The foundation in 984 of the Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew, by Robert I., ancestor of Sully, is the first mention of Béthune in history. The town, owned in turn by the Counts of Flanders, the Dukes of Burgundy, and the House of Austria, annexed to France at the Peace of Nimègue in 1678, taken in 1710 by the Triple Alliance, was finally restored to France in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht. A fraternity, called the "Confrérie des Charitables," still survives. Founded after the plague of 1188 by two blacksmiths, to whom St. Eloi appeared in a vision, asking them to assist their fellow-countrymen who were dying unsuccoured, it performed the burial rites of the dead. During the Great War the town was intermittently bombarded for three and a half years, but from the end of February, 1918, to April 21 the violence of the shelling increased tenfold, and on the latter date the civil population had to be evacuated, the battle having carried the German lines within two miles of Béthune. [Illustration: BÉTHUNE, _from an old engraving_] On April 13--18 the bombardment became so intense that the town was almost razed to the ground. The officials and the miners of the district were mentioned in Orders of the Day for their courage and endurance. At first sight, the town does not seem to have suffered so much, but this impression soon passes. The Grande Place (photo, p. 126) where the chief beauties of this small town were concentrated, is now a heap of bricks and stones. The old houses have fallen in; only the façade of one of them (No. 44), dating from the 16th century, remains, and even this one was severely damaged and is now supported by wooden props. Of the modern Hôtel-de-Ville there remains only a small portion of the façade (photo, p. 127), whilst the Savings Bank on the left is a shapeless ruin. The belfry, built in 1346 and restored forty years later, is still standing, but the upper portion of it has disappeared, and the houses which surrounded it have fallen in. [Illustration: BÉTHUNE. THE GRANDE PLACE. _Before the War._ (_Cliché LL._)] Its tower is standing, as far as the upper part of the sun-dial, whilst the four admirable gargoyles which project at the corners, and the graceful curve of the pointed windows of its first storey, escaped injury. [Illustration: BÉTHUNE. THE GRANDE PLACE. _After the Bombardments_] The remains of the spiral staircase leading to the top may still be seen, but the 15th century wooden spire has gone. [Illustration: BÉTHUNE. RUINS OF THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE] This spire contained a peal of bells, one of which, dated 1576, was called "La Joyeuse." "La Joyeuse" is silenced for ever. This peal gave its name to the street behind the belfry, which leads to the Church of St. Waast (1533--1545), whose massive tower was more than half-a-century later than the rest of the building.