History of Ghent
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History of Ghent | |
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After the upheaval and desperation of the Norman invasions came the era of the counts of Flanders. Count Baldwin II the Bald brought back order and peace to his earldom in a way that was seen nowhere else in western Europe and in doing so he established the conditions for the growth of the economy and the development of cities. He had a fortification built in Ghent on the left bank of the Leie, where the Gravensteen castle keep now stands. Seeking the protection this structure provided, the population came to regroup there and in order to provide for their needs, a market (the present-day Groentenmarkt) was built at the foot of the fortification. Radiating from the market, a major settlement formed.
In the vicinity of the Graslei and the Korenlei this settlement consisted mainly of merchants. Around 950 the old village by Zandberg redeveloped. Along the axis formed by the Hoogpoort the two centres gradually grew towards each other. And the two Benedictine abbeys, which had risen from the ashes, completed the picture. By the turn of the millennium they had regained possession of their ecclesiastic territories and agricultural estates.
The legend of the knights of the Holy Grail is inextricably linked with Glastonbury in the county of Somerset (England), but Ghent also had a part in this. Abbot Dunstan of Glastonbury had fled to Flanders around 950 and enjoyed the political protection of Count Arnulf I in Ghent's Sint-Pietersabdij, where he left behind a few manuscripts. Once back in his own abbey, he introduced the rule of St. Benedict, which he had experienced in Ghent. Two centuries later, during a stay in Ghent, the then count of Flanders Philip of Alsace handed a mysterious manuscript to his celebrated court poet Chrétien de Troyes, who used it in his Perceval ou le conte del Grael, which would immortalize the names of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. It is commonly believed that the said mysterious manuscript had been left behind at Sint-Pietersabdij by Abbot Dunstan. In the area between the Leie and the Scheldt, in the shadow of the fortress and bordered by the large abbeys, the rapid growth of the new Ghent began. The city exerted a magical attraction on many thousands of country folk. Additional places of worship were needed quickly and these became the first of the city churches. In 942 the Bishop of Tournai came to consecrate Sint-Janskerk (now Sint-Baafskathedraal). The precursors of today's Sint-Jacobskerk, Sint-Niklaaskerk and Sint-Michielskerk were also built before 1100. The feeling of togetherness of a large group of people who live close to each other soon led to some political awareness. The motto 'Stadslucht maakt vrij', advocating the emancipating powers of the city air, was brought in to highlight the distinction between the city and the surrounding countryside. Indeed the lack of freedom in complete dependency of high lords was set to hold out here for many more centuries. Around 1100 the city dwellers were able to persuade the count that their territory should be put under the judicial powers of a separate authority, namely their own bench of aldermen. And so the city, in the true sense of the word, was born. The budding city council demarcated its territorial jurisdiction by closing off the natural belt of water formed by the Scheldt and the meandering Leie with canals, thus creating the Ketelvest and the Houtlei, and possibly also the Kraanlei and the Ottogracht. The central area was partly ramparted and partly walled. Four solid gates were erected so that all incoming and outgoing traffic of people and merchandize could be checked. Soon the aldermen had designs on the areas bordering the outer edges of the city. Shortly after 1300 the city ramparts already measured almost 12.75 km in length, enclosing an area of 644 hectares/1,591 acres.
Last update: 18/10/2001 - © 2001 CITY OF GHENT.