Louis of Bruges

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Ludwig von Bruges, Groeningemuseum , Bruges ( master of the portraits of princes , around 1500)

Ludwig von Bruges (* probably 1427; † November 26, 1492 in Bruges ), also called Ludwig von Gruuthuse ( Dutch Lodewijk van Gruuthuse , English Lewis of Bruges ), was Prince of Steenhuise and Lord von Gruuthuse, a Flemish nobleman, courtier and bibliophile . From 1462 to 1477 he was governor of Holland and Zealand . In 1472 he was appointed Earl of Winchester by King Edward IV of England .

The politician

Ludwig came from a patrician family from Bruges. He was probably born in 1427 as the only son of Johann IV von Gruuthuse († after 1438) and Margarete von Steenhuise, wife of Avelgem . In 1443, 1444, 1447 and 1450 he took part in the annual Witte Beer tournament in Bruges, where he often won one of the prizes. He was noticed by Duke Philip the Good , who made him his cupbearer in 1449. From now on Ludwig lived in the immediate vicinity of the Burgundy.

During the salt war with the city of Ghent , Ludwig held the post of captain of Bruges from 1452, and was one of the commanders in Philip's campaign against the city in the spring of 1453. On July 23, 1453 he was knighted (on the occasion of the Battle of Gavere , which was a disaster for Ghent) .

Battle of Neville's Cross from Ludwigs Froissart, Bruges 1470s

In 1454 he was commissioned by the Duke to arrange the wedding between Philip's son Charles and Margaret of York , the sister of King Edward IV of England, but this did not take place because Philip chose Isabelle de Bourbon as his son's wife (Karl then Margareta married in 1468). Around 1455 he married Margareta von Borsselen († August 29, 1510), the daughter of Heinrich II. Von Borsselen ( House Borsselen ).

In 1461 Ludwig was accepted into the Order of the Golden Fleece . From 1465 to 1477 he was governor of Holland, Zealand and Friesland (which at that time did not belong to Burgundy) with his seat in The Hague . In the winter of 1470/71 he was the host of King Edward IV in exile, for which he received the hereditary title of Earl of Winchester after his return to England on October 13, 1472. The title was linked to a cash pension, but as a foreigner expressly did not entitle him to participate in the English parliament . In addition, he had the title of Prince von Steenhuise, which he had inherited from his maternal grandfather, was Lord von Avelgem, Spiere, Hamstede, Oostkamp, ​​Thielt-ten-Hove and Beveren.

Duke Philip the Good died in 1467, he was followed by his son Charles the Bold, and Ludwig became one of the confidants of the new duke, and after his death in 1477 also the heiress Maria of Burgundy , who made him chamberlain to her son Philip . After Maria's death in 1482 he came into conflict more than once with Maximilian of Austria , the father of his protégé Philipp, which clearly overshadowed his last years: from 1485 to 1488 he was imprisoned for Felonia and his property was confiscated. Ludwig died on November 26, 1492 in his palace in Bruges, today the seat of the Groothusemuseum. He was buried in the Liebfrauenkirche .

The art patron and book collector

Commissioned by Ludwig von Bruges: Illuminated manuscript of the adventures of Gillion de Trazegnies, illustrated by Lieven van Lathem, 1464 (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 111)

Ludwig was - after Philip the Good - the second largest client and collector of book illumination from the best Flemish workshops. His collection comprised around 190 volumes, mostly secular in content. Miniature portraits of him have probably been incorporated into several of these books - but not into other copies of these works. As the patron of the arts, Ludwig imitated his master's practice. It is believed that he began his collection in the mid-1460s, with most of his commissions dating from the 1470s. An important commission around 1464 was the illustration of the adventures of Gillion de Trazegnies by the painter Lieven van Lathem . In the early 1470s the four-volume edition of the Chronik des Froissart (BnF Fr 2643-6) was created with 112 miniatures by the best artists in Bruges, including Loiset Lyédet , to whom the miniatures in the first two volumes are ascribed. The other two volumes were illuminated by artists not known by name, who are known today as Master Antons of Burgundy , Master Margaret of York and Master of the Dresden Prayer Book (around 1450 - around 1520) (as an assistant).

Many of these works later went into the possession of the French King Louis XII. and are now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France .

The Gruuthuse manuscript with colloquial poetry belonged to the Belgian noble family Caloen from Koolkerke near Bruges until it was sold to the Royal Library of the Netherlands in The Hague in February 2007 . Another manuscript, The Penance of Adam from 1472, was dedicated to Ludwig von Colard Mansion , the famous scribe from Bruges.

Groothusepalais

15th century city palace of the family in Bruges, now the Gruuthuuse Museum

Ludwig was the most famous resident of the Groothusepalais. At the beginning of the 15th century, the family converted their old granary into a luxurious city palace. Ludwig later had a south wing with a prayer chapel connected to the Church of Our Lady .

family

From his marriage to Margarete von Borsselen , daughter of Heinrich II. Von Borsselen , he had eight children:

  1. Ludwig (Louis), † 1461
  2. Johann V (Jean V) , † 1512, 2nd Earl of Winchester (until 1500), Prince of Steenhuise, 1489 Seneschal of Anjou , 1498 Grand Master of the Crossbowmen of France, 1499 Captain of the Louvre , 1504 Lieutenant General and Governor of Picardy
  3. Johann (Jean), † 1509, Lord of Avelgem, Seneschal of Anjou; ⚭ Louise de Nesle, heir daughter of Jean IV, Seigneur d'Offemont ( House of Clermont )
  4. Margareta
  5. Johanna, † 1502; ⚭ Jakob II. Count of Horn , † 1530 ( House Horn )
  6. Maria; ⚭ Adrian II. Lord of Kruiningen , Burgrave of Zealand ( House Kruiningen )
  7. Philippine
  8. Johanna; ⚭ Johann III. from Ghistelles

literature

  • Elizabeth Morrison; Zrinka Stahuljak (Ed.): The Adventures of Gillion de Trazegnies. Chivalry and Romance in the Medieval East . Los Angeles 2015.
  • MPJ Martens (Ed.): Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, Maecenas en Europees diplomaat. Bruges 1992, ISBN 90-74377-03-3 .
  • A. Van den Abeele: Het ridderlijk gezelschap van de Witte Beer. Bruges 2000, ISBN 90-802756-7-0 .
  • Raphael de Smedt (ed.): Les chevaliers de l'ordre de la Toison d'or au XVe siècle. Notices bio-bibliographiques. (Kieler Werkstücke, D 3) Peter Lang, Frankfurt 2000, ISBN 3-631-36017-7 , pp. 148–151.
  • T. Kren, S. McKendrick (Eds.): Illuminating the Renaissance. The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe. Getty Museum / Royal Academy of Arts, 2003, ISBN 1-903973-28-7 .
  • Josèphe Van Praet: Recherches sur Louis de Bruges, seigneur de la Gruthuyse… suivies de la notice des manuscrits qui lui ont appartenu et dont la plus grande partie se conserve à la Bibliothèque du roi . Paris 1831, online version .
  • Detlev Schwennicke: European family tables . Volume IX (1987), plate 66.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Winchester, Earls and Marquesses of In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 28, Cambridge University Press, 1911, p. 703.
  2. ↑ T. Kren, S. McKendrick, pp. 68 and 266
  3. ↑ Elizabeth Morrison; Zrinka Stahuljak (Ed.): The Adventures of Gillion de Trazegnies. Chivalry and Romance in the Medieval East. Los Angeles 2015.
  4. ↑ "KB rejects the Gruuthuse handwriting, onbetwist hoogtepunt uit de Nederlandse cultuurgeschiedenis", February 14, 2007
  5. ↑ Arlima

Web links

Commons : Ludwig von Bruges  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Louis of Bruges
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ludwig von Gruuthuse; Lodewijk van Gruuthuse; Lewis of Bruges
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish bibliophile, Earl of Winchester
DATE OF BIRTH around 1427
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 1492
Place of death Bruges