two machicolated turrets supported by buttresses. Within the walls are a massive keep,
some 100 feet tall with walls over 6 feet thick, and several residences.
The cathedral of Saint-Bavon, built largely in the 16th century on the site of the 12th-
century church of Saint-Jean, houses Van Eyck’s Polyptych of the Mystical Lamb (1432),
a masterpiece of Flemish art. Including no less than 248 figures, it is a summa of
medieval Christian faith, illustrating salvation history from the Fall to the Redemption.
The lower panels show the Mystical Lamb, surrounded by angels, upon an altar. On
either side, virgins, martyrs, confessors, hermits, knights, and pilgrims approach the altar
across a lushly painted landscape. In the upper panels, Christ sits in majesty, with the
Virgin, Adam, and a choir of angels to his left and St. John the Baptist, Eve, and angel
musicians to his right. The backs of the panels depict the prophets, the sibyls, the
Annunciation, St. John the Evangelist, and St. John the Baptist with the donors, Josse
Vijd and his wife, Elisabeth Borluut.
The belfry, built in the 13th and 14th centuries as a sign of the power of the trade
guilds, rises some 200 feet above the city. The town retains several medieval guildhalls,
markets, and private houses, especially along the Quai aux Herbes (Graslei). The
charming Petit Béguinage (Klein Begijnhof), founded by Jeanne de Constantinople in
1234, is an important reminder of this popular form of late-medieval devotion.
William W.Kibler
[See also: ARTEVELDE; BÉGUINES; BRUGES; FLANDERS; JEANNE DE
CONSTANTINOPLE; TEXTILES]
Finó, J.-F. Forteresses de la France médiévale. Paris: Picard, 1970.
Nicholas, David. The Metamorphosis of a Medieval City: Ghent in the Age of the Arteveldes, 1302–
- Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.
——. Town and Countryside: Social, Economic, and Political Tensions in Fourteenth Century
Flanders. Bruges: De Tempel, 1971.
Pirenne, Henri. Early Democracies in the Low Countries. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
——. Histoire de Belgique. Brussels: Lamertin, 1922–29, Vols. 1 and 2.
van Werveke, Hans. Gand: esquisse d’histoire sociale. Brussels: Renaissance du Livre, 1946.
GILBERT OF POITIERS
(Gilbertus, Gislebertus, or Gillibertus Porreta or Porretanus; also, less correctly, de la
Porrée, 1075/80–1154). Gilbert was born in Poitiers and returned there as bishop in 1141
or 1142. After studying the liberal arts and philosophy with Hilary in Poitiers and
Bernard in Chartres, he immersed himself in the study of the Bible in Laon. As Anselm
of Laon’s disciple, Gilbert participated in the great exegetical undertaking that was to
culminate in the formation of the Glossa ordinaria in Paris during the middle decades of
the century. Gilbert’s commentaries on the Psalms (before 1117) and on the Epistles of
Paul (perhaps a decade later) owed much to Anselm’s glosses and to his use of
quaestiones and sententiae to explore theological and pastoral topics. In addition, Gilbert
introduced to scriptural exegesis pedagogical techniques, such as the accessus ad
auctores, used by grammarians to teach works of profane literature. These methods
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