Philip granted the Countess d'Egmont an annual pension of 12,000 _livres_, which seems to have been not very regularly paid.

A few years ago a monumental fountain was erected in Brussels in memory of Egmont and Hornes; it stands in the Place du Petit Sablon, hard by the ancient palace, now the Hôtel des ducs d'Arenberg, where poor Lamoral dwelt, and which was originally built by his mother.

But it was not the fierceness of Alva's vengeance, but his oppressive and illegal fiscal measures, which roused the people to rebellion and threw Catholics and Protestants alike into the arms of William of Nassau. At last Philip's eyes were opened, but then it was too late. When he recalled the Duke of Alva in the autumn of 1573 the whole country was in revolt, and the northern provinces were lost for ever to Spain.

Later on, when the Catholic provinces of the South, disgusted at the bigotry and intolerance of William of Orange and his friends, had made terms with the Duke of Parma and returned to Philip's allegiance, and when by their aid the Dutch had been ousted from every town in Brabant and Flanders, save Ostend, and William himself had fallen, struck down by the hand of an assassin, it seemed for a moment that the northern provinces too would soon be constrained to submit to Parma's victorious army; but as Philip had baulked his sister Marguerite, so now did he render of no avail the heroic efforts of her son. He was minded to conquer England. Parma's forces were suddenly withdrawn to second his vain endeavour, and the opportunity lost through the King's infatuation, never again returned (1584). The war dragged on intermittently for more than sixty years, and then at last, by the Treaty of Westphalia, Spain consented to acknowledge the independence of the Dutch Republic.

But to return to Brussels. During the troubled years of Philip's reign Brussels suffered less than most of the other great towns of the Spanish Netherlands; for though she experienced the kindness of Alva and afterwards had to endure the tender mercies of the Gueux, Parma presently re-established order, made her the seat of his government, restored her municipal rights, and thus, little by little, trade and industry revived.

In the days of Duchess Isabel (1598-1633) and her husband Albert of Austria (1598-1621), on whom on his deathbed King Philip had conferred the sovereignty of the Low Countries, Brussels enjoyed unbroken peace and a period of comparative prosperity. They resided for the most part in the old ducal palace, and were greatly beloved by the burghers: they did what they could to make them forget the miseries of Philip's reign. If they had been able to found a dynasty, it is likely enough the land would have been spared many years of trouble; but, dying without offspring, their heritage reverted to Spain, and shared the misfortunes of that once great nation, now in full decadence. From 1635 to 1714 the Spanish Netherlands was the scene of almost uninterrupted warfare; yet, strangely enough, throughout the whole of this period the masons of Brabant went on building, and, stranger still, were able to erect structures not unworthy of their great traditions. At Brussels, for example, the beautiful Gothic Chapel of Our Lady of Deliverance (1649-1653), the Renaissance Chapel of the Brigitine Nuns (of about the same date), the Chapel of Saint Anne (1655), the Church of the Béguinage (1657), of the Riches Claires (1665-1671), of Notre-Dame de Bon Secours (1668-1673), the Guild Halls in the Grand' Place--no less than seventeen of them, all erected after the bombardment of 1695.

Brussels, of course, was now the capital, and probably too at this time the richest town in the Spanish Netherlands; but cities which had not these advantages somehow or other managed to produce grand buildings. At Louvain we have the Church of Saint Michael (1650-1666), the College of the Holy Trinity (1657), the College of the Holy Ghost (1720); and at Mechlin, the Church of Saint Peter (1677) and the Church of Our Lady of Hanswyck (1670). These strange rococo creations assuredly cannot compete with the buildings of the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, but they have a certain fantastic charm of their own; they are at least picturesque, and, curiously enough, they bear no trace of the lean years which produced them. Wherefore? The industry, the thrift, the business qualities of the burghers, who still through their representatives in the Estates of Brabant administered the finances of the realm; their inborn love of the beautiful; their traditional skill in creating it; the survival of the mediæval craft guilds and of the mediæval faith: in these things we probably have the answer to the riddle.

The Treaty of Rastatt at the close of the War of the Spanish Succession gave Brabant and the other provinces of the Spanish Netherlands to the Emperor Charles VI., a descendant, in the direct line, of Duke Philip the Handsome, and the domination of the Austrian Hapsburgs continued, save for an interval of four years, till the end of the century. On the whole, the change was for the better. After the long years of excitement the nation needed repose, and under their new rulers the Belgian Estates, as they were now called, vegetated in obscure tranquillity. The opening years of Charles's reign were not, however, without trouble. He was ill represented by his first governor, the Marquis de Prié, who seems to have made no attempt to win the people's confidence. An Italian by birth, and a man of utterly unsympathetic character, avaricious, violent, cold, his impolitic and vexatious fiscal measures irritated the whole country, and the craftsmen of Brussels resisted them. As time went on the agitation increased, and at last the mob got out of hand, broke into the Chancellery where the Estates of Brabant were sitting, and wrecked the houses of several of the Regent's partisans; and when order was once more restored, De Prié, like a second Alva, thought only of vengeance.

Having treacherously obtained possession of the persons of five of his principal opponents, four of them were condemned to exile, and the fifth to death. This man was François Anneessens, Dean of the Nation of Saint Nicholas, and by trade a turner of chairs; he was seventy-three years of age, a good man and a good citizen, known and esteemed by the whole town. It was said that he had fomented sedition, but in reality he died for defending the traditional rights of his order. His head was struck off in the Grand' Place on the fifth of February 1719. He was the last of the old Brussels guildsmen to give his life for liberty.

The time-honoured civic institutions of Belgium were not destined to survive much longer; they were soon to be swept away by the backwash of the French Revolution--to bring their years to an end, as it were a tale that is told.

VI.--Genealogical Table of the Dukes of Brabant from Philip III. to Francis

_Follows page 375._

INDEX

Abbey Church of Parc, 193

Adelaide, Duchess, supports the Blankarden, 59

Adhilck, Lord of Hesbaye, changes his name to Bavo, 4; becomes patron of Ghent as Saint Bavo, 5

Aerschot, Parish Church of, 306

Alost, Church of Our Lady and Saint Martin at, 309

Anderlecht, Saint Guy of, 35-39

Andernach, Duke Giselbert surprised at, and drowned, 14, 15

Anne of Linange, wife of Sweder van Apcoude, 112; she surrenders Gaesbeke Castle, 117

Ansfried, Count of Louvain, influence of Bruno on, 18

Anthony, Regent of Brabant, 122

Antwerp Cathedral, 209, 213

Antwerp, heresy in, 230; canons of, ask the aid of Saint Norbert, 231

Arnon, Abbot of Elnone, 172

Arnulph I. heads a German army against Norsemen, 10; names his son Zwentibold, King of Lotharingia, 13

Bavo, Saint, converted by Saint-Amand, 4; becomes patron of Ghent, 5

Beguines and Beghards, 233 _et seq._

Beyaert, Jan, his fine carving, 325; executed, 329

Blankarden, family of the, their rivalry to the Coelveren, 58 _et seq._

Bloemardine, a famous Brussels mystic, 241, 245, 246

Boudts, Dierick, a famous painter, 330, 339-342

Brabant, origin of place names in, 1, 2; early inhabitants of, 2; Danes' first visit to, 8; their conduct, 9; making of duchy of, 22-30; municipal organisation of towns of, 47 _et seq._

Braine-le-Comte, surrender of, 164

Brethren of the Common Life, the, 250; their famous pupils, 251

Brigitine Nuns, Chapel of, 372

Brogne, Abbey of, origin of, 23

Bruno, Saint, receives ducal crown, 17; his influence, 18; banishes Régnier of Hainault, 19; his death, 19

Brussels, etymology of name, 1; its rise, 31 _et seq._; hostility of patricians and plebeians in, 96; Winceslaus' conduct towards, 97; riots in, 98, 99; election of magistrates at, 103; articles manufactured at, 105; Flemish invasion of, 107; Flemings driven out, 109; public buildings of, 257 _et seq._

Butkins quoted, 107

Calstere, Alderman Vanden, 89; murders Vander Leyden, 91; his cruel treatment of Van Grave, 93

Cathedral of Saint Lambert rifled and burnt by Danes, 9

Cathedral School of Liége, 174

Celites, the, their work, 238

Charlemagne, progress of Art under, 171

Charles of France claims his mother's dowry, 19; duchy conferred on him by Otho II., 20; death of, 21

Charles the Bold, pavilion made in Brussels for his wedding, 223

Charles the Fat summoned from Italy, 10

Chastelain quoted, 126, 225

Cluny, effect of discipline of, 26, 27.

Cluting, Amman of Brussels, divested of his office, 143; restored to office, 145; his plot to seize the city, 151; imprisoned, 152; executed, 154

Cobham, Eleanor, rival of Jacqueline, accompanies Gloucester to Hainault, 166, 167; marries Gloucester, 168

Coelveren, family of the, rivals of the Blankardens, 58 _et seq._

College of Aldermen, 47 _et seq._, 89, 90

Conrad the Red, his character, 15

Consecrated wafers, legend regarding theft of, 244

Constance, Fathers of, elect Pope Martin V., 129

Cooman, Hendrick, architect, 279

Corneille, his brief career and cruel death, 286, 287

Coudenberg, Franz, canon of Saint Gudule's, 246; founds a community, 247

Council of Jurors, 47 _et seq._, 89, 90.

Coutherele, Peter, Mayor of Louvain, 68; triumph of democracy due to him, 68; his quarrel with the magistracy, 70; opposition to the patricians, 72-75; his fall and flight, 81-83; in Holland, 84; his death, 85

_Crom Cruys_, 117, 299-301

Crypt of Saint Guy at Anderlecht, 183

Cuyck, Henri de, his marriage, 79; intercedes with Winceslaus for Peter Coutherele, 85

Dancers, the, cause massacre of Jews, 242

Danes first visit Brabant, 8; they destroy churches and murder monks, 9

Delft, Treaty of, Jacqueline acknowledges Philip as Regent by, 169

Domlinus, a hermit, legend of, 5

Duchess Jeanne negotiates with Coutherele, 75; submits report to conference in Saint Gertrude's Abbey, 87, 88; a widow and in debt, 112; visits Town Hall on hearing of attack on T'Serclaes, 113, 114; French in sympathies, 120; visits Paris, 122; her death, 126

Duke John I. proclaimed heir to Duchy of Brabant, 59; held in confidence and esteem, 60

Duke John II., riot during his absence, 63; authorises magistrates to use any means they think fit to crush outbreaks, 66; grants discretionary power to College of Aldermen, 67

Duke John III. appoints Coutherele mayor, 69; his death, 71

Duke John IV., scion of the house of Bourgogne, 119; marries Jacqueline, 130; cedes part of his wife's domains to John the Pitiless, 131; his feebleness, 132; a noteworthy day in his life, 134; Marguerite of Burgundy remonstrates with him, 137; summons Estates of Brabant to meet at Brussels, 138; delays to arbitrate between the Heetveldes and Vanderstraetens, 139; flees to Bois-le-Duc, 141; appears before Brussels at the head of an army of Germans, 145; enters Brussels, 149; conduct of his German knights, 150; citizens fetter and place knights in gaol, 152; his friends form a secret league for his defence, 157; the Estates recall him, 160; Mons besieged by, 165; his death, 169

Dynter, Edmund De, quoted, 70, 72, 73, 130, 133, 146, 154, 158, 164

Elizabeth, Duchess of Luxembourg, marries John the Pitiless, 131

Englebert de la Mark, Bishop of Liége, 107

English surrender at Braine-le-Comte, strange delusion which led to, 164, 165

Estates of Brabant summoned to meet at Brussels, 138; support Jacqueline, 142; recall Duke John, 160

Eyck, Jan van, 263, 267

Feudal system rises on ruins of Imperialism, 12

Flagellants, the, 242

Flemings driven from Brussels, 109

Francon, Bishop, flees from Danes, 9; joins Arnulph's army, 10

Gaesbeke, Castle of, 112, 113; siege of, 115; capitulation of, 117

Genappe, Castle of, as a refuge for the Jews, 242

Georgius, an Italian mechanician, 172

Gerard, first Abbot of Brogne, 23; the secret of his success, 24, 25

Gerard of Vorsselaer, offers his services to the patricians of Louvain, 74; offers the same at Brussels, 97, 98

Gerberge, daughter of Henry I., 14, 19

Gertrude, daughter of Pepin of Landen, foundress of Abbey of Nivelles, 6, 188

Gertruidenberg besieged and burnt, 143

Gheel, Church of Saint Dymphna at, 306

Ghent, Cathedral of, 215-218; Town Hall of, 213-215

Giselbert, Count, how his fortune was made, 13

Giselbert, Duke, succeeds his father, 14; his character and death, 14, 15

Godfrey Longbeard, Duke, lays foundation stone of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, 181; founds Abbeys of Tongerloo and Parc, 232

Godfrey of Verdun, his message to his wife, 18

Godfrey the Hunchback, his character, 27

Gorcum, Treaty of, 136

Grand Béguinage at Louvain, 235, 236

Grave, Myn Here Van, cruel treatment of, 93

Groenendael, community founded at, 247

Groote, Geert, disciple of Ruysbroek, 249; his preaching, 250

Gudule, Saint, legends relating to her life, 270, 273

Guild Halls in Grand' Place at Brussels, 257, 372

Guy, Saint, of Anderlecht, 35; legends about him, 35-39

Hadewych, Sister, a writer of glowing prose and frenzied verse, 240

Hal, Church of Our Lady and Saint Martin at, 260, 310, 313

Halene, slain by her father for embracing Christianity, 6

Hanneman, Jan, a rich cloth merchant of Louvain, 79; sent to Germany to raise money, 80; disappears, 83

Heetvelde, house of, 138; their quarrel with the Vanderstraetens, 139

Heinsberg, his plot with Cluting, 151; captured and imprisoned, 152; released, 160

Hellebeke, Jan Van, Commander-in-chief at Gaesbeke Castle, 114; his life spared on surrender, 117

Henry I., Emperor, gives his daughter to Giselbert, 14

Henry IV., Emperor, his policy, 28, 29

Henry of Limburg refuses to acknowledge Henry V., 29

Herengolys, Peter, Mayor of Louvain, 79; flees to Asten, 81; disappears, 83; captured and executed, 84

Heusden surrendered, 142

Heverlé, Castle of, 83

Hinckaert, Jan, canon of Saint Gudule's, 246

Holy Trinity, College of the, at Louvain, 372

Hommes de Sainte Gertrude, 188, 189

Hubert, Saint, Bishop of Liége, conversion of Brabant due to his zeal, 4

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, marries Jacqueline, 163; marries Eleanor Cobham, 168

Jacqueline, her birth, 125; forced to marry Duke John of Brabant, 127; part of her domains ceded by him, 131; disagreement with her husband, 132; rates him for two hours at Tervueren, 134; flees from Court, 137; enters Brussels in triumph, 141; captures Heusden and Gertruidenberg, 143; appeals to the Pope to dissolve her marriage with John and marries Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 163; her letter to Humphrey, 165, 166; surrenders at Mons, 167; her escape, 167, 168; secretly marries Franche de Borselle, 170; dies of consumption, 170

_Jean sans Peur_, his characteristics, 125

Jews, outbreaks against, 241; the Dancers cause massacre of, 242

John of Arkel puts Louvain under interdict 84

John of Louvain, theft of consecrated wafers by, 243

John the Pitiless, in sub-deacon's orders at seventeen, 128; his oppression and cruelty, 129; resigns his See and marries, 131; demands fresh concessions, 136; Estates oppose him, 142; dies by poisoning, 162

Jonathan of Enghien, a Hebrew fanatic, 243

Jury, origin of the, 48

Kegel, Alderman, 145, 146; escapes from Brussels, 153

Kelderman, Jan, designer of Tower of Saint Rombold, 197

Keldermans, the, a remarkable family, 197-201, 205, 208

Lambert Balderick, real founder of Louvain, 41; builds and endows Saint Peter's, Louvain, 42

Lambert Longbeard, Count of Louvain, 41

Lambert Long Col claims Duchy of Lotharingia, 21

Léau, Saint Leonard's Church at, 306

Leyden, Wouter Vander, heads rioters, 88; chosen as a city captain, 89; murdered, 91

Liége, diocese of, 9

Lierre, old church at, 305

Lierre, Town Hall of, bell taken from Braine, hung in, 165

_Lignages_, or clans, 50, 51

Long Col, house of, 13-21

Lotharingia, monastic domains of, in lay hands, 12; invaded by Charles of France, 19

Louis of Maele. 71, 107, 120

Louvain, old Bourg of, 41; Lambert Balderick, real founder of, 41; grant of charter from Winceslaus, 76; revolution of 1360 at, 95; Church of Saint Peter at, 289

Low Country, features of, and trade in, 31-34

Maeseyck, illuminated copy of the Gospels in old church at, 173

Maison du Roi, La, 202

Marguerite of Maele, a rich young widow, 119, 120, 125

Marsdale, Jan van, sculptor, 197

Martin V., Pope, his letters to Duke John, 130

Marvis, Bishop Walter de, a great church-builder, 193

Matthew de Layens, builder of Louvain Town Hall, 318-324

Mechlin, architecture of, 302

Mechlin Cathedral, 301

Merchants' Guild, 47, 48, 89, 90

Metsys, Quentin, a famous painter, 330, 347, 350

Mons, siege of, 165

Monstrelet quoted, 133

Montenaeken, battle of, called 'Saint Lambert's triumph,' 277

Municipal organisation of towns in Brabant, 47 _et seq._

Nivelles, Abbey of, founded by Saint Gertrude, 6

Nivelles, specimen of Romanesque architecture at, 188; commerce of, 189; features of, 190; the old Minster, 190-192

Norbert, Saint, of Laon invited to Antwerp, 231; founds Premonstratensian Order, 232

Notre-Dame au-delà de la Dyle, Church of, 201, 268

Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, 181, 260, 264

Notre-Dame du Lac at Thienhoven, 305

Notre-Dame du Sablon, 260

Orley, Bernard van, a famous painter, 206, 207, 330, 350, 357

Otbert of Liége, his support of the Emperor, 28

Othée, battle at, 129

Otho, Emperor, 14, 15; governs Lotharingia by means of the Church, 16, 17; gives ducal crown to Saint Bruno, 17; his death, 19

Otho II., his policy, 20

Our Lady of Deliverance, Chapel of, 372

Our Lady of Hanswyck, Church of, at Mechlin, 372

Parc, Abbey of, 232

Peace of 1378, or Great Charter, 87

'Petermen,' their privileges, 42, 44; rich and powerful, 95

Peter the Hermit, draws many recruits from Brabant, 226

Philip of Valois, his marriage, 120; induces Duchess Jeanne to abdicate, 122; his death, 125

Philippe de Commines quoted, 220, 223

Philippe l'Asseuré, condition of towns of Brabant in days of, 225

Pierre de Clermont, Bishop of Cambrai, 247

Pirenne, M., quoted, 17, 50, 167, 230, 238

Platvoet, Jan, his cruel murder, 92

Portman, Hendrick, chosen a city captain, 89

Premonstratensian Order founded, 232

Rastatt, Treaty of, effect of, 373

Régnier au Long Col, ancestor of Sovereigns of Brabant, 13; virtual ruler of Lotharingia, 14

Régnier III. of Hainault, 15; his hatred of Saint Bruno, 18, 19; banished by Saint Bruno, 19; his children befriended by French king, 19

Reynold, Lord of Schoonvorst, a trusted adviser of his Sovereign, 72

Rogge, Gedulphe, devoted adherent of Peter Coutherele, 79

Rolfe the Ganger routed at Louvain, 8

Rombold, Saint, preaching in Brabant, becomes a martyr, 5, 6

Rotslaere appointed treasurer of Brabant, 133

Rubens, altar-piece by, in Saint Jacques' at Antwerp, 196

Ruotger quoted, 18

Ruysbroek, Jan van, a mystic of Brussels, 241, 245, 246; his writings, 247, 248; his death, 249

Saint-Amand, effect of his preaching, 4

Saint Anne, Chapel of, 372

Saint Bavo, Church of, 215

Saint Catherine, Parish Church of, at Brussels, 243-245

Sainte Chapelle des Miracles, 208

Saint Gertrude's Abbey, conference at, 88

Saint Hubert's Chapel at Tervueren, 4

Saint Jacques, Church of, at Louvain, 192, 193

Saint Jacques, Parish Church of, at Antwerp, 196

Saint Jacques sur Coudenberg, church of the Court, 177

Saint Michael and Saint Gudule, Church of, 182, 270 _et seq._

Saint Nicholas, Church of, 175

Saint Peter and Saint Guy, Church of, at Anderlecht, 35

Saint Peter, Church of, at Mechlin, 372

Saint Peter's, Louvain, 42-46, 289 _et seq._

Saint-Pierre de Louvain, 289 _et seq._

Saint-Pol, Philip of, enters Brussels with Jacqueline, 141; goes to Louvain, 149

Saint Rombold, Tower of, at Mechlin, 197

Schaeys, M., quoted, 184

Sedulius, an Irish scholar, 172

Sieger, head of house of Heetvelde, murdered, 139

Stalle, Jean van, Dean of Church of Saint Mary at Hal, 113

Steen of Antwerp, 208, 209

Steenporte, attack on, 98

Sweder van Apcoude, his succession disputed, 111; his escape, 114; reinstated, 117

Swertere, Alderman Jan De, a patrician who favoured the people, 80; assisted to retaliate by the plebeians, 93

Taine quoted, 7

Tanchelm, claims to be a prophet, 229; stabbed at Antwerp, 230

Tervueren, Saint Hubert's Chapel at, 4

Tetdon, Bishop, quoted, 23

Thienhoven, or Tirlemont, churches at, 305

Thierry, Bishop of Liége, killed at Orthée, 129

Thomas à Kempis, educated by Brethren of the Common Life, 251; quoted, 255

Tongerloo, Abbey of, 232

Tournai, Cathedral of, 191, 193, 194

Tour Noire, la, 182, 183

Town Hall of Brussels, the, 313

Town Hall of Louvain, the, 318

T'Serclaes, Everard, his birth, 106; drives Flemings out of Brussels, 107-109; the 'Saviour of Brussels,' 110; attacked and mutilated, 113; his death, 115

T'Serclaes, Jan, chosen to succeed his uncle Everard in the College of Aldermen, 115

Vandenberghe, Treasurer, exiled, 132; murdered, 133

Vandenberg, Jan, architect, 279

Van der Goes, Hugo, a famous painter, 330, 342-347

Vanderstraetens, the, their quarrel with the Heetveldes, 139, 140

Van der Weyden, Roger, a famous painter, 263, 267, 330, 333-338

Vander Zype, Gerard, in the tribune of proclamation, 158; his marriage, 159; appointed chief steward, 161; his murder, 162

Vilvorde, combat at, 65

Vorst, Plysis van, first architect of his day, 291-294

Waghemakere, Dominic de, an architect, 208, 209, 218

Waghemakere, Herman de, works on Antwerp Cathedral, 205

Wazon, Bishop, his loyalty to Otho, 17

Wenzel, King of the Romans, 121

White Canons, monasteries of the, 232

'White Hoods,' the, 89, 93

William of Assche, Amman of Brussels, 132; imprisoned, 133; released, 135; escapes from Brussels, 153

Winceslaus, Duke, 71; grants charter to Louvain, 76; his policy with Louvain, 78-85; grants new charter to Louvain, 89; his conduct towards Brussels, 97; at Maestricht, 107

Windesheim, Monastery of, 251

Zacites, or Brethren of the Sack, 240

Zwentibold, son of Arnulph I., made king, 13, death of, 14.

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Transcribers' Notes: Many proper nouns have variations in spellings, they have not been standardized. Variations in spelling between English, French, Latin and Flemish words have not been changed. The dagger character is rendered: +. Small caps are rendered with ALL CAPS. Italics are rendered between underscores, e.g. _italics_. Bold text is rendered between dollar signs, e.g. $bold$. Superscripts are rendered with a caret, e.g. 1^er. The oe ligature is rendered: [oe]. An m with a line above resembling a tilde is rendered [~m].

End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Brussels, by Ernest Gilliat-Smith