The War of the Brabantian Succession (15 June 1356 – 4 June 1357)

When he died in 1355, Jan III Duke of Brabant and of Limburg left behind three daughters and no son. This created a succession problem for the Duchy. His second son-in-law, Louis II, Count of Flanders, alias Louis of Male, attacked the Duchy in an attempt to seize power, aided by Jan’s third son-in-law Reginald III, Duke of Guelders.

In fact, Duke Jan III had intended for his oldest daughter Joanna to succeed him, according to “ius Brabantinum” law.

In order to exert her power, Joanna and her husband performed the “Joyous Entry of 1356” in Leuven on 3 January 1356. This is known in Dutch as the “Blijde Inkomst” and the street in which they entered Leuven is still known today as the “Blijde Inkomststraat“.

The Joyous Entry of 1356 is of vital significance.

It was not just a spectacle, witnessed by citizens, nobles and officials from all Brabantian cities. It was the Magna Carta of Brabant, where she granted a charter of liberties granted to the burghers in return for their loyalty to her as their Duchess.

Nevertheless, a few months later, Flanders attacked Brabant. The Flemish occupied Brussels (18 August 1356), Mechelen (20 August 1356), Leuven and Vilvoorde (22 August 1356), Antwerpen and Grimbergen (23 August 1356), Tienen and Nijvel (24 August 1356).

It was only when Joanna’s husband, Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg, approached his half-brother, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor for help that the war ended. The Flemish were driven out of Brabant and Joanna was finally recognised as the Duchess of Brabant by her neighbours.

400 years of Brussels’ Outer City Wall (1357-1783)

It was likely the result of this war that Brussels started building its second (outer) city walls.

Records show that the constructions started in 1357, a year after Leuven. By 1379, the names for the new city gates started appearing in documents with different variations.

First it was the city gates that were built, and the walls linking the gates were then erected. In total, there were seven city gates:

Leuvensepoort
(Nieuwe) Koudenbergpoort (later Naamsepoort)
Obbrusselpoort (later Hallepoort)
Anderlechtsepoort
Vlaamsepoort
Lakensepoort
Keulsepoort (later Schaarbeeksepoort)

But with the decision by Habsburg Emperor Jozef II to demolish all city defense throughout his realm, Brussels’ city wall was gradually torn down since 1783.

In the place of the city gates, twin pavilions were placed at fourteen entry points. The walls gave way to broad green boulevards designed by Jean-Baptiste Vifquain, from 1818 to 1840. But because of Brussels was already being Brussels, due to the taxation differences between Brussels inhabitants and those of the satellite towns, a patent wall had to be built 2.5m high with a 3m-wide ditch (basically a small city wall) to demarcate the city boundaries.

During this time, a ring road following the pentagonal shape of the old city was built over the moat. Today, the circle metro line follows the trajectory and so does the modern inner ring road.

Steenweg: the core artery of Brussels

As the name suggests, the Vlaamsepoort was leading not to the nearby village, as was the case for the Anderlechtsepoort, but to a distant foreign land: the County of Flanders. Today, that road is called Steenweg op Gent (Chaussée de Gand), the road way to Ghent which was the capital of Flanders. Within the second city walls, the street was still called the Vlaamse Steenweg (Rue de Flandre).

Today, the main road leading up to the Vlaamsepoort is the Antoine Dansaertstraat, which is a recent addition. Back in the 16th century, the intra-muros street was the Vlaamsesteenweg, and it is still there.

In fact, the Vlaamsesteenweg was simply called the “Steenweg”. This “stone way” was most likely the first paved road of Brussels, and it led from the Vlaamsepoort all the way to the Nieuwe Coudenbergsepoort/Naamsepoort. Its core still runs today through from the Vlaamsesteenweg (Rue de Flandre), the Sint-Katelijnestraat (Rue Sainte-Catherine), the Kiekenmarkt (Rue du Marché aux Poulets), the Grasmarkt (Rue du Marché aux Herbes), the Magdalenasteenweg (Rue de la Madeleine), Hofberg (Mont des Arts), then it gets interrupted until it resurfaces in the Naamsestraat (Rue de Namur).

The Magical Waters of the Molenbeek

Outside the Vlaamsepoort and on the other side of the Lesser Zenne (western arm of the River Zenne), lies the world-infamous borough of Molenbeek.

Now with a reputation as a breeding ground for Islamist terrorists, Molenbeek only became so under decades of addictive, debilitating development cooperation policy ironically imposed on one’s own citizens by the ruling party of their longtime mayor, whom the press has spotlighted his ethics at the end of his reign.

The result? Molenbeek’s demographic today is largely disinterested in or divinely inclined towards Molenbeek’s rich fascinating history and culture.

If Shakespeare had known about Molenbeek, it would have been the perfect backdrop of his Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A thousand years ago, there used to be a small stream that flowed here from the woods of Scheutbos into the Lesser Zenne. The small community of Frankish tribe who lived here considered this water sacred and healing, and they attributed it to their goddess Freya.

This magical stream was called the Maalbeek, sometimes spelled as Malebeek. Confusingly, there is a larger stream also named Maalbeek east of Brussels and the area that it flowed through is still called so today.

The Dutch word ‘malen‘ means ‘to mill’. Therefore both names Maalbeek and Molenbeek mean the same thing: Millbrook.

With the unfortunate arrival of Christianity around the 10th century, the converted Franks attributed the healing magical waters of Molenbeek to Sint-Geertrui (Saint Gertrude) instead. That was not a coincidence, as Saint Gertrude was the eldest daughter of the Abbess of the powerful Abbey of Nijvel, which controlled this region west of Brussels. It was the Abbey of Nijvel that built the first church here in Molenbeek.

But Gertrude was not the only saint to be associated with the magical healing waters of Molenbeek. Somehow, John the Baptist soon became attached to this wonderful stream. Already in the 9th century, there was a church or chapel dedicated to John the Baptist. Surely, Jesus must have been baptised by his cousin John here in Molenbeek. As a result, the church devoted to Sint-Jan-de-Doper (Saint John the Baptist) was built close to the brook before it merged with the Lesser Zenne, although its exact location could not be fully proven. According to historian Verbesselt, the parish even dates from before the 9th century.

Soon, the healing properties of the Molenbeek blessed by John the Baptist attracted believers from far and wide. These waters were especially effective in curing epilepsy! However, one did not get healed simply by being doused with the magical fluid, but through a very peculiar ritual.

Every year, on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist on 24 June, throngs of epileptic patients and their caretakers flocked to Molenbeek from across Brabant and beyond. To be cured, the patients had to cross all the bridges along the Molenbeek without their feet touching the ground from its source to the church, so they were practically lifted by the supporting friends and family from start to finish. Notwithstanding, the patients had to dance to the accompanying music! Any mistake, like an accidental touching of the ground or missing one of the bridges, meant the patient would not be cured by Saint John that year. There were many incidents of patients falling into the stream following an epileptic attack. Even the morning dew on Saint John’s day had healing powers. People rolled in the fields or wrapped themselves in the clothes they laid out the night before to absorb his magical healing effects.

This ritual, called the Saint John’s Dance, was captured in a painting by Pieter Breughel the Young in 1592. Hendrick Hondius made an engraving based on Breughel’s work in 1642.

It is due to the cult of John the Baptist that Molenbeek is known today as ‘Sint-Jans-Molenbeek‘, Saint John’s Molenbeek.

Walled off from Brussels

The medical pilgrimage to Malebeek meant that the ecclesiastical prowess of the Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk (Church of Saint John the Baptist) grew in parallel. Conveniently located on the important trade route to Flanders must have certainly helped.

Just outside the first city wall of the then-insignificant city Brussels, grew a small community of beguines. As it was outside the city, it fell upon the shoulders of the Molenbeek’s church to assist them. When the community needed a new church, of course it had to be dedicated to John the Baptist.

During the 12th century, the (older) parish of Molenbeek was dependent on the (younger) chapter of Sint-Goedele (Saint Gudula) inside Brussels. On 9 April 1174, Pope Alexander III issued three bulls that implicitly confirmed this situation. But this did not prevent the pastor of Molenbeek from fighting many disputes with the canons of Sint-Goedele: in 1238 about the establishment of women’s convent outside the Katharinapoort (Catherine Gate), in 1250 about the ‘Begijnhof Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Wijngaarde‘ (Beguinage of Our Lady of the Vineyard), in 1431 about the establishment of a school etc.

When Brussels grew to be the new capital of the Duchy of Brabant and the city enlarged with the construction of the second city wall, the now formally recognised ‘Begijnhof Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Wijngaarde’ (Beguinage of Our Lady of the Vineyard) is inside the city boundaries and thus came under the jurisdiction of the Sint-Michiel-Sint-Goedelekerk (Saint Michael and Saint Gudula’s Church), much to the dismay of the Molenbeek parish church.

As time went by, Maalbeek/Malebeek became Meulebeek, then it became Molenbeek.

Where was the Molenbeek?

According to author Antoon-Willem Maurissen, who wrote in his book “Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van Sint-Jans-Molenbeek” in 1980, there was a continuation of the Freya-Saint Gertrude story under the church. Close to the right wing of the church, was an underground water source. Up until 1912, this water was used by the residents of Molenbeek to protect their livestock against diseases and chase away mice and rats. Thanks to the blessing of Saint Gertrude, whom they celebrate the Sunday after 28 September. There was even a local saying that praises Gertrude’s amazing rodent chasing skills:

“Het is heden Sint-Geertruidendag, dat hier rat noch muis komen mag”
“It is today Saint Gertrude’s Day, whence rats and mice away must stay”

Alas, this spring water was last seen in 1912.

Likewise, the equally magical Molenbeek no longer flows, although its source in the Scheutbos woods must still be running.

Today, you can still trace its trajectory in the place and street names of Molenbeek. Close to its source in the forest of Scheutbos starts the (Boulevard) Edmond Machtenslaan. It then passes by the metro station aptly called ‘Beekkant‘, which means “stream side”. The trajectory then continues through the Zwarte Vijversstraat (Rue des Étangs Noirs) when it reaches the metro station ‘Zwarte Vijvers‘. The term refers to the murky black ponds that used to be here, fed by the waters of the Molenbeek. The trajectory then gets lost but reappears behind the church in the street today named Beekstraat (Rue du Ruisseau), meaning “stream street”. Beekstraat then continues towards the Charleroi-Brussels Canal, which back then was into the Lesser Zenne.

The Vlaamsepoort was not a second but third extension of the city boundaries. Further up the street, the first gate of the inner city wall was the Sint-Katelijnepoort (Saint Catherine’s Gate), named after the Sint-Katelijnekerk (Saint Catherine’s Church) nearby. Somehow, another gate was built: Verlorenkost (Lost Cost), which was first recorded in 1304. It was in the beginning a building but became a city gate, and its use and name has been debated by historians.

From the painting by Paul Vitzthumb of the 1780s, it was an immensely tall and narrow tower with a narrow passageway for military purposes, trade control and tax imposition. From an anonymous sketch, the intramural side was very built up. Like the Anderlechtsepoort, the bridge outside of the city extends over two bodies of water: first the moat, which was fed by the River Zenne and served as the main waterway for ships and boats linking with the Canal of Willebroek, then the River Zenne itself in which the Molenbeek flowed into.

However in 1783, the Vlaamsepoort was completely demolished, like most of the other outer city gates of Brussels, replaced by two pavilions. From 1810, the city walls were flattened and the moat was filled to form the ring road. However, in the case of the Vlaamsepoort, the 17th century Brussels-Willebroek Canal was widened and deepened in 1832 to form part of the Charleroi-Brussels Canal, which is still there today.

The Magic disappears at Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk

The so-called Brussels Republic destroyed Molenbeek’s original medieval Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk (Church of Saint John the Baptist) in 1578. On our map, you can see how this destroyed church looked like.

The second version of the church then lasted until the 19th century, and it was completely rebuilt in 1834 following the design by Louis Spaak, in keeping with its original medieval appearance.

But Mayor Louis Mettewie had other ideas. The church was too small to service the population explosion of Molenbeek. Already, seven new parishes had been created. The central church of the “Belgium’s Manchester” deserved something modern, gigantic and as dull as possible. Mettewie thus decided that a new, bigger Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk be built beside the old one. The former church was being demolished by 1836 while the new one was being built. Surely, in keeping with PS heritage, some of his friends and family benefited from this “modernisation”.

The new church, designed by Diongre, became one of the many concrete monsters that brought shame to Brussels and Belgium around the world. Instead of the original 5 million franks, it suck 9 million out of the state coffers. It also took longer than planned to complete, being consecrated only in 1932.

Ironically, this visually injurious block was declared a protected monument by the ruling government in 1984.

The site of the original Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk is now an empty square, called the Sint-Jan-Voorplein. The millennia-long magic that defined Molenbeek thus disappeared without leaving a trace.

Molenbeek, the industrial wasteland

Like the other villages surrounding Brussels, Molenbeek’s rights wholly depended on Brussels. This only changed under the French Occupation in 1795 when these villages were reorganised into communes, with their own mayors.

Because of the Charleroi-Brussels Canal, Molenbeek quickly became an industrial outskirt of Brussels, especially with its direct access to the new Brussels harbour.

This lasted until the First World War, when Brussels and its surrounding communes experienced a rapid depopulation. The situation changed in the 1960s, with the mass immigration from North Africa, notably from Morocco, to fill the low-income menial jobs. Slums grew overnight like autumn mushrooms in Molenbeek to house these labourers and their families, and was only halted in 1990. This saved Molenbeek’s only forested area, the Scheutbos.

The Vlaamsepoort was one of the busiest outer city gates of Brussels, especially when trade between the County of Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant grew. It was out of the original trade routes that ran from Ghent through here in Brussels before it continued towards Leuven and Cologne, that the city of Brussels grew in prominence.

But the original “Steenweg” is nothing but a side street today, that links to the busy ring road of Brussels, where the imposing Vlaamsepoort once stood is a concrete bridge that leads to an industrial wasteland of Molenbeek.

Sources:

Vannieuwenhuyze, B. (2011) “Brussel, de Ontwikkeling van een middeleeuwse stedelijke ruimte.” Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadspoorten_van_Brussel
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlaamsepoort
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maalbeek_(Molenbeek)
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk_(Molenbeek)
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Jan_Baptist_ten_Begijnhofkerk
https://historiek.net/dansplaag-danswoede-1518-straatsburg/134333/
https://www.coordinatiezenne.be/nl/documentatie/dossiers/bronnen.php
https://www.molenbeek.irisnet.be/nl/ik-bezoek/geschiedenis/geschiedenis%20in%20het%20kort
01 Unknown. “Anoniem, De huizen van Brussel bij de Vlaamsepoort.” KBR (image)
02 Vitzthumb, Paul. (1784) “Porte de Flandres” KBR (image)
03 Vitzthumb, Paul. (1784) “Porte de Flandres” KBR (image)
04 Spaak, Louis. “De voormalige Vlaamsepoort” Broodhuis (image)
05 Borremans, Henri. (1850) “Briefkaart met afbeelding van een 19de eeuws schilderij van de Vlaamse poort in Brussel” Wikimedia Commons (image)
06 Pieter Bruegel de Oude. (1564) “Jaarlijkse processie van epileptici naar de Sint-Janskerk van Molenbeek” Albertina, Vienna (image)
07 Pieter Brueghel de Jonge. (1592) “Sint-Jansdansers in Molenbeek” Wikimedia Commons (image)
08 Hondius, Hendrik. (1642) “Pelgrimstocht van epileptici naar de kerk te Molenbeek.” Wikimedia Commons (image)
09 Unknown. (1932) “Sint-Jan-Baptistkerk of Molenbeek (Brussels) in 1932.” Collection MoMuse (image)