• Guide to the beguinages of Ghent
• The St-Elisabeth House

Guide to the beguinages of Ghent

New religious movements, reacting against abuses and moral decay, became widespread in Western Europe in the 12th and 13th century. They emphasized a sober, simple and virtuous life. The beguine movement has its origin in this context. At first beguines were religious women who lived independently in town and devoted themselves to nursing the sick. In 1216 they were authorized to form communities and thus beguinages arose as a typical phenomenon of cities. Social and economic factors, as well as religious motives, contributed to the way the beguine movement flourished.

The life of the beguines was basically religious. Apart from religious services and communal or private prayers, holy devotion to the saints also played an important role. Mystical experiences of all kinds were an inspiration in the spiritual life of most beguines. The love mystic Hadewych and Beatrijs van Nazareth played an important role in the popular literature of the 13th century. Beguines did not pledge a vow of poverty and could keep personal belongings. Often they worked for a living in the textile industry; spinning, weaving or bleaching. Later they mainly did needlework, embroidery and lace making.

Every beguinage reflects the lifestyle of these devoted women. Usually the beguinage lies at the edge of town and is surrounded by a wall. Inside are several squares and streets along which the buildings and the gardens are arranged. The church lies in the centre of the close, always with an infirmary nearby. In large beguinages the infirmary has its own chapel. Close to the infirmary is the house of the “Grand lady”, the community leader in charge of the beguinage. Communal dwellings, or convents, were also typical. These would house novices and the less wealthy beguines, providing a space to work and live under the leadership of the convent mistress. Once a beguine was accepted into the community she was allowed, if she had the financial resources, to buy or rent a house in the close of the beguinage. After her death the house would return to the community. In addition, a beguinage would have a gate building, a pestilence house, stables, a poultry house, a brewery, gardens and meadows. The priest's house was just outside the close.

Although there is no real proof, traditionally 1234 is accepted as the founding year of the two oldest beguinages in Ghent. The oldest document pertaining to the Saint Elisabeth beguinage dates from 1242 and in the case of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Hooie beguinage no sources are known before 1262. Shortly before 1278 a third Ghent beguinage, Saint-Aubertus at Poortakker, was founded.

The countesses of Flanders, especially Johanna and Margaretha of Constantinople, supported all three beguinages. Little is known about the period before the 16th century. The Ghent beguinages were damaged but not destroyed during the religious upheavals of the second half of the 16th century but then flourished again at the beginning of the 17th century. In the counter-reformation the old buildings were renovated. Further construction was completed in the 18th century.

This period of expansion came to an end when the southern part of The Netherlands became part of France in 1795. A Council of the City's Hospices took charge of the three beguinages. Originally the beguines attempted to maintain themselves the best they could but it became increasingly difficult to continue their existence. In 1861 the Saint-Aubertus beguinage was given up and in 1860 the Saint-Elisabeth beguinage was dismantled. This decay resulted in 1874 in a general removal of the beguines of Saint-Elisabeth to the newly founded beguinage at Sint-Amandsberg/Ghent. The project was financially supported by Duke EngeIbert-August of Arenberg, who also saved the beguinage of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Hooie by buying it from the Council of the Hospices.

Ghent takes a unique place in the history of the beguinages. Today a limited number of beguines still live in the beguinages of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Hooie and Sint-Amandsberg, continuing the age-old tradition. Attempts are being made to find a meaningful purpose for the rich architectural inheritance of the beguinages.

The Saint-Aubertus beguinage was founded shortly before 1278 for the sick and needy beguines who were still living scattered all over town. It was erected just outside the 12th century city walls, at Poortakker (now Oude Houtlei). The beguinage was later disbanded and the buildings made place for a new neo-gothic cloister that was erected in 1873. Only a few relics of the beguinage remain, among them a statue of Saint-Aubertus (ca. 1260), a few gravestones and an inscription.

The Saint-Elisabeth beguinage was erected in 1242 in the Broek, a swampy area near the Brugse Poort. The total construction is typical of a city beguinage with the church located on the central square. Despite the considerable dismantling and construction works of the late 19th and 20th century we can still recognize the 17th century beguinage. Already in the second quarter of the 13th century the beguinage had its own church, a typical gothic building, and graveyard. The three-nave church was transformed to a baroque church in the 17th century. Despite its overall gothic impression the building reflects several baroque qualities. The entrance, the choir and the bell tower are good examples of local Ghent baroque architecture.

The architecture of the beguinage particularly reflects the traditional civic architecture of the 17th century. Houses are built in bricks combined with white natural stone used around doors and windowsills and in decorations. The gables are mostly crow, step or pointed. The baroque portals, which gave entrance to the convents, are the only decorative accents used in this simple form of architecture.

In the second half of the 19th century streets in the Saint-Elisabeth beguinage were straightened and broadened and many houses, garden-walls and gardens disappeared. In spite of these changes the Provenierstersstraat still has its original appearance. At the corner of the Gravin Johannastraat and the Begijnhofdries are the house of the Grand lady and the former infirmary with its chapel. These are all examples of baroque architecture. In the little park around the church we find an Ecce Homo Chapel from 1793 and a memorial sculpted by George Minne in memory of the writer Georges Rodenbach. The baroque gate (Saint-Elisabethplein) was demolished in 1879 and in 1925 became the main entrance of the Bijlokemuseum in the Godshuizenlaan. A stroll through various streets carries us past several convents and houses of the Saint-Elisabeth beguinage.

The beguinage Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Hooie was founded in the mid-13th century in the meadows situated between the Muinkmeersen and the river Schelde. The layout is typical of a city-beguinage and the original atmosphere of a beguinage can be sensed here because the closed structure has been maintained.

The first church was built in 1262–1263. The building was altered at various times, such as in the beginning of the 15th and the 17th centuries. The current baroque church was erected in two phases, 1657–1671 and 1715–1720. Despite an interruption between the two projects the building gives the impression of a homogeneous and harmonious whole. This church, together with the church of the abbey of Saint-Peter, is one of the high points of baroque architecture of the southern Netherlands.

The whole construction of the beguinage was renovated in the 17th and 18th century. As in the Saint Elisabeth beguinage, the houses were built in bricks and white natural stone but represent a different type of traditional Ghent architecture of the baroque period. Nonetheless the gables still show a horizontal eave and on the average two dormer-windows. The high garden walls hide the houses from the outside world. An elaborate gate indicates a convent. The infirmary chapel consists of two parts: a small late-gothic apse (mid-17th century) with a gable in Louis XVIth style and a rococo interior. The infirmary wing behind the chapel was built in 1781 and is typical of Louis XIVth architecture.

In the garden behind the infirmary there are various remnants of the city walls built at the end of the 13th century on the south side of the beguinage. The house of the Grand lady consists of two wings built respectively in 1661–1662 and in 1738. The front-gable is representative of the local Louis XIVth architecture. In the northeast corner of the beguinage there are still several bleach-meadows. On a corner of the central square we note the Holy Tomb Chapel. This small baroque chapel was built in the mid-17th century. The current gate, in Empire style, replaced the previous baroque entrance in 1819. Beside this are two priest’s houses with their front at the Lange Violettestraat.

The beguinage of Sint-Amandsberg was built in 1872–1875 and is a unique neo-gothic total-concept whereby the layout, the buildings, the interior and even part of the furniture were all designed together. The architect in charge was Arthur Verhaegen and Baron Jean-Baptiste Bethune designed the church. Under no circumstances can it be called a copy of a medieval beguinage. It is an entirely new creation inspired by the medieval gothic brick architecture. Although this neo-gothic construction at first appears very stern, a closer look reveals a variety of forms and shapes. Each one of the beguinage houses was conceived differently. The concept is also very visible in the church and the infirmary chapel. Two gates give entrance to this neo-gothic beguinage where an attempt has been made to distil the ideal of the medieval beguinage life into stone.

Mia Vandeginste (beguinage guide)

The St-Elisabeth House

The material and historical study of the private residence in Ghent has flou­rished in recent years through the collaboration between three municipal offices: Urban Archaeology (Dienst Stadsarcheologie), Monument Preservation (Dienst Monumentenzorg), and the City Archive (Stadsarchief). The pertinent methodology has been made available to the public at large by means of the Handleiding (Manual) and a specially designed course. Research into the history of a house must begin with the analysis of sour­ces predating the introduction of the current Kadaster (Land Registry) in 1835, taking the registry number as starting point. This will yield a conti­nuous thread of information about owners and occupants stretching back to 1672. Supplementary sources, such as registers of the land rents, inven­tories of estates, legal charters, requests for building permission, and all kinds of family documents, often allow one to push back that chronologi­cal boundary as far as the fourteenth century. The actual history of a house emerges from the combination of the documented facts with the tangible reality of the extant building, as revealed by material research. The Elisabeth House reflects the joint efforts of twelve dedicated volunteer researchers.

Elizabeth House, 9 Rabotstraat, is situated north of the nucleus of the town, and was constructed on the site between the Beguinage of St Elizabeth (1242) and the Ten Walle Court (1231), residence of the viscount, and later the permanent residence of the Counts of Flanders. This area is known by the name of 's Burggravengerechte. The Burgstraat, or Borcstrate in Middle-Flemish (1242), delineates that area on the south side. In the course of the fourteenth century the 's Burggravengerechte ended up within the ramparts that were constructed around the city. The house was situated on a square described (with many variants in orthography) as the Begijnendries.

The earliest known owners turn up in a rent book of the Abbey of Groene Briel (1397-1450). Simon de Mirabello, a wealthy Italian banker, donated the Ten Walle Court, together with other possessions and rents in the immediate vicinity, for the foundation of a Victorine Abbey (1340-1341). The Count of Flanders appropriated the Ten Walle Court for his residence, and a new site for the abbey was purchased: this was a house on the Briel (1359). Among the earliest owners there are some noteworthy figures:

Simon uten Hove, member of a prominent patrician family, and Jan Bracke, Master of the Mint of Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy (1437). No archi­tectural data are extant for this period. However, it is certain that the house was a so-called vrij-huis-vrij-erf, meaning that the owner of the house owned the land as well, and hence was not liable to pay land rents to any­one. All legal transactions concerning vrij-huis-vrij-erf'houses were registe­red in separate land books.

Elizabeth House makes its decisive entry into history with Gillis van der Zwalmen, dean of the tanners, and magistrate of the by-law (mid-fifteenth century). He was quite a controversial figure. During the political conflict with Philip the Good that ended with Ghent's defeat at the Battle of Gavere (1453), he had sided with the duke, and was consequently banned from the city as 'enemy'. Gillis's ownership of Elizabeth House marks the begin­ning of a period of l60 years of continuous tanner activity in and around the house with its extended gardens and drainage canal. During this period three distinct building phases can be distinguished. The original house at the Begijnendries was rectangular, with the length axis running parallel with the facade; it consisted of one construction layer with three adjacent rooms. Then another section, consisting of one room, was added at a per­pendicular angle at the back. Archaeological research has revealed traces of springing points for a gable and three cross windows. Finally, a second rectangular section was constructed beside the original one. A red tiled floor from the latter building phase has been uncovered approximately three feet under the current floor level.

A later owner, Jan van der Zwalmen, was to make history as 'collaborator' with the Calvinist regime (1578-1584), and served in public office at Ghent. After the Calvinist episode his brother Dominicus came into possession of the entire building (1584). Upon the death of Dominicus van der Zwalmen, Elizabeth House passed to the children of his sister Clara and her husband Geeraert de Mey, and the 160-year period of tanners' activity finally came to an end.

Elizabeth House would be put to different use during the several generations of the De Mey family: in the next 200 years lawyers would be doing their busi­ness here. The proximity to the seat of the court of appeal at the Gravensteen, and to the Council of Flanders with its extended legal apparatus, will have had much to do with this. The 'old house' whose corner bordered on the original (first-phase) section, and was connected with it through a narrow gateway, may date from this period. It can be seen on the request for building permis­sion of 1729, and on a drawing from 1879 of the entry gate to the Beguinage. Documents mention den ouden bau ('the old construction') and the zijthuis lancx den dries (side house along the Dries). The largest part of the building volume of the original (first-phase) section was demolished to make way for a new construction, the dwarshuis on the east side, which was partly built into the dwarshuis on the west side. A source of l6l7 mentions a nieu camer (new room), and there are building accounts dating from around 1644. In 1665 the city magistrates ordered the planting of lime trees on the Begijnendries.

After more than 260 years Elizabeth House left the possession of the family daer 'tvoornoemde huys uytghesproten is (from which the house originated):

after the death of the last De Mey (1713) it was sold to a lawyer, Glaude Francois van de Velde. He carried out ambitious and far reaching alterations, about which the written source material has left rich documentation (building accounts, inventory of estate). One of the most characteristic changes was the elegant garden facade with salette or salon with painted boiserijen or panel-work. The inventory of the estate after the death of his wife Livyne Steuperaert provides a vivid picture of the opulent and refined tastes of the occupants of Elizabeth House. After Van de Velde's death the house was confiscated due to the heavy burden of debts he had left, and was subsequently offered for public auction (1729).

The new owner, Doctor Philippe van Breugel, came from Venlo (The Netherlands), and set up a medical practice at the Begijnendries. He continu­ed the alterations of the house, adding a carriage porch (1729) and a gloriette (garden pavilion; 1734) in the enclosing wall. Building plans survive for both elements. The inventory of the estate drawn up after the death of his wife Jacobe Le Roux points again to a luxurious life-style, and also offers evi­dence of scientific interest, including a medical library and a barometer.

In 1765 Van Breugel sold the house to the Abbot of St Adrian's Abbey in Geraardsbergen. The latter enjoyed his refuge or pied-a-terre at Ghent only briefly, for the building was offered for rent after his death in 1768.

The sources tell us a great deal about two tenants in particular: Pieter Francois Pycke, a controversial politician, and the lawyer Louis-Joseph Massez. The inventory of the estate after the death of Marie Therese Goetsbloets, Pycke's wife, allows a comparison to be made with the room arrangement in previous building phases. Some rooms had been upholstered en suite: a red room, a yellow room for the master of the house, and a blue room for the lady. Pycke enjoyed a successful career as Pensionary with the States of Flanders, the pre­decessor of the current Provincial Council. The collapse of two sea locks that had been built under his responsibility spelled the inglorious demise of his career. Pycke left a rich library of 1,425 titles!

Tenant Louis-Joseph Massez initiated more far-reaching alterations. The buil­ding accounts indicate that his attention was focused primarily on the reno­vation of all the windows, as well as on roof repairs.

During the French occupation of the Low Countries (1794-1815), Elizabeth House, being the possession of an abbey, was confiscated by the state as national property. Some of the former religious succeeded in buying back the house with their bons de retraite, a kind of official compensation for their financial losses. One of these was Constantia Cuyl, formerly a nun at the Abbey of Oosteeklo, who bequeathed half of the house to the Church Fabric of St Elizabeth's. The other half had been bought by, and the Church Fabric also succeeded in acquiring this part from his inheritors. Girls' voi­ces were to resound in Elizabeth House during the short period that it was used as a boarding school by a few former Ursuline nuns (1810-1822). The Ursulines had enjoyed a strong reputation in the area of education at Ghent during the eighteenth century, and carried on their task in this regard after the French Revolution. From 1822 Elizabeth House served as a parsonage, and was to retain this function until well into the twentieth century.

Translation: Rob C. Wegman