Lewis de Bruges
Encyclopedia
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
24 November 1492), also called Loys, Louis de/of Gruuthuse or Lodewijk van Gruuthuuse, was a Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
, courtier
Courtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
, bibliophile, soldier and nobleman. He was awarded the title of Earl of Winchester
Earl of Winchester
Earl of Winchester was a title that was created three times in the Peerage of England during the Middle Ages. The first was Saer de Quincy, who received the earldom in 1207/8 after his wife inherited half of the lands of the Beaumont earls of Leicester. This creation became extinct in 1265 upon the...
by king Edward IV of England
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
in 1472, and was Stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
of Holland and Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
1462-77.
Early life
Born in (or about) 1422 as the eldest son of Lord Jean IV of Bruges, and Margriet of Steenhuyse, Lady of AvelghemAvelgem
Avelgem is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Avelgem proper, Bossuit, Kerkhove, Outrijve and Waarmaarde. On January 1, 2006 Avelgem had a total population of 9,457. The total area is 21.75 km² which gives a population density of...
, young Loys (Louis or Ludovicus) was trained in the arts of war and the court in the wealth and luxury of Flanders
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....
' Golden Age. In the Tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
of the White Bear, held in Bruges every year, Loys took part in 1443, 1444, 1447, 1448 and 1450. He often won one of the prizes. This caught the eye of the Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks...
and Count of Flanders
Count of Flanders
The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders from the 9th century until the abolition of the position by the French revolutionaries in 1790....
, Philip the Good (1396-1467), who made Loys his squire and official wine server, an honorary title bestowed on only a few selected men.
As a courtier Loys followed the Duke around his expanding duchy. Meeting with the highest nobles and princes in Europe he learned the art of diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
and secured his place within the Burgundian court. On 19 April 1450 Loys of Gruuthuse again took part in the Tournament of the White Bear and again he won one of the prizes.
War
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
about a salt tax reached its zenith and Ghent declared open war
Revolt of Ghent (1449-1453)
The revolt of Ghent was a rebellion of the city of Ghent against the Burgundian Duke, Philip the Good and his officials. It lasted from 1449 to 1453...
on Philip the Good. During this Salt War Loys was appointed governor of Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
and he proved to be a brave and loyal ally to the duke. During the winter of 1452-1453 the Salt War laid Flanders' countryside to waste, so when spring came the duke gathered his army and moved on Ghent with Loys of Gruuthuse as one of its commanders. Loys was knighted on 23 July 1453 on the battlefield of Gavere
Battle of Gavere
The Battle of Gavere was fought near Semmerzake in Belgium on July 23, 1453 between an army under the Philip III, Duke of Burgundy and the rebelling city of Ghent. The army of the duke came out victorious and around 16,000 citizens of Ghent died...
and he was given command of the rearguard. The battle was a disaster for Ghent. Its army was destroyed and blood coloured the river Scheldt
Scheldt
The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...
red. Loys feared the devastation of Ghent and asked the duke to spare the city of plunder. The duke's merciful answer was: "If I would destroy this city, who is going to build me one like it?!"
Councillor
After the war Loys became a trusted councillor and was sufficiently trusted to arrange the wedding between Charles de CharolaisCharles I, Duke of Burgundy
Charles the Bold , baptised Charles Martin, was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477...
, the duke's son and Margaret of York
Margaret of York
Margaret of York – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of...
, sister to the king of England. In 1455 he himself married Margaretha, lady of Borssele, of the most prominent noble family of Zeeland, related to the Scottish and French royal families and to the dukes of Burgundy. They had several children. Their first son, Jean V, was born in 1458.
In 1461 Loys was made a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...
. He now bore the titles of "Siege (=lord) de Bruges", prince of Steenhuijse, lord of Avelghem, Haamstede
Haamstede
Haamstede is a town in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland.The statistical area "Haamstede", which also can include the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 2460....
, Oostkamp
Oostkamp
Oostkamp is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Hertsberge, Oostkamp proper, Ruddervoorde and Waardamme. On January 1, 2006 Oostkamp had a total population of 21,796...
, Beveren
Beveren
Beveren is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Beveren proper, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene....
, Thielt-ten-Hove
Tielt
Tielt is a Belgian municipality in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Tielt proper and the towns of Aarsele, Kanegem, and Schuiferskapelle.-History:Some traces of Gallo-Roman occupation have been found in this area...
and Spiere.
Between 1463 and 1477 he held the position of lieutenant-general
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
(or stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
) in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
as the duke's highest official in the provinces of Holland, Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
and Frisia
Frisia
Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...
(though the latter was at that time not part of the Burgundian territories). During the winter of 1470-1471 Gruuthuse hosted King Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
, an exile from the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
. In return Edward later gave Gruuthuse the hereditary title of Earl of Winchester
Earl of Winchester
Earl of Winchester was a title that was created three times in the Peerage of England during the Middle Ages. The first was Saer de Quincy, who received the earldom in 1207/8 after his wife inherited half of the lands of the Beaumont earls of Leicester. This creation became extinct in 1265 upon the...
, a very exceptional honour for a non-Englishman.
Under Charles the Bold
Charles de Charolais, later to be known as Charles the BoldCharles I, Duke of Burgundy
Charles the Bold , baptised Charles Martin, was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477...
or the Rash (1433-1477), succeeded his father in 1467. Gruuthuse became his trusted councillor as well. After the duke's untimely death on the battlefield at the gates of Nancy he also took care of Charles’ daughter Mary of Burgundy
Mary of Burgundy
Mary of Burgundy ruled the Burgundian territories in Low Countries and was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477 until her death...
, also known as Maria the Rich. Grateful for his support in the difficult times after her father's death she appointed him chamberlain to her young son Philip. Maria died at the age of 25 in 1482 after a tragic fall from her horse and her husband, the ambitious Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
of Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
(1459-1519), soon clashed with the nobility and cities in Flanders as he tried to increase his power at their cost. Gruuthuse more than once came into serious conflict with the father of his protégé, the boy that was to become Duke Philip I of Castile
Philip I of Castile
Philip I , known as Philip the Handsome or the Fair, was the first Habsburg King of Castile...
the Handsome (1478-1506) and this has seriously clouded the last years of his life. Louis of Gruuthuse died on 24 November 1492 in his palace at Bruges. It is said that a great thunderstorm raged over the city at the time of his burial.
Patronage of the arts
Louis appears to have been the second largest purchaser in the period, after Philip the Good, of illuminated manuscriptIlluminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
s from the best Flemish workshops, then at their peak of success. He appears to have had a book collection totalling 190 volumes, mostly secular in content, of which over half were contemporary illuminated copies. This made his collection over twice the size of the contemporary English Royal collection. He seems to have incorporated portraits of himself in miniatures in several books, as an extra figure, wearing the collar of the Fleece, appears in his copies but not in similar compositions in other copies of the same works. Many of his volumes passed to King Louis XII of France
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
and are now in the Bibliotheque nationale de France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
, including his four-volume Froissart (BNF, Fr 2643-6) which contains 112 miniatures painted by the best Brugeois artists of the day, among them Loiset Lyédet, to whom the miniatures in the first two volumes are attributed. The other two volumes were done by the anonymous illuminators known as the "Master of Anthony of Burgundy
Master of Anthony of Burgundy
The Master of Anthony of Burgundy was a Flemish miniature painter active in Bruges between about 1460 and 1490, apparently running a large workshop, and producing some of the most sophisticated work of the final flowering of Flemish illumination...
", the Master of Margaret of York
Margaret of York
Margaret of York – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of...
, and the "Master of the Dresden Prayer Book" as an assistant.
The "Gruuthuse-manuscript", containing vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, was owned by the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
family van Caloen of Koolkerke
Koolkerke
-External links:*...
near Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
until it was sold to the Dutch Royal Library
Dutch Royal Library
The National Library of the Netherlands is based in The Hague and was founded in 1798. The mission of the National Library of the Netherlands, as presented on the library's web site, is to provide "access to the knowledge and culture of the past and the present by providing high-quality services...
in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
in February 2007 (link below). Another manuscript, the Penitence d'Adam, of 1472, was dedicated to him by the famous Bruges scribe, and later printer, Colard Mansion
Colard Mansion
Colard Mansion was a 15th century Flemish scribe and printer who worked together with William Caxton. He is known as the first printer of a book with copper engravings, and as the printer of the first books in English and French.-Biography:Colard Mansion was a central figure in the early printing...
.
Louis was in fact one of the last people to commission new manuscripts on such a scale; he probably began collecting books in the late 1460s, with many of his major commissions dating from the 1470s. In some cases even from that decade the titles already existed in printed form, and by the end of his life most titles could be bought printed, and Flemish illumination, especially of secular works, was in deep decline. The collapse of the Burgundian state after the death of Charles the Bold further worsened this position, and there is documentation showing Louis allowed Edward IV of England to buy a Josephus commissioned by him from the workshop, and encouraged him to make other purchases of Flemish manuscripts, probably in an attempt to maintain an industry in crisis.
Sources
- Martens, M. P. J. (ed.), Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, Maecenas en Europees diplomaat, Bruges 1992. ISBN 90-74377-03-3
- Van den Abeele, A., Het ridderlijk gezelschap van de Witte Beer, Bruges, 2000. ISBN 90-802756-7-0