207 Architectural Competition in a University Town: The Mendicant Friaries in Late Medieval Louvain Thomas Coomans This essay examines how architecture reflects the competition between some religious orders in the changing context of a Late Medieval city with ambitions. 1 In the fifteenth century, Louvain (Leuven in Flemish), the former capital of the Duchy of Brabant, had been deserted by the court, but acquired a new prominence in the Low Countries thanks to its prestigious university. The Franciscans, Dominicans, and the Augustinian Hermits, who had been present in Louvain since the thirteenth century, developed close relations with the new faculty of theology in 1447 and from then on their monasteries became the intellectual centres of their orders in the Low Countries. A friary of Carmel- ites, the fourth mendicant order, was founded at Louvain in 1487. The only medieval remains of the four friaries are the church, the sacristy and a part of the dormitory of the Dominicans. Not only most buildings and furniture, but also the famous libraries of the studia and the archives were lost when the friaries were suppressed in 1796. This essay is based on the topography, the scarce visual and historical sources, and the limited literature. 2 Foundation and location of the mendicant friaries in the capital of Brabant Louvain was the capital of the Duchy of Brabant until the end of the thirteenth century, when Duke John I decided to move his court to Brussels. Louvain was thus a crucial place for mendicant friars who wanted to develop their apostolate in the wealthy duchy. It is generally accepted that both the Dominicans and the Franciscans arrived from Cologne in 1228 and the Augustinian Friars around 1236. The three communities succeeded in building convents on grounds along the river Dyle, within the first ring of the city walls (Fig. 1). Duke Henri I had allowed the Dominicans to use the chapel of the old castrum of the counts of Louvain, which was located on a marshy island in the middle of the city. 3 At the same time, he was building a new castle on a hill outside Louvain. After having used both residences for a couple of de- cades, the court moved to the new castle and Duke Henri III gave the buildings of the old court to the Dominicans in 1256. Thanks to complementary donations in 1266 and 1305, the friars expanded their 1 I am very grateful for their support to Anna Bergmans, Caroline Bruzelius, Véronique Cardon, Maria Kelly, Aart Mekking, Zoë Opačić, Jan Roegiers, Achim Timmermann and Achim Todenhöfer. 2 Due to the lack of written and material sources, the lit- erature is very limited. Most authors copied the information from seventeenth-century works based on archives that had been destroyed: Bernardus de Jonghe, Belgium dominica- num sive historia Germaniae Inferioris sacri ordinis ff. prae- dicatorum…, Brussels, 1719; Antonius Sanderus, Chorographia sacrae Brabantiae…, The Hague, 1726; Le Grand Théâtre sacré du Duché de Brabant…, The Hague, 1729; Nicolaus de T ombeur, Annales conventus Lovaniensis, unpublished manuscript, circa 1700 (Ghent, Augustijn, Ar- chief). A first compilation was done in the standard his- torical work on Louvain: Edward V an Even, Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent, Louvain, 1895, p. 412-422, p. 471- 478 and p. 486-487. New research has been presented at a colloquium organized by the Faculty of Theology on 7-8 November 2008: “De Universiteit van Leuven en de regu- liere clerus: kloostercolleges en geïncorporeerde kloosters aan de Oude Universiteit”. 3 Joseph Cuvelier, La formation de la ville de Louvain des origines à la fin du XIV e siècle (Académie royale de Belgique, Mémoire de la Classe des lettres, 2.10.2), Brussels, 1935. 10.1484/M.SGA-EB.1.100142
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Architectural Competition in a University Town: The Mendicant Friaries in Late Medieval Louvain
Thomas Coomans
This essay examines how architecture reflects the competition between some religious orders in the changing context of a late Medieval city with ambitions.1 In the fifteenth century, louvain (leuven in Flemish), the former capital of the Duchy of Brabant, had been deserted by the court, but acquired a new prominence in the low Countries thanks to its prestigious university. The Franciscans, Dominicans, and the Augustinian hermits, who had been present in louvain since the thirteenth century, developed close relations with the new faculty of theology in 1447 and from then on their monasteries became the intellectual centres of their orders in the low Countries. A friary of Carmel- ites, the fourth mendicant order, was founded at louvain in 1487.
The only medieval remains of the four friaries are the church, the sacristy and a part of the dormitory of the Dominicans. Not only most buildings and furniture, but also the famous libraries of the studia and the archives were lost when the friaries were suppressed in 1796. This essay is based on the topography, the scarce visual and historical sources, and the limited literature.2
Foundation and location of the mendicant friaries in the capital of Brabant
louvain was the capital of the Duchy of Brabant until the end of the thirteenth century, when Duke John I decided to move his court to Brussels. louvain was thus a crucial place for mendicant friars who wanted to develop their apostolate in the wealthy duchy. It is generally accepted that both the Dominicans and the Franciscans arrived from Cologne in 1228 and the Augustinian Friars around 1236. The three communities succeeded in building convents on grounds along the river Dyle, within the first ring of the city walls (Fig. 1).
Duke henri I had allowed the Dominicans to use the chapel of the old castrum of the counts of louvain, which was located on a marshy island in the middle of the city.3 At the same time, he was building a new castle on a hill outside louvain. After having used both residences for a couple of de- cades, the court moved to the new castle and Duke henri III gave the buildings of the old court to the Dominicans in 1256. Thanks to complementary donations in 1266 and 1305, the friars expanded their
1 I am very grateful for their support to Anna Bergmans, Caroline Bruzelius, Véronique Cardon, Maria Kelly, Aart Mekking, Zoë Opai, Jan Roegiers, Achim Timmermann and Achim Todenhöfer. 2 Due to the lack of written and material sources, the lit- erature is very limited. Most authors copied the information from seventeenth-century works based on archives that had been destroyed: Bernardus de Jonghe, Belgium dominica- num sive historia Germaniae Inferioris sacri ordinis ff. prae- dicatorum…, Brussels, 1719; Antonius Sanderus, Chorographia sacrae Brabantiae…, The hague, 1726; Le Grand Théâtre sacré du Duché de Brabant…, The hague, 1729; Nicolaus de Tombeur, Annales conventus Lovaniensis,
unpublished manuscript, circa 1700 (Ghent, Augustijn, Ar- chief). A first compilation was done in the standard his- torical work on louvain: Edward Van Even, Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent, louvain, 1895, p. 412-422, p. 471- 478 and p. 486-487. New research has been presented at a colloquium organized by the Faculty of Theology on 7-8 November 2008: “De Universiteit van leuven en de regu- liere clerus: kloostercolleges en geïncorporeerde kloosters aan de Oude Universiteit”. 3 Joseph Cuvelier, La formation de la ville de Louvain des origines à la fin du XIVe siècle (Académie royale de Belgique, Mémoire de la Classe des lettres, 2.10.2), Brussels, 1935.
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Fig. 1. Map of louvain in the fifteenth century: A. First city wall (1156-1161), B. Second city wall (1357-1363), C. Island and location of the curtis of the counts of louvain, D. New castrum of the dukes of Brabant, E. Town hall, F. University (former Cloth hall), G. Old Market. Main churches: 1. Collegiate church of St Peter, 2. Parish church of St Michael, 3. Parish church of St Quentin, 4. Parish church of St John, 5. Benedictine Abbey of Vlier- beek, 6. Norbertine Abbey of Park at heverlee, 7. Regular canons and parish church of St Gertrude, 8. Franciscan Friary, 9. Dominican Friary, 10. Augustinian hermits Friary, 11. Carmelite Friary, 12. Great Beguinage, 13. Small Beguinage, 14. Charterhouse (reconstruction Thomas Coomans 2002)
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property to a large part of the island.4 Surrounded by water on three sides, the friary was accessible from a small street on the northern side – the Street of the Friars Preacher (Predikherenstraat) – which opened into the Brussels Street, one of the city’s main axes between the market place and a city gate. The Franciscans settled on the other side of the river, facing the ducal island. It is not known why they settled there, who gave them the grounds and how they succeeded in acquiring a large plot of land close to the city wall.5 Their convent was located along a street – the Street of the Friars Minor (Min- derbroedersstraat) – leading to another city gate. The Augustinian Friars received from the city the chapel of St John the Baptist in the Fish Market and expanded their property from a corner of the market and the Street of the Augustinians (Augustijnenstraat), along the river on the west, and to the city wall on the north side.6 The eastern side of the property was delimited by a street leading to a city gate – the Canal Street (Vaartstraat).
4 Frans Spaey, Het Godshuis der predikheren binnen Leuven, louvain, 1961, p. 49-60. 5 Maurits Sabbe (ed.), De Minderbroeders in de Oude Leu- vense Universiteit (Documenta libraria, 10), louvain, 1989; Jozef Baetens, “Minderbroederskloosters in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden. Kloosterlexicon: 44. leuven”, in Franciscana. Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Minderbroeders in de Nederlanden, 42, 1987, p. 81-137.
6 F.A. lefever, “Daar waar de Augustijnen woonden”, in Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Leuven en omgeving, 24, 1984, p. 97-132; Michel Oosterbo- sch, Ernest Persoons, Jan Staes, Norbertus Teeuwen & Raymond Van Uytven, Kaartboek van de Leuvense Au- gustijnen-Eremiten 1777 (Gent, Augustijnen, Archief, 2.17), Brussels, 2002, p. 8-16.
Fig. 2. Plan of the Dominican (above) and Franciscan (under) friaries at both sides of an arm of the river Dyle (reconstruction Thomas Coomans 2009, after etchings of 1664 and 1715, and cadastre of 1813)
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The three locations were excellent because they were within the twelfth-century city wall and close to a main street leading to one of the six city gates. A donation by a prince of the site of an old castrum in the heart of a city was not frequent and therefore all the more prestigious.7 Even more uncommon is that three communities of mendicants succeeded in founding a friary within the same city. Generally, if one succeeded, the others settled outside the city wall and were only incorporated later when the circuit of walls was expanded.8 The reason for the exceptional situation in louvain could be that the plots were still available because of their marshy quality due to the regular flooding of the river; no friary, for example, was located on the higher grounds of the eastern part of the city.
A third uncommon feature was the close proximity of the Franciscan and Dominican friaries which were separated only by a narrow arm of the river (Fig. 2). At the time of their settlement, the legislation about the distance between friaries did not yet exist. In order to avoid competition between friaries in the same quarter of a town, Pope Clement IV’s bull Quia plerumque of 28 June 1268, fixed a minimal distance of about 570 meters between two mendicant churches.9 Nevertheless, a separation by a river signified that the convents belonged to different quarters. In louvain, the churches were built in the most opposite corners of each friary’s grounds – the Dominican church north of its clois- ter and the Franciscan south of its cloister, and the portals, in each case at the end of an aisle, opened in the direction of different quarters.
Three thirteen-century mendicant churches
The only surviving medieval building is the Dominican Church of Our lady, presently used by the city of louvain for exhibitions, concerts and other cultural activities. The church was con- structed in two parts, in corresponding building campaigns: a splendid Gothic choir of four aisled bays ending in an apse which forms seven sides of a dodecagon, and a lower nave of four aisled bays closed with a flat west facade (Fig. 3). Recent research was able to date the building chronology precisely, thanks to tree-ring analysis of the roof structure and to a detailed study of the use of the splendid choir as a ducal burial place.10 The construction of the choir started shortly before 1251 and the timber of the roof is dated 1261 and 1265. When Duke henri III died unexpectedly on 21 February 1261, he was buried on the north side of the choir, which was still under construction. his wife Adelaide (known also as Alix or Aleydis) of Burgundy, who fervently supported the Dominicans, had founded a nunnery near Brussels and knew Thomas Aquinas personally, encouraged the continuation of the work. Two years after her death on 23 October 1273 and her burial in the church, the choir was consecrated by
7 Three other cases are known in the low Countries: the Dominicans at the court of the counts of holland at haar- lem, and of the counts of Flanders at Ypres; the Franciscans near the moat of the counts of hainaut at Valenciennes. Other examples: the Dominicans on the site of the castle of the kings of France at Évreux, the Franciscans on the site of the counts of Champagne at Troyes and the kings of France at laon. 8 Panayota Volti, Les couvents des ordres mendiants et leur environnement à la fin du Moyen Âge. Le nord de la France et les anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux, Paris, 2003, p. 187-216. 9 (…) infra spatium trecentarum cannarum a vestris ecclesiis mensurandarum per aera etiam ubi alias recte non permit- teret loci dispositio mensurari (…). Quoted and interpreted in: Jacques le Goff, “Ordres mendiants et urbanisation
dans la France médiévale”, in Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations, 25/4, 1970, p. 924-946, here p. 932. One canna measured about 1.90 metres. 10 Thomas Coomans & Anna Bergmans, “l’église Notre- Dame des Dominicains à louvain (1251-1276). le mémorial d’henri III, duc de Brabant et d’Alix de Bourgogne”, in Bul- letin monumental, 167, 2, 2009, p. 99-125; Thomas Coomans & Anna Bergmans, “Van hertogelijke grafkerk tot studium generale: de Onze-lieve-Vrouw-ter-Predikherenkerk in leuven”, in M&L. Monumenten, landschappen en archeolo- gie, 24/5, September 2005, p. 6-34; Thomas Coomans, “De oudste dakconstructie in de leuvense binnenstad: bouwhis- torisch onderzoek in de predikherenkerk (prov. Vlaams- Brabant)”, in Relicta. Heritage Research in Flanders, 1, 2006, p. 183-212.
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Albertus Magnus, the provincial of the Dominicans. A part of the ducal tomb with recumbent figures is preserved, while some lost medieval wall paintings and stained glass windows are known thanks to old drawings.11 On the one hand, the tomb shows the prestigious connections of the dynasty of Brabant with the royal and imperial dynasties of Bohemia, Sicily, Thuringia, Swabia and Byzantium. On the other hand, the stained glass windows show the double alliance of the houses of Brabant and France: two children of henri III and Adelaide had married two children of louis IX and Margaret of Provence, and one of them, Mary of Brabant, became queen of France.
like several other Dominican and Franciscan churches, the general outline of the Dominican choir of louvain, its style and the form of its apse referred to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, but the presence of a ducal memorial with royal French connections gave a unique significance to the building. having given the site of the historic castrum to the Dominicans, Duke henri III decided to remain
11 Anna Bergmans, “Fundatio et memoria. Verdwenen gedenktekens van de Brabantse hertogen in de leuvense predikherenkerk (13de eeuw) (prov. Vlaams-Brabant)”, in Relicta. Heritage Research in Flanders, 1, 2006, p. 213-236; Anna Bergmans, “le mémorial dynastique du duc henri III de Brabant et d’Alix de Bourgogne dans l’église des
dominicains à louvain”, in 12e Congrès international d’études sur les Danses macabres et l’art macabre en général, Gand du 21 au 24 septembre 2005. Actes, vol. 2, Meslay-le-Grenet, 2005, p. 13-30; Anne McGee Morganstern, Gothic Tombs of Kinship in France, the Low Countries, and England, Penn- sylvania, 2000, p. 32-41.
Fig. 3. Church eastern range and site of the cloister of the Dominican Friary of louvain, view from the south (Thomas Coomans 2007)
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“for eternity” on the site by being buried in his memorial church – a splendid example of a do ut des relation between a prince and friars. The next generations of dukes moved to Brussels and the Do- minicans completed their church at the beginning of the fourteenth century on a more modest scale. The four western bays of the nave are covered with a wooden barrel vault, have a short and narrow clerestory and no flying buttresses (Fig. 3). The most impressive component is the large central window of the western façade with a refined Gothic tracery. like several other mendicant churches, that of the Dominicans of louvain looks incomplete, but the pointed distinction between the choir of the friars and the nave used for preaching was imposed by building legislation.12
The Franciscans started to build a church soon after their translation to the site in 1231, and a consecration is mentioned already in 1233.13 Maybe only a modest choir was built in such a short time. City archives mention repair work after a heavy storm in 1343 and the gift of stained glass windows for the choir in 1355-1356.14 The main transformation, as we shall see, was the building of a new choir in the years 1534-1536. The visual sources emphasize this new choir and the contrast of scale with the old nave (Fig. 7).15
The nave was of the basilican type with a central vessel flanked by aisles, four bays long, and terminating at the west with a flat façade. The windows of the clerestory are reduced and there are no buttresses, suggesting that the nave was covered with a wooden barrel vault, like the nave of the Do- minicans and the Beguinage church at louvain, both from the early fourteenth century. Nevertheless, this basilical nave could well have been built during the second half of thirteenth century, but there is little chance that it already existed in 1233. The engraving of 1664 shows a small perpendicular structure on the south side of the church, at the junction of the new choir and the old nave (Fig. 7). This could be either the south arm of a transept or a lateral chapel added at an unknown date by a lay confrater- nity. Although the latter hypothesis is the most credible, the presence of a transept is not totally impos- sible since it is known that some early Franciscan churches, influenced by Cistercian models or by the layout of Assisi, had a transept.16 Despite the total lack of information about the first choir of the Franciscans it is certain that until the construction of the new choir in 1534-1536, the Franciscan church had a very different silhouette than the neighboring Dominican church. The choir of the Franciscans, built in the 1230s, must have conformed much more closely to the ideal of apostolic poverty than the
12 G. Meersseman, “l’architecture dominicaine au XIIIe siècle. législation et pratique”, in Archivum fratrum praedi- catorum, 16, 1946, p. 136-190; Volti, Les couvents des ordres mendiants, p. 13-21; Achim Todenhöfer, “Apostolisches Ideal im sozialen Kontext. Zum Genese der Bettelorden- sarchitektur im 13. Jahrhundert”, in Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft, 34, 2008, p. 43-75. 13 Sebald Van Ruysevelt, “De Franciskaanse kerken, de stichtingen van de dertiende eeuw: 9. leuven”, in Francis- cana. Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Minderbroeders in de Nederlanden, 27, 1972, p. 107-121 (the date is mentioned on p. 111, but without source). 14 Ibidem, p. 111. 15 The church figures on : 1. the oldest view of louvain, woodcut by Anton Woensam of about 1540 (Brussels, Bi- bliothèque Royale, Cab. Est. S.I-23.172) ; 2. a drawing of an album of louvain, anonymous, seventeenth century (Brus- sels, Bibliothèque Royale, II-2123, f. 47; facsimile : Evert Cockx & Gilbert huybens (ed.), De Leuvense prentenatlas. Zeventiende-eeuwse tekeningen uit de Koninklijke Bibliotheek
te Brussel. Deel 1 : Prentenatlas (Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring voor leuven en Omge ving, 41), lou- vain, 2003, p. 83) ; 3. the anonymous etching from 1664, first published in Antonius Sanderus, Chorographia sacra Bra- bantiae, The hague, 1726 ; 4. a drawing made after the de- struction, by h. Otto and l. Van Peteghem (leuven Museum M, Print Collection, lP/486, published in Eduard Van Even, Louvain monumental, louvain, 1860). 16 Wolfgang Schenkluhn, Architektur der Bettelorden. Die Baukunst der Dominikaner und Franziskaner in Europa, Darmstadt, 2000, p. 37-43 and 56-64; Todenhöfer, “Apos- tolisches Ideal im sozialen Kontext”, p. 43-75; Thomas Coomans, “Assisi and Cologne on the Banks of the Meuse: The Two Mediaeval Churches of the Franciscans at Maas- tricht”, in Kunst & Region. Architektur und Kunst im Mit- telalter. Beiträge einer Forschungsgruppe / Art & Region. Architecture and Art in the Middle Ages. Contributions of a Research Group (Clavis Kunsthistorische Monografieën, 20), ed. Ute M. Bräuer, Emanuel S. Klinkenberg & Jeroen Westerman, Utrecht, 2005, p. 96-116.
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choir of the Dominicans. Built in the 1260s, this Dominican choir had a prestigious burial func- tion, it demonstrated a direct knowledge of the Sainte-Chapelle, and is considered as the first church to have been built in the Gothic style in louvain.
Thanks to indulgences accorded by Pope Clement IV in 1265, the Augustinian Friars started to build a church to replace their first chapel. The choir may already have been com- pleted in 1270 because in that year the main altar was consecrated.17 This means that the building of the choirs of the Dominican and Augustinian churches was contemporaneous. Nothing else is known about this church except that mainte- nance work is mentioned in 1404 and 1525.18 More important is the presence in the church of a precious relic of a miraculous host, known as the Sacrament of the Miracle, which had been received from the Augustinian hermits of Co- logne in 1380 and would enhance the role of the Augustinian Friars in louvain. The relic was the object of a Eucharistic devotion promoted by a prestigious lay confraternity founded in 1426, supported by indulgences accorded by Pope Eugenius IV in 1431, and, from 1433, by a very important annual procession through the city.19 It is not by chance that this cult developed at the same time that the faculty of theology of the university was founded (in 1432), with, as we shall see later, an Augustinian Friar as the first holder of the chair.
Three drawings and the general plan made for the sale of the buildings after the suppression are the only sources we have for this building.20 The church had a high Gothic nave of nine bays, and was flanked by only one aisle, at the south side opposite the cloister. At the east, the choir ended with a polygonal apse. The west end of the nave faced the river and the Fish Market; it was flat, had a large Gothic window with tracery and a round…
Architectural Competition in a University Town: The Mendicant Friaries in Late Medieval Louvain
Thomas Coomans
This essay examines how architecture reflects the competition between some religious orders in the changing context of a late Medieval city with ambitions.1 In the fifteenth century, louvain (leuven in Flemish), the former capital of the Duchy of Brabant, had been deserted by the court, but acquired a new prominence in the low Countries thanks to its prestigious university. The Franciscans, Dominicans, and the Augustinian hermits, who had been present in louvain since the thirteenth century, developed close relations with the new faculty of theology in 1447 and from then on their monasteries became the intellectual centres of their orders in the low Countries. A friary of Carmel- ites, the fourth mendicant order, was founded at louvain in 1487.
The only medieval remains of the four friaries are the church, the sacristy and a part of the dormitory of the Dominicans. Not only most buildings and furniture, but also the famous libraries of the studia and the archives were lost when the friaries were suppressed in 1796. This essay is based on the topography, the scarce visual and historical sources, and the limited literature.2
Foundation and location of the mendicant friaries in the capital of Brabant
louvain was the capital of the Duchy of Brabant until the end of the thirteenth century, when Duke John I decided to move his court to Brussels. louvain was thus a crucial place for mendicant friars who wanted to develop their apostolate in the wealthy duchy. It is generally accepted that both the Dominicans and the Franciscans arrived from Cologne in 1228 and the Augustinian Friars around 1236. The three communities succeeded in building convents on grounds along the river Dyle, within the first ring of the city walls (Fig. 1).
Duke henri I had allowed the Dominicans to use the chapel of the old castrum of the counts of louvain, which was located on a marshy island in the middle of the city.3 At the same time, he was building a new castle on a hill outside louvain. After having used both residences for a couple of de- cades, the court moved to the new castle and Duke henri III gave the buildings of the old court to the Dominicans in 1256. Thanks to complementary donations in 1266 and 1305, the friars expanded their
1 I am very grateful for their support to Anna Bergmans, Caroline Bruzelius, Véronique Cardon, Maria Kelly, Aart Mekking, Zoë Opai, Jan Roegiers, Achim Timmermann and Achim Todenhöfer. 2 Due to the lack of written and material sources, the lit- erature is very limited. Most authors copied the information from seventeenth-century works based on archives that had been destroyed: Bernardus de Jonghe, Belgium dominica- num sive historia Germaniae Inferioris sacri ordinis ff. prae- dicatorum…, Brussels, 1719; Antonius Sanderus, Chorographia sacrae Brabantiae…, The hague, 1726; Le Grand Théâtre sacré du Duché de Brabant…, The hague, 1729; Nicolaus de Tombeur, Annales conventus Lovaniensis,
unpublished manuscript, circa 1700 (Ghent, Augustijn, Ar- chief). A first compilation was done in the standard his- torical work on louvain: Edward Van Even, Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent, louvain, 1895, p. 412-422, p. 471- 478 and p. 486-487. New research has been presented at a colloquium organized by the Faculty of Theology on 7-8 November 2008: “De Universiteit van leuven en de regu- liere clerus: kloostercolleges en geïncorporeerde kloosters aan de Oude Universiteit”. 3 Joseph Cuvelier, La formation de la ville de Louvain des origines à la fin du XIVe siècle (Académie royale de Belgique, Mémoire de la Classe des lettres, 2.10.2), Brussels, 1935.
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Fig. 1. Map of louvain in the fifteenth century: A. First city wall (1156-1161), B. Second city wall (1357-1363), C. Island and location of the curtis of the counts of louvain, D. New castrum of the dukes of Brabant, E. Town hall, F. University (former Cloth hall), G. Old Market. Main churches: 1. Collegiate church of St Peter, 2. Parish church of St Michael, 3. Parish church of St Quentin, 4. Parish church of St John, 5. Benedictine Abbey of Vlier- beek, 6. Norbertine Abbey of Park at heverlee, 7. Regular canons and parish church of St Gertrude, 8. Franciscan Friary, 9. Dominican Friary, 10. Augustinian hermits Friary, 11. Carmelite Friary, 12. Great Beguinage, 13. Small Beguinage, 14. Charterhouse (reconstruction Thomas Coomans 2002)
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property to a large part of the island.4 Surrounded by water on three sides, the friary was accessible from a small street on the northern side – the Street of the Friars Preacher (Predikherenstraat) – which opened into the Brussels Street, one of the city’s main axes between the market place and a city gate. The Franciscans settled on the other side of the river, facing the ducal island. It is not known why they settled there, who gave them the grounds and how they succeeded in acquiring a large plot of land close to the city wall.5 Their convent was located along a street – the Street of the Friars Minor (Min- derbroedersstraat) – leading to another city gate. The Augustinian Friars received from the city the chapel of St John the Baptist in the Fish Market and expanded their property from a corner of the market and the Street of the Augustinians (Augustijnenstraat), along the river on the west, and to the city wall on the north side.6 The eastern side of the property was delimited by a street leading to a city gate – the Canal Street (Vaartstraat).
4 Frans Spaey, Het Godshuis der predikheren binnen Leuven, louvain, 1961, p. 49-60. 5 Maurits Sabbe (ed.), De Minderbroeders in de Oude Leu- vense Universiteit (Documenta libraria, 10), louvain, 1989; Jozef Baetens, “Minderbroederskloosters in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden. Kloosterlexicon: 44. leuven”, in Franciscana. Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Minderbroeders in de Nederlanden, 42, 1987, p. 81-137.
6 F.A. lefever, “Daar waar de Augustijnen woonden”, in Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Leuven en omgeving, 24, 1984, p. 97-132; Michel Oosterbo- sch, Ernest Persoons, Jan Staes, Norbertus Teeuwen & Raymond Van Uytven, Kaartboek van de Leuvense Au- gustijnen-Eremiten 1777 (Gent, Augustijnen, Archief, 2.17), Brussels, 2002, p. 8-16.
Fig. 2. Plan of the Dominican (above) and Franciscan (under) friaries at both sides of an arm of the river Dyle (reconstruction Thomas Coomans 2009, after etchings of 1664 and 1715, and cadastre of 1813)
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The three locations were excellent because they were within the twelfth-century city wall and close to a main street leading to one of the six city gates. A donation by a prince of the site of an old castrum in the heart of a city was not frequent and therefore all the more prestigious.7 Even more uncommon is that three communities of mendicants succeeded in founding a friary within the same city. Generally, if one succeeded, the others settled outside the city wall and were only incorporated later when the circuit of walls was expanded.8 The reason for the exceptional situation in louvain could be that the plots were still available because of their marshy quality due to the regular flooding of the river; no friary, for example, was located on the higher grounds of the eastern part of the city.
A third uncommon feature was the close proximity of the Franciscan and Dominican friaries which were separated only by a narrow arm of the river (Fig. 2). At the time of their settlement, the legislation about the distance between friaries did not yet exist. In order to avoid competition between friaries in the same quarter of a town, Pope Clement IV’s bull Quia plerumque of 28 June 1268, fixed a minimal distance of about 570 meters between two mendicant churches.9 Nevertheless, a separation by a river signified that the convents belonged to different quarters. In louvain, the churches were built in the most opposite corners of each friary’s grounds – the Dominican church north of its clois- ter and the Franciscan south of its cloister, and the portals, in each case at the end of an aisle, opened in the direction of different quarters.
Three thirteen-century mendicant churches
The only surviving medieval building is the Dominican Church of Our lady, presently used by the city of louvain for exhibitions, concerts and other cultural activities. The church was con- structed in two parts, in corresponding building campaigns: a splendid Gothic choir of four aisled bays ending in an apse which forms seven sides of a dodecagon, and a lower nave of four aisled bays closed with a flat west facade (Fig. 3). Recent research was able to date the building chronology precisely, thanks to tree-ring analysis of the roof structure and to a detailed study of the use of the splendid choir as a ducal burial place.10 The construction of the choir started shortly before 1251 and the timber of the roof is dated 1261 and 1265. When Duke henri III died unexpectedly on 21 February 1261, he was buried on the north side of the choir, which was still under construction. his wife Adelaide (known also as Alix or Aleydis) of Burgundy, who fervently supported the Dominicans, had founded a nunnery near Brussels and knew Thomas Aquinas personally, encouraged the continuation of the work. Two years after her death on 23 October 1273 and her burial in the church, the choir was consecrated by
7 Three other cases are known in the low Countries: the Dominicans at the court of the counts of holland at haar- lem, and of the counts of Flanders at Ypres; the Franciscans near the moat of the counts of hainaut at Valenciennes. Other examples: the Dominicans on the site of the castle of the kings of France at Évreux, the Franciscans on the site of the counts of Champagne at Troyes and the kings of France at laon. 8 Panayota Volti, Les couvents des ordres mendiants et leur environnement à la fin du Moyen Âge. Le nord de la France et les anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux, Paris, 2003, p. 187-216. 9 (…) infra spatium trecentarum cannarum a vestris ecclesiis mensurandarum per aera etiam ubi alias recte non permit- teret loci dispositio mensurari (…). Quoted and interpreted in: Jacques le Goff, “Ordres mendiants et urbanisation
dans la France médiévale”, in Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations, 25/4, 1970, p. 924-946, here p. 932. One canna measured about 1.90 metres. 10 Thomas Coomans & Anna Bergmans, “l’église Notre- Dame des Dominicains à louvain (1251-1276). le mémorial d’henri III, duc de Brabant et d’Alix de Bourgogne”, in Bul- letin monumental, 167, 2, 2009, p. 99-125; Thomas Coomans & Anna Bergmans, “Van hertogelijke grafkerk tot studium generale: de Onze-lieve-Vrouw-ter-Predikherenkerk in leuven”, in M&L. Monumenten, landschappen en archeolo- gie, 24/5, September 2005, p. 6-34; Thomas Coomans, “De oudste dakconstructie in de leuvense binnenstad: bouwhis- torisch onderzoek in de predikherenkerk (prov. Vlaams- Brabant)”, in Relicta. Heritage Research in Flanders, 1, 2006, p. 183-212.
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Albertus Magnus, the provincial of the Dominicans. A part of the ducal tomb with recumbent figures is preserved, while some lost medieval wall paintings and stained glass windows are known thanks to old drawings.11 On the one hand, the tomb shows the prestigious connections of the dynasty of Brabant with the royal and imperial dynasties of Bohemia, Sicily, Thuringia, Swabia and Byzantium. On the other hand, the stained glass windows show the double alliance of the houses of Brabant and France: two children of henri III and Adelaide had married two children of louis IX and Margaret of Provence, and one of them, Mary of Brabant, became queen of France.
like several other Dominican and Franciscan churches, the general outline of the Dominican choir of louvain, its style and the form of its apse referred to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, but the presence of a ducal memorial with royal French connections gave a unique significance to the building. having given the site of the historic castrum to the Dominicans, Duke henri III decided to remain
11 Anna Bergmans, “Fundatio et memoria. Verdwenen gedenktekens van de Brabantse hertogen in de leuvense predikherenkerk (13de eeuw) (prov. Vlaams-Brabant)”, in Relicta. Heritage Research in Flanders, 1, 2006, p. 213-236; Anna Bergmans, “le mémorial dynastique du duc henri III de Brabant et d’Alix de Bourgogne dans l’église des
dominicains à louvain”, in 12e Congrès international d’études sur les Danses macabres et l’art macabre en général, Gand du 21 au 24 septembre 2005. Actes, vol. 2, Meslay-le-Grenet, 2005, p. 13-30; Anne McGee Morganstern, Gothic Tombs of Kinship in France, the Low Countries, and England, Penn- sylvania, 2000, p. 32-41.
Fig. 3. Church eastern range and site of the cloister of the Dominican Friary of louvain, view from the south (Thomas Coomans 2007)
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“for eternity” on the site by being buried in his memorial church – a splendid example of a do ut des relation between a prince and friars. The next generations of dukes moved to Brussels and the Do- minicans completed their church at the beginning of the fourteenth century on a more modest scale. The four western bays of the nave are covered with a wooden barrel vault, have a short and narrow clerestory and no flying buttresses (Fig. 3). The most impressive component is the large central window of the western façade with a refined Gothic tracery. like several other mendicant churches, that of the Dominicans of louvain looks incomplete, but the pointed distinction between the choir of the friars and the nave used for preaching was imposed by building legislation.12
The Franciscans started to build a church soon after their translation to the site in 1231, and a consecration is mentioned already in 1233.13 Maybe only a modest choir was built in such a short time. City archives mention repair work after a heavy storm in 1343 and the gift of stained glass windows for the choir in 1355-1356.14 The main transformation, as we shall see, was the building of a new choir in the years 1534-1536. The visual sources emphasize this new choir and the contrast of scale with the old nave (Fig. 7).15
The nave was of the basilican type with a central vessel flanked by aisles, four bays long, and terminating at the west with a flat façade. The windows of the clerestory are reduced and there are no buttresses, suggesting that the nave was covered with a wooden barrel vault, like the nave of the Do- minicans and the Beguinage church at louvain, both from the early fourteenth century. Nevertheless, this basilical nave could well have been built during the second half of thirteenth century, but there is little chance that it already existed in 1233. The engraving of 1664 shows a small perpendicular structure on the south side of the church, at the junction of the new choir and the old nave (Fig. 7). This could be either the south arm of a transept or a lateral chapel added at an unknown date by a lay confrater- nity. Although the latter hypothesis is the most credible, the presence of a transept is not totally impos- sible since it is known that some early Franciscan churches, influenced by Cistercian models or by the layout of Assisi, had a transept.16 Despite the total lack of information about the first choir of the Franciscans it is certain that until the construction of the new choir in 1534-1536, the Franciscan church had a very different silhouette than the neighboring Dominican church. The choir of the Franciscans, built in the 1230s, must have conformed much more closely to the ideal of apostolic poverty than the
12 G. Meersseman, “l’architecture dominicaine au XIIIe siècle. législation et pratique”, in Archivum fratrum praedi- catorum, 16, 1946, p. 136-190; Volti, Les couvents des ordres mendiants, p. 13-21; Achim Todenhöfer, “Apostolisches Ideal im sozialen Kontext. Zum Genese der Bettelorden- sarchitektur im 13. Jahrhundert”, in Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft, 34, 2008, p. 43-75. 13 Sebald Van Ruysevelt, “De Franciskaanse kerken, de stichtingen van de dertiende eeuw: 9. leuven”, in Francis- cana. Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Minderbroeders in de Nederlanden, 27, 1972, p. 107-121 (the date is mentioned on p. 111, but without source). 14 Ibidem, p. 111. 15 The church figures on : 1. the oldest view of louvain, woodcut by Anton Woensam of about 1540 (Brussels, Bi- bliothèque Royale, Cab. Est. S.I-23.172) ; 2. a drawing of an album of louvain, anonymous, seventeenth century (Brus- sels, Bibliothèque Royale, II-2123, f. 47; facsimile : Evert Cockx & Gilbert huybens (ed.), De Leuvense prentenatlas. Zeventiende-eeuwse tekeningen uit de Koninklijke Bibliotheek
te Brussel. Deel 1 : Prentenatlas (Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring voor leuven en Omge ving, 41), lou- vain, 2003, p. 83) ; 3. the anonymous etching from 1664, first published in Antonius Sanderus, Chorographia sacra Bra- bantiae, The hague, 1726 ; 4. a drawing made after the de- struction, by h. Otto and l. Van Peteghem (leuven Museum M, Print Collection, lP/486, published in Eduard Van Even, Louvain monumental, louvain, 1860). 16 Wolfgang Schenkluhn, Architektur der Bettelorden. Die Baukunst der Dominikaner und Franziskaner in Europa, Darmstadt, 2000, p. 37-43 and 56-64; Todenhöfer, “Apos- tolisches Ideal im sozialen Kontext”, p. 43-75; Thomas Coomans, “Assisi and Cologne on the Banks of the Meuse: The Two Mediaeval Churches of the Franciscans at Maas- tricht”, in Kunst & Region. Architektur und Kunst im Mit- telalter. Beiträge einer Forschungsgruppe / Art & Region. Architecture and Art in the Middle Ages. Contributions of a Research Group (Clavis Kunsthistorische Monografieën, 20), ed. Ute M. Bräuer, Emanuel S. Klinkenberg & Jeroen Westerman, Utrecht, 2005, p. 96-116.
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choir of the Dominicans. Built in the 1260s, this Dominican choir had a prestigious burial func- tion, it demonstrated a direct knowledge of the Sainte-Chapelle, and is considered as the first church to have been built in the Gothic style in louvain.
Thanks to indulgences accorded by Pope Clement IV in 1265, the Augustinian Friars started to build a church to replace their first chapel. The choir may already have been com- pleted in 1270 because in that year the main altar was consecrated.17 This means that the building of the choirs of the Dominican and Augustinian churches was contemporaneous. Nothing else is known about this church except that mainte- nance work is mentioned in 1404 and 1525.18 More important is the presence in the church of a precious relic of a miraculous host, known as the Sacrament of the Miracle, which had been received from the Augustinian hermits of Co- logne in 1380 and would enhance the role of the Augustinian Friars in louvain. The relic was the object of a Eucharistic devotion promoted by a prestigious lay confraternity founded in 1426, supported by indulgences accorded by Pope Eugenius IV in 1431, and, from 1433, by a very important annual procession through the city.19 It is not by chance that this cult developed at the same time that the faculty of theology of the university was founded (in 1432), with, as we shall see later, an Augustinian Friar as the first holder of the chair.
Three drawings and the general plan made for the sale of the buildings after the suppression are the only sources we have for this building.20 The church had a high Gothic nave of nine bays, and was flanked by only one aisle, at the south side opposite the cloister. At the east, the choir ended with a polygonal apse. The west end of the nave faced the river and the Fish Market; it was flat, had a large Gothic window with tracery and a round…
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