The Spell of Flanders: An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern ProvincesVose, Edward Neville
History
The Spell of Flanders: An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern Provinces
Vose, Edward Neville
Flanders -- Description and travel
The house of Erembald was well-nigh annihilated during this short, but
sanguinary, war. The sole survivor of the band captured in the church
was beheaded by King Louis as soon as he crossed the French frontier,
while most of the great names in the family were heard of in Flanders
no more--some having perished in battle, others in exile. Only one,
Hacket the Châtelain, returned after the cry for vengeance had died
down, was placed on trial for the murder, proved his innocence, and
eventually recovered much of his former power and wealth. The charge
of serfdom was never raised again, and his descendants for many
generations stood high in the rolls of the Flemish nobility.
The church of St. Donatian no longer stands, having been destroyed
during the French Revolution. In the small museum of antiquities in
the Halles adjacent to the Belfry we were shown some stone railings,
carved in imitation of rustic woodwork, that the concierge assured us
had come from the ruins of the famous church. From a painting made in
1710 the student can obtain a fair idea of the appearance of the
structure, which can hardly be said to have been imposing externally.
It stood opposite the Hotel de Ville, and the statue of Van Eyck in
the centre of the little shaded square is said to mark the spot where
Charles the Good fell at the hands of his assassins. The stones with
which the Cathedral was built were carried away, and some of them were
used to build a château a short distance outside of the city.
According to the peasants in the neighbourhood, ill-luck has always
followed those who lived there. If so, the spirit of the murdered
Count would seem to have been as dangerous in the nineteenth century
as it was in the twelfth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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