He was a Leliart to the core, and his reign of nearly
forty years, one long struggle against the liberties of his people,
witnessed the capture of Bruges by Philip van Artevelde, the invasion
of Flanders by the French, the defeat of the Nationalists, and the
death of Van Artevelde on the field of Roosebeke. Nevertheless,
during this period and after it Bruges grew in beauty and in wealth.
The Hotel de Ville, without the grandeur of the Hotel de Ville at
Brussels, but still a gem of mediaeval architecture, was built on
the site of the old 'Ghiselhuis' of Baldwin Bras-de-Fer. Other noble
buildings, rich in design and beautiful in all their outlines, and
great mansions, with marble halls and ceilings of exquisitely carved
woodwork, rose on every side; towers and pinnacles, shapely windows
and graceful arches, overhung the waterways; luxury increased; in
the homes of the nobles and wealthy merchants were stores of precious
stones, tapestries, silk, fine linen, cloth of gold; the churches
and many buildings gleamed with gilded stone and tinted glass and
brilliant frescoes. Art flourished as the town grew richer. The
elder and the younger Van Eyck, Gerard David, and Memlinc, with
many others before and after them, were attracted by its splendour,
as modern painters have been attracted by its decay; and though the
'Adoration of the Immaculate Lamb' hangs in the choir of St.
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