The Church of our Lady started construction in 1199 by Count Baldwin IX for a simple place of worship. It was added on to the very castle built in Kortrijk (Courtrai), which was completely fortified and had walls surrounding it. The church had been added onto up until the end of the 13th century.
After the Battle of the Gold Spurs in 1302, the Flemish collected treasures from the slain French soldiers. It mostly consisted of the golden spurs that the cavalry wore, the Flemish then hung them up on the ceiling of the church in honor of their win. There were around 500 spurs in total that were up in the church.
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| The spurs are a little hard to see, but these are the replicas hung on the ceiling today. |
In 1382 another battle ensued, the Battle of Westrozebeke, after the battle French mercenaries took down the spurs and the church was set on fire. The church was then restored in the 15th century but the castle was not. Replicas of the golden spurs were made and hung back up in the church after restoration.
The church contains quite a few treasured pieces of art and can still be visited and walked through today.
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It is interesting to see the pride the Flemish took in their victory by hanging up the spurs. Also interesting is that the French took revenge by tearing down the spurs and destroying the church an entire 80 years later. I'm glad the restored church put up replicas, it makes it much more interesting to see how it could have looked back in the medieval ages.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nolan when examining the fact that they prided themselves by hanging up the spurs. It is very curious to know that the French most likely only took them down out of respect to their own soldiers and destroyed the church in which they hung. This is an interesting story
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