ARTEVELD, PHILIP VAN. 



ARTHUR. 



Hi 



alliance oflen*iv* and defensive with King Edward (December, 1339). 

 Louis *oon afterward* found meani to escape from Ghent, and again 

 withdrew to Paris. In 1S41, a truce being agreed upon. King Edward 

 went to Qhent to meat Count Louis, whom he tried to win oror to hii 

 aide, but without innnmi After Kdward'i departure from Ghent on 

 bii return to England, Count Louia, seeing hi* subject* wholly 

 estranged from him, and hi* authority openly set at nought by 

 Arteveld, ouoe more withdrew to Paris. Artereld DOW propoeed that 

 Edward's eon, the young Prince of Wales, afterwards called the Black 

 Prince, should be elected governor of Flanders, on the understanding 

 that the country wai to be made by Edward a sovereign duchy ; but 

 the Fleming* mistrusting Arteveld't intentions, a dispute broke oat at 

 Ohent between the various trades, in which the fullers were arrayed 

 against the weavrr*, and a battle was fought in the great market-place 

 between the two factions, which lasted all day : 1500 fallen were 

 killed, and the weavers, being victorious, abolished the corporation of 

 the fullers, and consequently excluded them from any share in the 

 government of the town. Arteveld had not taken an open part in the 

 contest, but being jealous of the rising authority of Gerrard Denya, 

 the desn of the weavers, he secretly introduced into Qhent 500 

 English soldiers, whom he lodged in his premises. Denys and the 

 weavers cried out treason, attacked Artereld, and killed him, with 

 many of his English soldiers, in July, 1344. Arteveld's authority in 

 Flanders lasted seven years, during which, in spite of many acts of 

 violence and injustice, the cities prospered in their trade, and enjoyed 

 great respect among their neighbours. (Frousart, Chroniquei de la 

 Prance; Myer, Attnala Rfrum Plandricarum ; Oudegherst, Chro- 

 niqut* ei Attnala de Plandre.) 



ARTEVELI), PHILIP VAN, the son of Jacob Arteveld, was born 

 about 1340. Philippa, Edward IIL's queen, held him at the baptismal 

 font, and from her he received his Christian name. His father left 

 him wealth, and his mother, a woman of a prudent character, watched 

 over his youth. She negociated an early marriage for him with a lady 

 of good family, after which Philip lived quiet and happy with his wife 

 and mother, keeping aloof from all public affairs. But he had a name 

 which was connected with party feelings and recollections. A fresh 

 revolt broke out at Qhent in 1379 against Count Louis de Male, the 

 son and successor of Count Louis I., in opposing which the count suc- 

 ceeded in intercepting all supplies to the insurgent city, which was 

 reduced to great distress. Piet van der Bosch (the Pierre Dubois of 

 the French), and the other leaden of the Ghentese, finding that the 

 people were impatient of their assumed authority, thought of strength- 

 ening themselves by engsging Arteveld as the nominal chief of their 

 party. They proposed him to the people, and he was elected capUiu 

 by acclamation. After some desultory negotiations with the count, 

 in the coarse of which two deputies of Qhent who had proposed to 

 surrender the town, were stabbed in the market-place by Van der 

 Bfftft*i Arteveld, seeing that it was impossible to hold out any longer 

 for want of provision*, conceived the bold resolution of marching out 

 with a chosen body of men and attacking the count, who was then at 

 Bruges. He left Ghent on the 2nd of May, 1382, with 6000 men, 

 determined to conquer or die, and halted in a good position, within 

 three mils*) of Bruges. The next day was a great festival in that city. 

 In the midst of the processions and rejoicings, news came of the 

 Uhentese being at band. The count went out to encounter them with 

 a body of 800 knights and squires, followed by a numerous but dis- 

 orderly multitude of the people of Bruges. The result was disastrous 

 for the count and his followers. He re-entered Bruges with only forty 

 horsemen, and the Gbrntese poured in at the same time. It was now 

 night ; and before the citizens of Bruges had time to recover from 

 their panic, the dty was given up to plunder. Arteveld succeeded in 

 stopping the indiscriminate slaughter in the morning ; but the magis- 

 trate* and noble* were sought after and led to execution as traitors 

 to their country. The commerce of Bruges was annihilated for 

 a time by this catastrophe. The count succeeded in effecting his 



After the capture of Bruges, the other towns of Flanders, with the 

 exception of Uudenarde, opened their gates to Arteveld. He now 

 null the state and pomp of a sovereign prince, taxed at will the 

 country people, but took care to keep the city of Ghent well supplied 

 with provision* at a low price. His camp abounded not only with all 

 ncoesMirie*, bat also luxuries. He began the siege of Oudenarde, in 

 in which however be was unsuccessful. Meantime the people of the 

 neighbouring (teles, Hainault, Brabant, Liege, Ac. showed a disposition 

 to make common cause with the Flemings, and the spirit of revolt 

 spread also into Franc*, where the people were dissatisfied with the 

 exactions and oppressions of their noble*. The duke of Burgundy, 

 regent of France, easily induced the young king, Charles VI., to asuut 

 Count Louis in putting down the Flemish insurgents, before the 

 Knglish ha-l time to join them. A large force was collected under the 

 command of Olivier de Cliseon, a skilful but merciless commander ; 

 the oriflamm* was displayed, and the campaign began in November, 

 IMS. The French advanced to Roosebeke, between Courtray and 

 Ghent Arteveld rashly advanced to attack them ; and on the 2tfth 

 of November the armies met. The Flemings, equal in numbers, bat 

 inferior in military skill, were arrayed too closely, so that the greater 

 part of them had nut room to wield their weapons. The battle lasted 

 only an hour, yet 25,000 Flemings were killed, moat of them in the 



pursuit " The body of Arteveld," says Froissart, " being found under 

 a heap of slain, was suspended on a tree." 



(Barante, Iluloirt del Duet de Bouryogiu dt In Jfouon de Valoit.) 



ARTHUR, king of Britain, the famous semi-fabulous hero of the 

 period which intervened between the departure of the Romans from 

 England and the settlement of the Saxon kings. So much of the 

 story of Arthur as told by the monkish chroniclers and mediasval 

 poets and romancers, is even so absurdly fictitious, that Arthur himself 

 has long since been regarded by many writer* (by Milton among others) 

 as a mythical personage. But there appears to be no sufficient ground 

 for such a supposition, and the Arthur of history is (till to a certain 

 extent separable from the Arthur of romance. 



Following then as well as we can the historic trace* of his career, 

 it would seem that Arthur must have been born in the last quarter 

 of the 5th century. He is described ss the son of a British prince, 

 but the name of his father does not occur in historic records. He 

 began bis warlike career about the commencement of the 6th century. 

 Owen and Whitaker, who have drawn largely on their imaginations 

 in picking out a continuous biography of Arthur, make him to have 

 been elected pendrngon or chief ruler of the British ; but there is no 

 evidence of any such election, though he appears at times to have 

 been recognised as their military chief. 



The early history of Arthur is placed in the north, and there all his 

 earlier victories were achieved ; but after be became the recognise.! 

 chief of the British, all his exertions were devoted to stopping the 

 progress of the Saxons, led by the active and successful Cerdic, in 

 the south. He was commander-in-chief at the battle of Llongbortb, 

 on the authority of Llywarch Hen, a well-known \Vel-h bard, who 

 fought in that battle, and composed an elegy, still extant, on the 

 death of his friend Geraint ap Erbin, who fell in it. Llywarch men- 

 tions elsewhere another battle, in which 'Arthur did not recede,' 

 fought on the river Llawen. The next and the most important battle 

 is that of Badon (commonly supposed to be Bath), the twelfth victory 

 over the Saxons in the list of Nennius, corresponding to one mentioned 

 also by Gildas and Bede, and others, though Arthur is not named by 

 them. This battle checked the progress of Cerdic, and compelled 

 him to content himself with those provinces along the south coast 

 which he had already gained. From this time we hear no more of 

 Arthur, until the revolt of his nephew, Modred, or Medrod, which led 

 to the fatal battle of Camlan in Cornwall, in 542. Modred was slain, 

 and Arthur, mortally wounded, was conveyed by sea to Qlastonbury, 

 where be died and was buried. A popular traditional belief was long 

 entertained among the Britons that he was not dead, but had been 

 curried off to be healed of his wounds in Fairy-land, and that he 

 would re-appear to avenge his countrymen, and reinstate them in the 

 sovereignty of Britain. 



The Arthur of romance is a very different person. He is the son 

 of Uther I'endragou by Igerna, wife of Gorlois, duke of Cornwall, 

 and owed his birth to a magical device, by which Uther assumed the 

 form of the lady's husband. He succeeded to his father when 15 

 years old, and immediately prosecuted hostilities against the Saxons in 

 the north of England. He defeated them on the banks of the river 

 Duglas, and again under the wails of Lincoln, and compelled them to 

 quit England and abandon their booty, as the price of their safety. 

 Breaking this agreement, they sailed round the island, and landed at 

 Totoeas in Devonshire. Arthur hastened by forced marches to pimMi 

 this new aggression, and routed them with immense slaughter at the 

 grrat battle of Mount Badon, in which he slew 4TU men with his good 

 sword Caliburu and his lance Itou. Again he hastened with all speed 

 to Scotland, to relieve Duubartou (Alcluyd), besieged by the Scot* 

 and Pihts. Having done this, and pursued those barbarians into the 

 fastnesses of Loch Lomond, where he fitted out a fleet and obliged 

 them to surrender, he returned southward, kept his Christmas at York, 

 and employed bimnilf in destroying the Pagan temples of the Saxons 

 and restoring the Christian churches. The following summer he con- 

 quered Ireland and Iceland, and then returned to Britain, where he 

 spent twelve yean in peace, having taken a wife, Gueuhever or Guauhu- 

 uiara, the fairest woman in the island. We need not dwell "ii ! i- 

 foreign conquests of Norway and Gaul, which occupied ten years 

 more. He then returned to England, and held a great festival at 

 Caerleon in Monmouthshire, where he was solemnly crowned, a multi- 

 tude of tributary kings attending him. Not long after the Romans 

 demanded tribute, ou which he collected a mighty army and passed 

 into Qaul There he defeated the Romans, and was preparing to cross 

 the Alps, when he received intelligence of the revolt of Modred, who 

 had allied himself with the Saxon*. Scots, and 1'ihts. Arthur gained 

 two victories, oue on the coast of Kent and one near Winchester, and 

 forced Modred to fly into Cornwall, where a third engagement, fatal 

 to both, was fouxht on the river Cauilan. 



Such in brief, and omitting the more extravagant and absurd 

 inventions, is the story told by Geoffry of Monmouth, and much later 

 by Buchanan (' Historia Scotica'), aud adopted, with a great denl of 

 additional fiction, by the romancers. The reader will see how widely 

 it differ* from the particulars above related on earlier British 

 authorities. The famous story of the Round Table, with the tourna- 

 ment of the Knight*, belongs wholly to the later romancers. It is 

 remarkable that in the Armurican tales, from which Geoffry professed 

 to derive his information, we nud more mention of the Pihts, ScoU, 



