The artists who designed these fascinating pictures have succeeded by means of a few skilful touches in laying before us a faithful reflection of the beauty of Bruges, and, following in their footsteps, I, too, have essayed to render my story of the men who created it alike faithful and picturesque. If my efforts have not been crowned with the same measure of success, the fault lies not in the material, but rather in the manner in which it has been handled; for the life's story of the builders of Bruges is no less marvellous and no less alluring than are the monuments which they reared. E. G.-S. BRUGES, _June 1901_. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE _The First Flemings_ 1 CHAPTER II _Earliest Bruges_ 9 CHAPTER III _Arnulph the Great_ 21 CHAPTER IV _Progress of the City_ 26 CHAPTER V _The Murder of Charles the Good_ 38 CHAPTER VI _Vengeance_ 57 CHAPTER VII _Bruges in the Days of Charles the Good_ 75 CHAPTER VIII _William Cliton_ 81 CHAPTER IX _Dierick of Alsace and the Precious Blood_ 90 CHAPTER X _Philip of Alsace and the Charter of the Franc_ 105 CHAPTER XI _Baldwin of Constantinople_ 111 CHAPTER XII _The Love Story of Bourchard d'Avesnes_ 122 CHAPTER XIII _The French Annexation_ 136 CHAPTER XIV _Peter De Coninck_ 144 CHAPTER XV _The Battle of the Golden Spurs_ 153 CHAPTER XVI _The Great Charter_ 164 CHAPTER XVII _Louis of Nevers_ 172 CHAPTER XVIII _Louis of Maele_ 195 CHAPTER XIX _Bruges under the Princes of the House of Burgundy_ 210 CHAPTER XX _The Great Humiliation_ 230 CHAPTER XXI _The Terrible Duke and his Gentle Daughter_ 248 CHAPTER XXII _The Final Catastrophe_ 268 CHAPTER XXIII _The Architects and Architecture of Bruges in the Fifteenth Century_ 306 CHAPTER XXIV _The Painters and the Pictures of Bruges in the Fifteenth Century_ 334 CHAPTER XXV _Modern Bruges_ 389 INDEX 411