The tradition is that this abbey was founded, early in the seventh century, by St. Amandus, the 'Apostle of Flanders,' and enlarged, some twenty years later, by St. Bavon. In the middle of the ninth century it was almost entirely destroyed by the Normans, but rose once more at a later period, only to be demolished by Charles V., who erected a castle there about the year 1540. A quarter of a century later, on September 23, 1567, Egmont and Horn were brought here by the orders of Alva, and kept in prison until they were carried, 'guarded by two companies of infantry and one of cavalry,' to Brussels, where the execution took place, in the Grande Place, on June 5, 1568. [Illustration: GHENT THE Arrière Faucille (Achter Sikkel).] When the Congress of Ghent assembled in 1576, the castle was occupied by a Spanish garrison, who refused to capitulate. It was accordingly besieged by William of Orange, and 'the deliberations of the Congress were opened under the incessant roar of cannon.' The siege ended, by the surrender of the Spaniards, on the very day on which the sittings of the Congress were finished by the conclusion of the treaty known as the 'Pacification,' which was signed at Ghent on November 9, 1576. 'The Pacification, as soon as published, was received with a shout of joy. Proclaimed in the market-place of every city and village, it was ratified, not by votes, but by hymns of thanksgiving, by triumphal music, by thundering of cannon, and by the blaze of beacons throughout the Netherlands.'[29] The Castle, a monument of the Spanish tyranny, was pulled down; but many fragments still remain of the ancient Abbey of St. Bavon. [Illustration: GHENT THE ruins of the cloisters of the Abbey of St. Bavon.] In the first quarter of the fifteenth century Hubert van Eyck and his brother Jan were living at Ghent. Here Hubert began to paint the celebrated altar-piece, 'The Adoration of the Immaculate Lamb,' which his brother finished after his death. This great painting, having survived the greed of Philip II., the fanaticism of the Puritan iconoclasts, and the rapacity of the French revolutionary army, now hangs in the Cathedral of St. Bavon; and every year hundreds of travellers visit Ghent in order to see what is, beyond doubt, the finest production of the Early Flemish School. In the choir, too, of the Cathedral are four huge candlesticks of copper, which were originally made as ornaments for the grave of Henry VIII. at Windsor, but were sold during the Commonwealth.