clothmakers of Bruges, begun in 1230. Situ-
ated in the city’s major square, it testifies to
the important role of artisans and merchants
in Gothic Europe. The design combines fea-
tures of military (the corner “watchtowers”
with their crenellations) and church (lancet
windows with crowning oculi) architecture.
The uppermost, octagonal portion of the
tower with its flying buttresses and pinnacles
dates to the 15th century, but even the origi-
nal two-story tower is taller than the rest of the hall. Lofty towers
were a common feature of late medieval guild and town halls, de-
signed to compete for attention and prestige with the towers of city
cathedrals.
HOUSE OF JACQUES COEURThe fortunes of the new class
of wealthy merchants who rose to prominence throughout Europe
in the late Middle Ages may not have equaled those of the hereditary
royalty, but their power and influence were still enormous. The
career of the French financier Jacques Coeur (1395–1456) illustrates
how enterprising private citizens could win—and quickly lose—
wealth and power. Coeur had banking houses in every city of France
and many cities abroad. He employed more than 300 agents and
competed with the great trading republics of Italy. His merchant
ships filled the Mediterranean, and with the papacy’s permission, he
imported spices and textiles from the Muslim Near East. He was the
treasurer of King Charles VII (r. 1422–1461) of France and a friend
of Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447–1455). In 1451, however, his enemies
framed him on an absurd charge of having poisoned Agnes Sorel,
the king’s mistress. The judges who sentenced Coeur to prison and
confiscated his vast wealth and property were among those who
owed him money. Coeur escaped in 1454 and made his way to
Rome, where the pope warmly received him. He died of fever while
leading a fleet of papal war galleys in the eastern Mediterranean.
Jacques Coeur’s great town house still stands in his native city of
Bourges. Built between 1443 and 1451 (with special permission to
encroach upon the town ramparts), it is the best-preserved example
of Late Gothic domestic architecture. The house’s plan is irregular,
with the units arranged around an open courtyard (FIG. 18-30).
The service areas (maintenance shops, storage rooms, servants’
quarters, and baths—a rare luxury in Gothic Europe) occupy the
ground level. The upper stories house the great hall and auxiliary
rooms used for offices and family living rooms. Over the main en-
trance is a private chapel. One of the towers served as a treasury. The
exterior and interior facades have very steep pyramidal roofs of dif-
ferent heights. The decorative details include Flamboyant tracery
and large pointed-arch stained-glass windows. An elegant canopied
niche facing the street once housed a royal equestrian statue. A com-
parable statue of Coeur on horseback dominated the facade opening
onto the interior courtyard. Jacques Coeur’s house is both a splendid
example of Late Gothic architecture and a monumental symbol of
the period’s new secular spirit.480 Chapter 18 GOTHIC EUROPE
18-30House of Jacques Coeur, Bourges,
France, 1443–1451.
The house of the immensely wealthy Bourges
financier Jacques Coeur is both a splendid
example of Late Gothic architecture with
elaborate tracery and a symbol of the period’s
new secular spirit.