to remove contained water, melting, after the addition of a little turmeric juice, in a metal pan at a gentle heat, and then boiling with the prepared drugs till all moisture is expelled, and straining through a cloth.
GHEEL, or Geel, a town of Belgium, about 30 m. E. of
Antwerp and in the same province. Pop. (1904) 14,087. It is
remarkable on account of the colony of insane persons which
has existed there for many centuries. The legend reads that in
the year 600 Dymphna, an Irish princess, was executed here by
her father, and in consequence of certain miracles she had
effected she was canonized and made the patron saint of the
insane. The old Gothic church is dedicated to her, and in the
choir is a shrine, enclosing her relics, with fine panel paintings
representing incidents in her life by, probably, a contemporary
of Memling. The colony of the insane is established in the
farms and houses round the little place within a circumference
of 30 m. and is said to have existed since the 13th century.
This area is divided into four sections, each having a doctor and
a superintendent attached to it. The Gheel system is regarded
as the most humane method of dealing with the insane who have
no homicidal tendencies, as it keeps up as long as possible their
interest in life.
GHENT (Flem. Gent, Fr. Gand), the capital of East Flanders,
Belgium, at the junction of the Scheldt and the Lys (Ley).
Pop. (1880) 131,431, (1904) 162,482. The city is divided by
the rivers (including the small streams Lieve and Moere) and by
canals, some navigable, into numerous islands connected by
over 200 bridges of various sorts. Within the limits of the town,
which is 6 m. in circumference, are many gardens, meadows
and promenades; and, though its characteristic lanes are
gloomy and narrow, there are also broad new streets and fine
quays and docks. The most conspicuous building in the city
is the cathedral of St Bavon[1] (Sint Baafs), the rich interior of
which contrasts strongly with its somewhat heavy exterior. Its
crypt dates from 941, the choir from 1274–1300, the Late Gothic
choir chapels from the 15th century, and the nave and transept
from 1533–1554. Among the treasures of the church is the
famous “Worship of the Lamb” by Hubert and Jan van
Eyck. Of the original 12 panels, taken to France during the
Revolutionary Wars, only 4 are now here, 6 being in the Berlin
museum and two in that of Brussels. Among the other 55
churches may be mentioned that of St Nicholas, an Early Gothic
building, the oldest church in date of foundation in Ghent, and
that of St Michael, completed in 1480, with an unfinished tower.
In the centre of the city stands the unfinished Belfry (Beffroi),
a square tower some 300 ft. high, built 1183–1339. It has a
cast-iron steeple (restored in 1854), on the top of which is a gold
dragon which, according to tradition, was brought from Constantinople
either by the Varangians or by the emperor Baldwin
after the Latin conquest. Close to it is the former Cloth-hall,
a Gothic building of 1325. The hôtel-de-ville consists of two
distinct parts. The northern façade, a magnificent example of
Flamboyant Gothic, was erected between 1518 and 1533,
restored in 1829 and again some fifty years later. The eastern
façade overlooking the market-place was built in 1595–1628,
in the Renaissance style, with three tiers of columns. It contains
a valuable collection of archives, from the 13th century onwards.
On the left bank of the Lys is the Oudeburg (s’Gravenstein,
Château des Contes), the former castle of the first counts of
Flanders, dating from 1180 and now restored. The château of
the later counts, in which the emperor Charles V. was born,
is commemorated only in the name of a street, the Cours des
Princes.
To the north of the Oudeburg, on the other side of the Lys, is the Marché du Vendredi, the principal square of the city. This was the centre of the life of the medieval city, the scene of all great public functions, such as the homage of the burghers to the counts, and of the auto-da-fés under the Spanish regime. In it stands a bronze statue of Jacob van Artevelde, by Devigne-Quyo, erected in 1863. At a corner of the square is a remarkable cannon, known as Dulle Griete (Mad Meg), 19 ft. long and 11 ft. in circumference. It is ornamented with the arms of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, and must have been cast between 1419 and 1467. On the Scheldt, near the Place Laurent, is the Geerard-duivelsteen (château of Gerard the Devil), a 13th-century tower formerly belonging to one of the patrician families, now restored and used as the office of the provincial records. Of modern buildings may be mentioned the University (1826), the Palais de Justice (1844), and the new theatre (1848), all designed by Roelandt, and the Institut des Sciences (1890) by A. Pauli. In the park on the site of the citadel erected by Charles V. are some ruins of the ancient abbey of St Bavon and of a 12th-century octagonal chapel dedicated to St Macharius. In the park is also situated the Museum of Fine Arts, completed in 1902.
One of the most interesting institutions of Ghent is the great Béguinage (Begynhof) which, originally established in 1234 by the Bruges gate, was transferred in 1874 to the suburb of St Amandsberg. It constitutes a little town of itself, surrounded by walls and a moat, and contains numerous small houses, 18 convents and a church. It is occupied by some 700 Beguines, women devoted to good works (see Beguines). Near the station is a second Béguinage with 400 inmates. In addition to these there were in Ghent in 1901 fifty religious houses of various orders.
As a manufacturing centre Ghent, though not so conspicuous as it was in the middle ages, is of considerable importance. The main industries are cotton-spinning, flax-spinning, cotton-printing, tanning and sugar refining; in addition to which there are iron and copper foundries, machine-building works, breweries and factories of soap, paper, tobacco, &c. As a trading centre the city is even more important. It has direct communication with the sea by a ship-canal, greatly enlarged and deepened since 1895, which connects the Grand Basin, stretching along the north side of the city, with a spacious harbour excavated at Terneuzen on the Scheldt, 2112 m. to the north, thus making Ghent practically a sea-port; while a second canal, from the Lys, connects the city via Bruges with Ostende.
Among the educational establishments is the State University, founded by King William I. of the Netherlands in 1816. With it are connected a school of engineering, a school of arts and industries and the famous library (about 300,000 printed volumes and 2000 MSS.) formerly belonging to the city. In addition there are training schools for teachers, an episcopal seminary, a conservatoire and an art academy with a fine collection of pictures mainly taken from the religious houses of the city on their suppression in 1795. The oldest Belgian newspaper, the Gazet van Gent, was founded here in 1667.
History.—The history of the city is closely associated with that of the countship of Flanders (q.v.), of which it was the seat. It is mentioned so early as the 7th century and in 868 Baldwin of the Iron Arm, first count of Flanders, who had been entrusted by Charles the Bald with the defence of the northern marches, built a castle here against the Normans raiding up the Scheldt. This was captured in 949 by the emperor Otto I. and was occupied by an imperial burgrave for some fifty years, after which it was retaken by the counts of Flanders. Under their protection, and favoured by its site, the city rapidly grew in wealth and population, the zenith of its power and prosperity being reached between the 13th and 15th centuries, when it was the emporium of the trade of Germany and the Low Countries, the centre of a great cloth industry, and could put some 20,000 armed citizens into the field. The wealth of the burghers during this period was equalled by their turbulent spirit of independence; feuds were frequent,—against the rival city of Bruges, against the counts, or, within the city itself, between the plebeian crafts and the patrician governing class. Of these risings the most notable was that, in the earlier half of the 14th century, against Louis de Crécy, count of Flanders, under the leadership of Jacob van Artevelde (q.v.).
- ↑ Bavo, or Allowin (c. 589–c. 653), patron saint of Ghent, was a nobleman converted by St Amandus, the apostle of Flanders. He lived first as an anchorite in the forest of Mendonk, and afterwards in the monastery founded with his assistance by Amandus at Ghent.
