Canal City: Bruges, Belgium

Today marks our third visit to a European canal city: Bruges, Belgium. Last month we enjoyed a virtual tour of Delft, Netherlands.

Nestled between Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, and the North Sea, Belgium covers an area of 11,849 square miles and is home to two main linguistic groups: the Dutch-speaking Flemish community which constitutes about sixty percent of the population, and the French-speaking community which constitutes about forty percent of the population. There is a tiny German-speaking community that exists in the East Cantons. Brussels, the country’s largest city and capital is officially bilingual in French and Dutch. 

 

Belgium is comprised of ten provinces, and Bruges is the capital of the province

of West Flanders in the Flemish region. The seventh-largest city of the country by population, its fifty-three square miles are actually oval in shape. Bruges originated on the banks of the river Reie. Often referred to as the Venice of the North, the name Bruges is thought to be derived from the Old Dutch word for bridge: brugga. An appropriate moniker considering there are eighty bridges within the city limits. 

 

The history of the city reaches back several hundred years when it received its charter on July 27, 1128. As it developed, canals were built connecting it to the deeper branch of the North Sea, the Zwin. Important because of its tidal inlet known as the “Golden Inlet” and strategic location at the crossroads of the trade routes, Bruges used its wealth to construct new walls and additional canals. Castles too. Of the 470 castles in the Flanders region, nearly fifty are found near Bruges. 

 

By the beginning of the 13th century, the city was on the circuit of the Flemish and French cloth fairs. A short time later, the first merchant fleet from Genoa arrived, linking Bruges to trade in the Mediterranean. As a result of its wealth, Bruges opened the Bourse in 1309. Considered the first stock exchange in the world, the Bourse developed into the most sophisticated money market of the Low Countries in the 14th century. 

 

One hundred years later, Philip the Good (Duke of Burgundy) set up court in Bruges and attracted artists, bankers, and other prominent and influential people from all over Europe. By 1400, Bruges was home to 200,000 residents, and the city’s weavers and spinners were thought to be the best in the world. 

 

In the 1500s, the “Golden Inlet” began silting up, and prosperity began to wane. The lace industry did well, and Charles II of England lived in the city during his exile in the 1650s, but Bruges continued to fade. Antwerp soon became Belgium’s economic leader. The population declined until the 1900s when Bruges began to attract wealthy British and French tourists. 

Occupied but undamaged during both world wars, Bruges experienced a bit of a renaissance in the 1960s. Restoration of residential and commercial structures, monuments, and churches produced a flood of tourism, and the city was designated “European Capital of Culture” in 2002. Eight million tourists visit annually to enjoy the medieval architecture, miles of canals, and cobblestone streets. 

 

What do you find most intriguing about this beautiful city’s history? 

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Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A volunteer docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of WWII, Linda is also a trustee for her local public library. She is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry. Linda has lived in historic places all her life and is now located in central New Hampshire where her favorite activities include exploring historic sites and immersing herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors. 

Rayne’s Redemption: 

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Twin sisters Rayne and Jessica Dalton have been swapping places their whole lives, so when Jessica dies on the eve of heading west to become a mail-order bride, Rayne decides to fill her sister’s shoes. The challenge will be faking Jessica’s faith in God. Can Rayne fool her prospective groom without losing her heart...or her soul? 

 

Flynn Ward fled England to escape his parent’s attempts at marrying him off, but locating a woman to love in the Wyoming mountains is harder than finding a hackney in a rainstorm. Then the Westward Home & Hearts Agency offers him the perfect match. But when his prospective bride arrives, she’s nothing like she seemed in her letters. Is he destined to go through life alone? 

 

Can two desperate people overcome their differences to find common ground...and love?

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Clara Ward, Michigan's Million Dollar Princess

By Kathleen Rouser

Princess Clara de Caraman-Chimay in 1898, photo taken
by Paul Nadar, {PD}

Back when I was researching the Detroit upper classes circa 1900, for a novella, I came across some information about a young lady who was an American dollar princess. With the popularity of shows like Downton Abbey and the Smithsonian Channel’s series about American million dollar princesses, along with the excitement over the upcoming marriage of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry, many have found the stories of American-born princesses intriguing.

When I did read about Clara Ward, who was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1873, I found the story of a princess which was anything but the stuff of fairytales. Clara Ward was the daughter of Eber Brock Ward, Detroit’s first millionaire, and his second wife. A man who seemed to have a talent for investing, he’d worked in shipping with his uncle, had his hand in lumber, the railroads, and manufactured steel near Detroit. After having seven children with him, his first wife divorced him for serial infidelity. He then married the much younger Catherine Lyon, the niece of a senator. E.B. Ward died in 1875 before Clara was even two. 

Clara in 1898, by Paul Nadar, {PD}

Clara grew up to be a very willful young lady, straining against the confines of morals and society at the time. She was expelled from boarding schools in London and Paris. After being placed at a convent school in Italy, she shocked the nuns there with her outrageous behavior.

While she was in Europe, Clara’s mother made sure to find a proper match for her, trading dollars for class and pedigree. In Niece, France, at the age of seventeen, the young lady was introduced to Prince Joseph de Caraman-Chimay of Belgium, from the province of Hainaut, near France. He was a cousin to King Leopold II and a member of the Chamber of Deputies in Belgium. Fifteen years her senior and lacking in funds, he found the beautiful Clara and her dowry of three and a half million francs ($2.5 million) an attractive package. In exchange, his bride would become Princess Clara de Caraman-Chimay. The marriage took place in Paris in the spring of 1890. 

Clara with Rigo Janczy, between
1897 and 1905, {PD}

Americans were enthralled with the idea of an American princess, much as they seem to be today. As time went on, their match would make waves on the other side of the Atlantic as well. Clara gave birth to a daughter in 1891 and a son in 1895, but the princess quickly became restless with her life in Belgium. One rumored story says she threw gold coins off of the battlements of her chateau and watched the villagers below fight over them.

Clara apparently carried on with other men, but her husband ignored it all. She was also rumored to have caught the eye of King Leopold II in the Belgian court and had a relationship with him, causing a stir. 

However, in 1896, while the Prince and Princess de Caraman-Chimay dined at a Parisian restaurant, the performance of a Hungarian gypsy violinist, set into motion a scandal that rocked the gossip news of both America and Europe. Clara became infatuated with the roving musician, Rigo Janczy, and he with her. Ten days later the couple eloped. 

Clara on a postcard, performing
"poses plastique," Between 1898
and 1905 {PD}

Prince Joseph divorced Clara in 1897. She gave up custody of her children and agreed to pay for their support. After Janczy obtained a divorce in 1898, he married her. The infamous couple was shunned by upper and lower classes. Clara further scandalized the society of the time by performing what she called her “poses plastiques” in a nude-colored, skintight body stocking at French cabarets such as Folies Bergere and Moulin Rouge. This was considered very shocking at the time. Her second husband sometimes accompanied her performance on his violin. She was often the subject of photographs used on postcards in her stage outfit and wearing more conventional clothing.

The couple traveled far and wide, living as they pleased so that Clara’s family needed to put brakes on funds available to her, restricting her to today’s equivalent of around two million dollars a year. Eventually, Rigo and Clara's love grew stale and she divorced Janczy around 1904 for his infidelity.

Clara soon took up with her third husband, Peppino Riccardio, supposedly a handsome waiter she met on a train. They were together until 1911 when he alleged that Clara cheated on him, which she denied. 

Postcard of Clara Ward Chimay,
possibly 1905 {PD}

Her last husband, Signore Cassalota, managed the railroad station which arranged tours of Mt. Vesuvius. In 1916, Clara died at her villa in Padua, Italy, at the age of 43. Her two children, her third husband, and a cousin received the remains of her wealth. 

Clara Ward Chimay decided to live life the way she wanted and is heralded by some feminists for doing so. In the process, she lost her children and any semblance of a good reputation. She ran from the restraints of what she considered proper society. She bargained her fortune for a title but didn’t find contentment being part of the Belgian royal court. She was estranged from family. Though she lived a lavish lifestyle of great wealth, she left behind no legacy of goodness that I found in my research. She was only remembered for her scandalous behavior. Clara’s obituary in a Detroit paper summed up her life well: “She died a woman without illusions. She had gone the pace. She lived intensely, a slave of her desires; she died an outcast, an old woman of 43 years, just when she should have been in her prime."

Kathleen Rouser is the award-winning author of Rumors and Promises, her first novel about the people of fictional Stone Creek, Michigan, and the novella, The Pocket Watch. She is a longtime member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Kathleen has loved making up stories since she was a little girl and wanted to be a writer before she could even read. She longs to create characters who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives. She lives in Michigan with her hero and husband of 36 years, and the sassy tail-less cat who found a home in their empty nest. Connect with Kathleen on her website at kathleenrouser.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kathleenerouser/, and on Twitter @KathleenRouser.