Middle Ages, Liège’s tradition of fine metalworking led to its becoming an important
center for the production of armor.
Because of its importance as an intellectual, artistic, and ecclesiastical center, Liège is
rich in medieval churches and monuments. The Gothic cathedral of Saint-Paul, founded
in 969, was constructed largely in the 13th century. Its treasury contains the gilded silver
reliquary of St. Lambert (1512) and the reliquary of Charles the Bold in gold and enamel,
offered in atonement for his attack on the city. Saint-Barthélémy, with its massive twin-
towered façade in Rhenish Romanesque style, contains the celebrated baptismal font by
Renier de Huy. Sainte-Croix, founded by Bishop Notger in 969, is a fine example of
Rhenish Romanesque style (ca. 1175). Saint-Denis, founded by Notger in 987, preserves
the oldest Romanesque tower in Belgium but was largely rebuilt in the 15th century.
William W.Kibler
[See also: ENAMELING; JEWELRY AND METALWORKING]
Dewez, Louis. La cathédrale Saint-Paul à Liège. Liège, 1956.
Gobert, Theodore. Liège a travers les ages. 6 vols. Liège, 1924–29.
Kurth, Godefroid. La cité de Liège au moyen âge. 3 vols. Liège: Cormaux, 1909–10.
LIMBOURG BROTHERS
(fl. late 14th-early 15th c.). Three brothers (Paul, Jean, and Herman), nephews of the
painter Jean Malouel, came to Paris from Nijmegen in the Low Countries as youths to
serve as apprentices under a goldsmith but had to leave because of the plague.
Imprisoned on their way home in 1399, they were ransomed by Philip the Bold, duke of
Burgundy, for whom they illuminated a Bible, now lost, between 1400 and 1404. They
may have been in the service of John, duke of Berry, by 1405; for him, they produced
their most notable works: miniatures in the Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame (B.N. n.a.
lat. 3093), a miniature of the duke of Berry embarking on a journey in the Petites Heures
(B.N. lat. 18014), some scenes in grisaille for a Bible historiale (B.N. fr. 166), the
illuminations of the Belles Heures (New York, The Cloisters), and, most notably,
miniatures in the Très Riches Heures (Chantilly, Musée Condé), which remained
unfinished in 1416, when all three brothers and their patron appear to have died in an
epidemic.
Their miniatures, particularly in the Très Riches Heures, are representative of the
height of the Interna-
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