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98 Route 10. BRUSSELS. History.
proves that there was a church here in 966. In 977 Duke Charles
of Lorraine transferred his residence to Brussels and built a palace
in the island of St. Géry. In the 14th cent. the warlike Counts of
Louvain, who afterwards assumed the title of Dukes of Brabant
(p. 232), erected a castle on the height (Koudenberg) commanding
the valley of the Senne, while Louvain still remained their capital
(p. 239). Brussels rapidly became an important and flourishing
station on the great trade-route between Bruges and Cologne, and
in 1455 numbered 43,500 inhabitants. At that date the greater
part of the present city-area was already surrounded by a wall,
which, restored in 1357-79 and strengthened about 1530, existed
down to the 19th century,
The Burgundian princes (p. xxiii), who occasionally held their
court at Brussels, were generally surrounded by a large retinue of
French knights, in consequence of which, even at that period, French
became the most fashionable languz among the nobility of the
Netherlands. After the Netherlands ed into the possession of the
Hapsburgs in 1477, Brussels became the seat of a brilliant court, which
attained the height of its magnificence under Charles V. Maria of
Hungary (p. 159) transferred her abode from Malines to the Kouden-
berg in 1546, Philip II. made it the official residence of the Stadt-
holder of the Netherlands, and Margaret of Parma (pp.104, 159) here
performed the duties of that office. Brussels was the scene of the first
rising of the Netherlands against the Spanish dominion (1566; see
p- 104), but at the end of the protracted conflict the city remained
in the hands of the Spaniards. During the wars of Lonis XIV., when
Marshal Villeroi reduced the ancient lower town to ashes in 1695, and
at the beginning of the 18th cent., owing to its refractoriness under
the galling yoke of the Austrian governors (see p. 128), Brussels had
much to suffer. But under the mild rule of Maria Theresa and her
stadtholder, Duke Charles of Lorraine (1744-80), the population in-
creased to 74,000. After the disturbances of the French Revolution
and the French occupatioa the molern development of the city
began, proceeding at first slowly during the union of Belgium with
Holland, but advancing more rapidly after the revolution of 1830.
As the capital of the new kingdom Brussels became the centre of
the Belgian railway-system and population streamed in from all
parts of the country. The suburbs are still growing year by year.
The foundation of numerous banks (National Bank in 1851) has
e tablished its financial supremacy in Belgium. Its chief manu-
factures are those of lace, furniture, bronzes, carriages, and leather
articles. Brewing also is extensively carried on. The spacious new
harbour-works, which place Brussels in direct communication with
the sea, seem to promise a brilliant future for its trade.
The growth of the ancient capital of Brabant into a great modern
city may be traced also in the buildings of Brussels. The quaint old
market-place and the church of Ste. Gudule stand for the middle |
