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 BRUGES

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BRUGES

Philip "l'Asseurt;" (1419-67), pursued this policy of subjugation, until in 1440, the year of "the Great Humiliation", the burghers of Bruges were com- pletely at the mercy of their prince. The next quarter of a century was a period of pomp and pageantry, a feverish succession of gorgeous tourna- ments, public banquets, and triumphal entries, and a display of opulence out of all proportion to the true productive forces of the commonwealth. Like a true Duke of Burgundy Philip revelled in the splen- dour of his court. It was he who on 10 January, 1429, founded at Bruges the Order of the Golden Fleece. Munificent in all things, he gathered about him all the great luminaries of his day. It is also on record that within the twenty-four hours of one day about 1450, no less than one hundred and fifty foreign ves- sels entered the basin and canals of Bruges under the auspices of the resident consuls of seventeen king- doms, several of whom were established there in sumptuous palaces. Industry at the time boasted no less than fifty-four incorporated associations or guilds, fifty thousand of whose members found con- stant employment within the city's walls. The days of Charles the Bold (1467-77) saw the culmination of all this splendour. And then suddenly the blow fell. The great haven of the Zwijn was found to be fast silting up; before the close of the century no vessel of any considerable draught could enter the port of Damme, and by the middle of the sixteenth century Bruges was entirely cut off from the sea.

By the marriage of the daughter of Charles the Bold to Archduke Maximilian Flanders passed under the rule of the House of Austria (1477), and from 14S5 the decay of the old Flemish city steadily set in. A period of continual disturbances, ruthlessly re- pressed by a government destitute of stability, pro- duced a feeling of uneasiness in the commercial world. Antwerp at the time was already proving a dangerous rival, and gradually the merchant princes, enticed by the greater security offered and the many ad- vantages held out to them, removed to the city of the Scheldt. The religious disturbances of the last quarter of the sixteenth century hastened the exodus, even to the removal of the last of the foreign consuls. The severities of the Emperor Charles V (1519-56) and the harsher rule of Philip II (1556-98) and the Duke of Alva led to the capture of Bruges by the Calvinists in March, 1578, when for six years Catholic worship was entirely proscribed. The clergy were exiled or murdered, the churches pillaged and desecrated, some even levelled to the ground; and when peace returned in 1584 the population scarcely numbered 30,000. A period of utter misery followed, in which was developed among the wealthy, under the guidance of the Church — Bruges had been created an episcopal see in 1558 — that great spirit of charity which led to I he founding of innumerable Godshuizen (God's houses) which exist to this day for the relief of an impoverished community. Flanders then became the cockpit of Europe: there was the unsuccessful bom- bardment of Bruges by the Dutch in 1704, the sur- render to the Allies in 1706, its surprise-capture by the French in 170X. its capture by Marlborough in 1712, its surrender to the French again in 1745. and eventually its return to the rule of Austria in 1748; in 1792 the French again took it. were expelled, and retook it in 1794, when it became the chief town of the department of the Lys; by the Treaty of Vienna

(1815) it was incorporated in the new Kingdom "i

lution of 1830, becoming the chief town of the Prov- ince of West Flanders in the then constituted King- dom of Belgium. In 1*77 the idea of recreating the
 * he Nelherlanils, eventually, as a result of the Revo-

port of Bruges by tin- const met ion of a large niaril inie canal with an outer harbour abreast of lleyst was first mooted, thus reviving an old scheme of the painter aud engineer Lancelot Blondeel (1496-1561),

discovered in the local archives. Eventually the project, despite the determined opposition of Ant- werp, received the sanction of the legislature on 11 September, 1895, the cost of the undertaking being fixed at 38,969,075 francs. Seven years was the limit allowed for the completion of the work, but it was not until 29 May, 1905, that the informal opening of the canal to navigation took place, the official inauguration being celebrated in July of 1907. The result has been a large increase in population (which stood at 56,587 in 1906), the establishment of considerable industries, and a corresponding de- crease in the chronic poverty of the city; so that it is not surprising if its good folk are already indulging dreams of a revival of its medieval grandeur and prosperity.

It were difficult to exaggerate the importance at- taching to Bruges from the point of view of art. Singularly ill-favoured as West Flanders was in re- spect of building material, the only local stone avail- able (veld stecn) being of a description little adapted to weather the centuries, Bruges presents no exam- ples of stone architecture of the early period; and later, when suitable stone came to be imported from Tournai and from France, the master masons em- ployed in its use and treatment were likewise of foreign origin. In respect of civic and domestic brick architecture, however, Bruges stands un- rivalled, both for number and variety of design. Her school of sculpture was early held in high esteem, eliciting a large foreign demand for stalls and other descriptions of church and domestic furniture in oak, and the revival of the art during the past half-century has been attended with marked success. In equally high esteem stood her wrought-iron work, and in even greater her engraved monumental brasses, which, prior to the Calvinist outbreak in the sixteenth cen- tury, were exceedingly numerous throughout Flan- ders, and examples of which are of frequent occurrence in England, Germany, Scandinavia, and Spain, from which countries there was a constant influx of orders. In the department of embroidery and lace work Bruges likewise enjoyed a high reputation, especially in respect of ecclesiastical vestments, in the produc- tion of which, as of lace, a large number of hands are employed to this day. But above all, Bruges, since the second quarter of the fifteenth century, has been celebrated for her paintings. Owing to the greater peace and security enjoyed within her walls many master painters from the valley of the Maas. from Holland, and from Brabant were attracted thither at that period. These, however, had all learned their art elsewhere. John van Eyck, who worked there from 1431 to 1441, exercised a considerable influence, and the scheme of his altar-piece in the Town Museum was imitated by the Brabanter Peter Christ us, the Rhenish Hans Mcmline, and the Hollander Gerard David. The Town Museum anil the Hospital of St. John are treasure houses of paintings from the brush of these great artists. Gerard David was the fust to form a school, whose traditions were carried on until the seventeenth century; anil he with his pupils ami

followers produced an immense number of paintings, scattered all over Europe, Inter on Feter I'ourbus of Gouda ami the ( ilaeissens adhered to the old tradi- tions, which held the field in Bruges longer than any- where else. In the matter of illuminated books ami miniatures it also enjoyed considerable celebrity, and examples of both are to be found in almost every

library of importance.

In 1558 I'ope Paul IV, at the request of Philip II.

raised Bruges to a separate bishopric. The diocese

at the present day comprises the entire province of

West Flanders, an area ol 1,249 square miles with

828,152 inhabitants, almost exclusively Catholics.

Twenty-! wo bishops have so far administered I he see

For the purposes of administration the diocese is