The oldest of these beautiful edifices is the Cloth Hall of =Ypres=, erected in 1304, while other notable examples are those of =Louvain=, =Mechlin=, =Ghent=. The earliest of the Town Halls is the imposing one of =Brussels= (1377), distinguished by its graceful tower and spire. The right to attach a belfry or beffroi to a town hall was a special privilege, granted by charter, and the bell-towers of Netherlandish cities are among their most picturesque features. That of =Bruges=, which forms the theme of one of Longfellow’s poems, is famous in the annals of the city. It surmounts the central mass of a façade plainer than those described above, offering more wall spaces and representing another type of Gothic façade peculiar to the Netherlands. =Ecclesiastical Buildings.=--The earliest example of Gothic work in ecclesiastical buildings is said to be the choir of the =Cathedral of S. Gudule in Brussels.= =Tournai Cathedral=, erected between 1146 and 1338, illustrates three successive periods. The nave is Romanesque; the apse-ended transepts mark the transition stage, and the choir, with its complete chevêt, the fully developed Gothic. But the largest and most magnificent cathedral of the Netherlands is that of =Antwerp=, distinguished by three aisles of equal height on each side of the lofty nave and by narrow aisleless transepts. The west front, flanked by towers, one of which has been completed by a spire of extreme richness and grace, belongs to that later period (1422-1518) when the taste for decoration had become somewhat florid. Other notable =Cathedrals= are those of =Ghent=, =Bruges=, =Ypres=, =Utrecht=, and of =Haarlem= and =Dordrecht= in Holland.[7] SPANISH GOTHIC It was in the north of Spain, following the gradual destruction of the Moorish rule and the replacing of the Crescent with the Cross, that Gothic art took root. The time is the thirteenth century, when Ferdinand (1217-1252), canonised as saint, united the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, and James, called the Conqueror (1213-1276), carried the conquest through to the east so that only Granada remained in the grip of the Infidel. While it is supposed that Moorish workmen were employed in the cathedrals, the designs were derived from French examples, with certain borrowings from the German. Thus the original of =Leon Cathedral= was Amiens, from which, however, it differs in the larger area of its window spaces; while Notre Dame was the model for the Cathedrals of =Toledo= and =Barcelona=; and the west front of =Burgos=, with its openwork spires, recalls Cologne.