An Overview of Brussels’ Hospitals in the Middle Ages

In the 12th century, when Brussels was first taking the form of a city, medical care for the population was like the rest of western and northern Europe a task administered by the church. The first hospital – for the poor – was established in 1127 by the chapter of the Collegiale kerk van Sint-Michiel en Sint-Goedele, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Twelve Apostles. The second one was set up in 1129, at the Sint-Niklaaskerk. The third was requested by Duke Godfried III of Brabant in 1162 to the Order of the Hospitaliers of Saint John of Jerusalem to set up a hospital at the l’Ordre des Hospitaliers at the Saint James Church by the ducal palace, the Sint-Jacob-op-Koudenberg.

By the 14th century however, the nature of medical care changed with the subtle appearance of the merchant class. At this time, four hospitals with entirely different ways of functioning and organisation were formed: the Sint-Jacobsgasthuis (Saint James Guesthouse) closed to the Overmolenpoort (circa 1324), the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis (Saint Cornelius Guesthouse) on the Steenweg (circa 1350), the Sint-Juliaangasthuis – Sint-Gillijnsgasthuis in local tongue (Saint Julian Guesthouse) (1356), and the Sint-Laurentiusgasthuis (Saint Laurence Guesthouse) (circa 1360).

To clarify, the term in Dutch “Gasthuis” and in English “Guesthouse” are the direct equivalents of the Latin term “hospitia” from which the Norman French words “hospital” and “hotel” derived. It is not today’s idea of a holiday rental. Rather, these were places that offered food and care, especially medical care, for the poor, for the injured, for travellers (often pilgrims who were travelling somewhere to pray for recovery from an illness).

According to Thibault Jacobs, in his work “Des hôpitaux de métiers à Bruxelles ? Nouvelles perspectives sur la charité et la bienfaisance en milieu urbain à la fin du Moyen Âge“, the misconception inherited about medical care in the Middle Ages in Brussels, and certainly in the whole of Brabant, that it was administered only to the poor and the pilgrims is very much misguided.

This traditional misconception presumes that prior to the French Revolution, medieval Europe existed only in three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. With increased mobility and trade, even before the commoners rose up in France, there were signs of a growing merchant class that was organising itself. We can see that with the predecessor of social security offered by the Sint-Lookapel for the profession of craftsmen.

With the four hospitals in Brussels, we can see that they are in fact proof of a merchant class taking care of itself.

< 1350: The Founding of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis

Unlike the church-founded guesthouses of the earlier centuries, the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis did not have a foundation act. The earliest mention of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis was a donation dated 31 October 1350 from a Jan Filips van Okeghem. Other donations followed, sometimes indicating the precise purposes, such as that of 1353 that was for the giving of soup to the poor.

Yet, who founded the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis and for what purpose, is a mystery.

Saint Cornelius: Patron Saint of Cattle and Epilepsy

The clue may be found in the choice of the saint himself. Saint Cornelius (? – 253) was a Pope. He was banished under Roman Emperor Trebonianus Gallus and after his death in exile, was declared a saint. Because of his name which means ‘horn’ in Latin, he became the patron saint of cattles, and for some reason against epilepsy which became known in Dutch as the ‘Cornelius disease’.

In his investigation, Thibault Jacobs uncovered two family names that repeatedly appeared in the early records of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis.

Jan Moens, son of Jan Moens, appeared in several documents between 1358 and 1367. He was called the receiver [‘ontfanger‘], the provider [‘heffer‘] (together with a Roelof Boete) and the changer [‘wisselere‘] of the hospital. In the records of the other hospital, the Sint-Jacobsgasthuis (Saint James Guesthouse, members of his family Mathias Moens and Vranke Moens were part of the brotherhood of the guesthouse. They were listed as weaver and dyer as their profession. In the ducal census of 1321, a Mathias Moens owes a substantial tax for a stall at the large butcher’s shop.

That is where things got interesting.

The name Boete (also written as Boote or Bote) regularly appears in Brussels’ historiography. Research by Deligne, Billen et Kusman identified the Boete as one of the leading families involved in the butchery trade in Brussels: in the 14th century, several Boete families paid a rent for stalls in the ducal halls or properties located on the Beenhouwersstraat (Rue des Bouchers). The Boetes were also one of the leaders of the trade’s political demands, something new that had never happened before. Their financial power is partly explained by the wealthy clientele who purchased their goods at their stalls, which allowed them to maintain relationships as far as the Ducal Court.

Roelof Boete, possibly the uncle of the Roelof Boete who was mentioned as the other ‘provider’ of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis, was in 1323 appointed to manage the Count of Hainaut’s mint in Valenciennes. A few years later, around 1355, Amalrik Boete appears as an important Brussels money changer. It was clear by now, that the Boetes were an important wealthy family that represents the rising merchant class, dealing mainly with the butchery trade.

The Roelof Boete in question, giving his wealth and connections, was most likely the founder of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis. The choice of the saint, was very much linked to the butchery trade, and the hospital itself could very well be focused on caring for the butcher members and their families.

The Brotherhood of Butchers

Thibault Jacobs also provided two sets of evidence for this hypothesis:

First of all, an agreement was signed in 1368 between the the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis and the parish of Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk in Molenbeek (beyond the Vlaamsepoort) that offerings made to the Saint Cornelius Chapel in the hospital would be shared between the church and the hospital, except for the building material, beds etc. This means that this hospital being founded by laypersons, was a new phenomenon: no prior financial setup existed compared to the earlier church-initiated hospitals.

Secondly, further up the road, was the Godshuis van de Witte Juffrouwen. This was a Convent of the White Sisters, which also had an infirmary to care for the sick. In the same agreement of 1368, the White Sisters claimed an annual payment of 10 Leuven coins (Leuven being the capital of the Duchy of Brabant) from the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis for the nuisance and damages the hospital had previously caused.

What nuisance did the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis caused? In 1353, in a donation to the hospitals of Sint-Jacobsgasthuis and Sint-Corneliusgasthuis, the ‘berechter‘ (administrator) of the two hospitals were mentioned as ‘Broeder Aerde‘ for the former and ‘Broeder Lauwereis‘ for the latter. The ecclesiastical administrator of the guesthouse being a monk also points to the possibility of a ‘gezelschap‘ (brotherhood).

The hypothesis of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis being a lay-organised hospital with a function of serving the profession of butchers through a brotherhood seems to be further confirmed by a police ordinance of 1360. In July that year, the tradesmen of Brussels revolted. The demonstrators included weavers and butchers. The crackdown imposed a ban on banqueting and assembly of ‘gemeynscap van Caprunen‘ (societies of chaperons) especially in the Sint-Joost-ten-node chapel (just outside the Leuvensepoort) and the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis. In the verdict of June 1364, a major ringleader of the revolt, Jacob de Meyere and 101 others of his trade (butchery) including sixteen from Ninove, were sent to exile from Brabant.

From then on, it was silence from the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis.

The Story of the Coats-of-Arms in the Chapel of Sint-Corneliusgasthuis

In 1813, the dilapidated Sint-Corneliusgasthuis was set for demolition. Workers found that the chapel of Saint Cornelius had a large stained glass window featuring two coats of arms side by side: the Van den Heetvelde and the Sersanders. Without the records of Henne and Wauters, we would not have guessed what went on in the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis after the butchers’ exile.

The name ‘Wouter de Koekelberg‘ appeared as a civil arbitrator between in the 1368 agreement between the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis, the Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk and the Godshuis van de Witte Juffrouwen. Wouter de Koekelberg was no ordinary citizen. De Koekelberg was a non-feudal nobility that rose in Brussels in the 13th century and a major landowner. Wouter de Koekelberg himself was a municipal collector twice, between 1359 and 1365. His daughter, Maria de Koekelberg, was Lord of Koekelberg from 1360 to 1393. She married, for the second time, a ‘Willem van den Heetvelde‘ also a family on the rise. Through his marriage to Maria, Willem van den Heetvelde became the Lord of Koekelberg.

In a new arbitration act of 1393 involving the hospital, this time in conflict with Kornelimünster Abbey (the mother-church of all Saint Cornelius churches just outside Aachen) , it was Lord Willem van den Heetvelde who defended the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis.

It seems that with the vacuum left by the butchers, the small aristocracy took over.

Then what about the Sersanders? Maria de Koekelberg and Willem van den Heetvelde had a daughter, Maria van den Heetvelde. Without a male heir for her parents, she was married by her parents to Symoen Sersanders, a knight from the city of Ghent in the County of Flanders. Like her parents, Marie van den Heetvelde undoubtedly gave the hospital her protection and may have contributed financially to the construction or renovation of the chapel. This would have explained the double coats of arms in the chapel, until the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis was destroyed in 1813.

Of Sex and Seal

Between the Lange Steenweg (today’s Vlaamsesteenweg) and the Koopliedendok built in 1560 (the dock that is today dammed and under which the metro runs through), were three alleys that linked the two arteries. All three streets still exist today: Zeehondstraat (Rue du Chien Marin), Naam Jezusstraat (Rue du Nom de Jésus), Land van Luikstraat (Rue du Pays de Liège).

The Zeehondstraat, which bordered the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis, was the oldest from 14th century while the other two were from the 16th century.

Before the construction of the Koopliedendok, the street already exists as a cul-de-sac beside the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis, as attested on the Jacob van Deventer map of 1555. The earliest record of this street was “Vrijaardstraatje” from 1304. Other forms exists: Vrier strate, Vriaertstreetken, Vrierstrate, Vrihertstrate. In Dutch, it means “Fucker Street“.

This gave rise to a theory that it was here in this alley where White Sisters from the Godshuis van de Witte Juffrouwen met their lovers. While this may seem like an interesting theory, the street name “Vriherts” also appeared in 1314 in the surviving records of the White Sisters, which may seem too much like a mea culpa. Perhaps the name was a bastardisation of a word that has now been lost to time.

The current name, ‘Zeehondstraat‘ (Seal Street), points to the skeleton of seal that was found when the docklands were being dug, and the earliest written use was in 1559.

The 19th century French translation “Rue du Chien Marin” was a literal translation of the Dutch name, meaning “Sea Hound”. This shows that the 19th century Francisation of Brussels was uneven, and even the administrations were not yet fluent in French. The correct French name for a seal is “phoque“.

The Veneration of Saint Rock

Rock of Montpellier was a 14th century saint who is the patron saint of dogs, invalids, falsely accused people and single men. His iconography is quite distinct: a handsome young man who sexily raises his tunic to reveal a wound on his naked thigh, often accompanied by a dog.

In the Zeehondstraat, you will find a 18th century street chapel dedicated to him, and there is another one in the Land van Luikstraat. Why was Saint Rock worshipped here in the late 1700s? No one knows.

There are no contemporary drawings or paintings of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis, as it was very much a civil organisation.

What was remarkable is the 1555 Jacob van Deventer map not only showed the hospital, it was also exceptionally spelled out.

The 1640 map of Martin de Tailly did not mark the spot but you can clearly make out the Chapel of Saint Cornelius amongst the buildings where the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis was located.

After the demolition of the Sint-Corneliusgasthuis in 1813, it is difficult to make out whether there are any remnants of the former guesthouse on the location. All the houses on this segment of the Vlaamsesteenweg date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Sources:

Vannieuwenhuyze, B. (2011) “Brussel, de Ontwikkeling van een middeleeuwse stedelijke ruimte.” Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Henne, A. Wauters, A. (1845) “Histoire de la ville de Bruxelles. Volume I-III” Brussels: Librairie Encyclopédique de Périchon.
Rombaut, J-A. (1777) “Bruxelles illustrée, ou description chronologique et historique de cette ville.” Brussels: Chez Pauwels.
Jacobs, T. (2013) “Des hôpitaux de métiers à Bruxelles ? Nouvelles perspectives sur la charité et la bienfaisance en milieu urbain à la fin du Moyen Âge” Brussels: Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire/Université Libre de Bruxelles.
https://monument.heritage.brussels/nl/streets/10003041
https://archiviris.be/fr/archives/4882

1. van Deventer, J. (1550-1565) “Atlas of the city of the Low Countries : 73 minutes between 1550-1565 on orders of Emperors Charles V and Philip II” KBR (image)
2. de Tailly, M., van der Horst, N., Santvoort, A. D. (1640) “Bruxella nobilissima Brabantiae civitas anno 1640” KBR (image)