Church restoration after the fall of the Calvinist Republic of Ghent of Ghent

For the period after 1568 we have no vivid eyewitness descriptions of the church and parishioners of St James like in the account by Van Vaernewijck. The chronicler Cornelis died before the start of the Calvinist Republic. His brother Philips Van Campene lived throughout this period in Ghent, but the edited version of their account ends in 1571.⁴²⁶ During the seven-year Calvinist regime, the church would be heavily damaged again.

Between May and August 1578, a new wave of iconoclasm struck convents and churches.

Afterwards, many religious buildings were closed down or used for other purposes, and goods were confiscated and sold. In September 1584, the Calvinist regime came to an end as the city capitulated to Farnese.⁴²⁷ The churchwarden accounts recorded the financial transactions made by the churchwardens after the return of Ghent to Habsburg rule.

Indirectly, they provide a good overview of what happened to the church building of St James and will form the focus of the following analysis.⁴²⁸

426 Van Campene, Dagboek van Cornelis En Philip van Campene Behelzende Het Verhaal Der Merkwaardigste Gebeurtenissen Voorgevallen Te Gent, Sedert Het Begin Der Godsdienstberoerten Tot Den 15e April 1571, XIV–XVI.

427 Dambruyne, Corporatieve Middengroepen. Aspiraties, Relaties En Transformaties in de 16de-Eeuwse Gentse Ambachtswereld, 660–77; Verstraeten, De Gentse Sint-Jakobsparochie, 183–84.

428 For more about the political background of and social developments during the Calvinist Republic, see: Van Bruaene, ‘Les Républiques Calvinistes (1577-1585)’; Van Bruaene, ‘A Religious Republic and Fortress’; Despretz,

Income and expenditure of the churchwarden accounts after 1584

The end of the Calvinist Republic is easily detected in the accounts of St James. Unlike after the iconoclasm of 1566, the upheaval seems to have resulted in a totally different parish. In the accounts covering the two-year period of 1583-1585, both the income and expenditure increased by more than fivefold compared to what they had been annually in the decade before the Calvinist Republic. As the Calvinist regime was still in place up until September 1584, and the church was not being used during this period, it is logical that the bulk of the expenditure and income in these accounts dates from the period following September 1584. They could thus be attributed to the year 1584-1585 at the earliest, but in fact many separate transactions mention the year 1586.⁴²⁹

Apart from the ordinary (serial) churchwarden accounts, there was one set of separate accounts which was specifically set up for repairs to St James and listed collections of alms in the parish and repairs made to the church between 1584-1586. These accounts did record many transactions dating from 1584. The income in these special accounts alone, including loans, totalled over 630 pounds.⁴³⁰ The outgoings registered in these accounts came to over 951 pounds.⁴³¹ Although these special accounts covered almost two years, these numbers are enormous. In comparison, the highest total expenditure of the parish before 1584, found in the accounts of 1570-1571, amounted to 116 pounds. This figure also included the debt of previous years. Thus the accounts of 1584-1586 illustrate, as no other, the intense work on repairs after the fall of the republic. Furthermore, they show that the churchwardens immediately sprang into action when Catholicism was restored. This is in contrast with the period that followed the first iconoclasm of 1566. I will discuss this initial period of church restoration and fundraising in more detail later, referring to both the special and ordinary accounts. First, I give an overview of the totals of the ordinary churchwarden accounts. This means the accounts specifically for repairs are not included in the following graphs, which show the church's income and expenditure between 1561 and 1590.

The five ordinary annual accounts following on from the ordinary accounts of 1583-1585 reveal that both expenditure and income were high. The accounts of 1583-1585-1586 show that expenditure was almost a third higher than the outgoings of the previous accounts of 1583-1585. It then gradually decreased over the following three years, with expenditure

429 The church had low expenditure and income during the first year of these accounts, just as in the previous two accounts, because the period of Calvinist Rule extended to 17 August 1584. The increased amounts seen in the accounts of 1583-1585 should thus be attributed mainly to the second year of the accounts (or even later), during which Ghent reverted to Catholic and princely rule.

430 RAG, OKA St Jacobs Gent, no 25, “rekening van omgehaalde gelden en uitgaven voor de herstelling van de kerk 84-86”

(special accounts for repairs 1584-1586), fo 19 vo.

for 1588-1589 totalling about half the amount it had been at its “peak” in 1585-1586. This figure is still relatively high, as it more or less equals the amount spent in 1568-1569 (the year of most repairs after the first iconoclasm). The trend then reversed and the accounts of 1589-1590 recorded a new peak, with outgoings more than a third higher than in 1583-1585 and an income that had more than doubled. The following year expenditure was back to the level of 1588-1589.

Figure 3 Graph annual income and expenditure (without surpluses or losses from previous years) of the churchwardens of St James in Flemish deniers groten (1561 to 1590).⁴³²

Figure 3 and most of the following ones are based on the above-mentioned churchwarden accounts. Certain accounts are missing or were not analysed. For the accounts that covered more than one year, the average amount spent per year was calculated, except for the accounts of 1583-1585 for reasons explained above.

Inflation

An obstacle to gaining a good understanding of the graph is the hyper-inflation that occurred during the economic crisis of this period. Simply deflating the amounts is not an option as the prices of products increased by different amounts. Workmen’s wages followed a different trend and by no means did they keep up with the increase in grain

432 In this graph, the amounts represent the totals for income and expenditure of the churchwardens recorded in the ordinary accounts. As a result, the rise in income and expenditure for the year 1562-1563 is not visible as the gift of the Table of the Holy Spirit and the expenses for the repairs were registered separately. One account was spread over two years: 1583-1585, which is shown as to belonging only to 1584-1585 in this graph. See

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total income total expenditure

prices. There are techniques to calculate these differences in purchasing power, but even after these calculations the interpretation of the figures is not self-evident. In order to understand how these developments can be related to changes in the relationship between the parishioners and their church, a closer look at the qualitative information in the accounts and an understanding of the share of specific income or outgoings in the totals seems more useful. Nevertheless, to show the importance of inflation, I recalculated the expenditure and income of St James, deflating the amounts on the basis of the wages of a mason’s journeyman, as shown in figure 4. The deflated amounts do indeed reveal a smaller contrast between the period before the Calvinist Republic and after, but an increase in both expenditure and income is still visible.

Figure 4 Graph total deflated income and expenditure of the ordinary churchwarden accounts of St James in Flemish deniers groten per set of accounts. Both income and expenditure were deflated using the evolution in the wages of a mason’s journeyman (1562-1590).⁴³³

433 Dambruyne, Corporatieve Middengroepen. Aspiraties, Relaties En Transformaties in de 16de-Eeuwse Gentse Ambachtswereld, 837–38. I used Dambruyne’s table of the annual wage of a mason’s journeyman in Ghent and

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total income (deflated) total expenditure (deflated)

However, the graph above is not an accurate reflection of the reality. As people's wages did not keep up with the soaring food prices, there was actually less money left to offer to the church than in the period before the Calvinist Republic. To illustrate this, I added in the average annual budget of a mason’s journeyman after paying for house rent and the minimum amount of grain necessary to maintain an average worker’s family, as shown in figure 5. This time none of the amounts are deflated.

Figure 5 Graph total income and expenditure of the ordinary churchwarden accounts of St James compared to the annual budget available to a mason’s journeyman after paying for house rent and the minimum amount of grain necessary for the average worker’s family, in Flemish deniers groten per set of accounts (1562-1590).⁴³⁴ The graph above shows how the budget of a mason’s journeymen increased in the 1570s and the beginning of 1580s. However, it fell sharply, albeit for a short period, after the fall of the Calvinist Republic and only rose to its previous level in 1587. In 1585-1586, ordinary people faced great hardship. According to Dambruyne’s research, a journeyman needed over 107% of his income for his basic livelihood. Figure 5 therefore shows a negative number. In order to illustrate more clearly how the income and expenditure of the church were related to the budget, I constructed figure 6. This graph shows the number of annual budgets of a journeyman needed to cover the income and expenditure of St James. It thus illustrates how the income and expenditure of the church were related to the budget of ordinary parishioners. As the budget of a journeyman in 1585-1586 was

434 Dambruyne, 837–38, 843–45. In order to calculate the annual budget, I combined the table of the annual wages of the mason’s journeymen in Ghent and Antwerp with the table that lists per year what percentage of these wages was needed to pay the rent and grain for an average worker’s family. Only one set of accounts coves (in theory) two years: 1583-1585. Later discussion will show it covered in practice de transactions of more or less

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1562-1563 1563-1564 1564-1565 1566-1567 1567-1568 1568-1569 1570-1571 1572-1573 1574-1575 1575-1576 1577-1578 1581-1582 1582-1583 1583-1585 1585-1586 1586-1587 1587-1588 1588-1589 1589-1590

annual budget mason's

journeyman (after paying for house rent and grain)

total income St James

total expenditure St James

below zero, a useful calculation of the number of budgets needed for the income and expenditure of that year was not possible. It is clear, however, that in comparison to other years an extremely high number of budgets would be needed to produce the equivalent of the figures in the accounts. Thus the graph shows a fictitious amount for this account, slightly higher than the one for the year 1586-1587, when the budget of a journeyman was at its lowest positive point.

Figure 6 Graph number of annual budgets of a Ghent mason’s journeyman needed to cover the total income and expenditure of the ordinary churchwarden accounts of St James (1562-1590).⁴³⁵

This graph gives a new perspective that accentuates the extravagant sums recorded in the church finances in the first three years following the end of the Calvinist regime.

Compared to what ordinary workmen could spend in these years, the amounts are spectacular and in sharp contrast to what was spent after the first iconoclasm. From 1587 onwards, church finances and workmen's budget were more in balance, even though the income and expenditure of St James were still proportionately higher than they had been on average in the period before 1584. Figure 6 omits the special accounts exclusively for repairs to the church between 1584 and 1586, so the figures for the period 1583-1586 are highly underestimated. Immediately after the fall of the Calvinist regime, both income and expenditure rose spectacularly. Although the graph shows an interesting overview that takes into account the cost of living, it does have some limitations. The situation presented is only valid for one professional group (a mason’s journeyman) and only the prices of grain and house rents were taken into account. The budgets of wealthier members of the parish would have been less severely affected by the fluctuating grain

435 I calculated the annual income and outgoings registered in the churchwarden accounts of St James as multiples of the annual budget available to a Ghent mason’s journeyman after paying for house rent and the minimum amount of grain necessary for the average worker's family. For this, I used Dambruyne’s analysis from

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1562-1563 1563-1564 1564-1565 1566-1567 1567-1568 1568-1569 1570-1571 1572-1573 1574-1575 1575-1576 1577-1578 1581-1582 1582-1583 1583-1585 1585-1586 1586-1587 1587-1588 1588-1589 1589-1590

income St James compared to annual budget journeyman expenditure St James compared to annual budget journeyman

prices, whereas poorer members (apprentices or unemployed people) would have seen their budgets cut even more sharply. Furthermore, the costs of other basics, such as beer and clothing, were not taken into account in this graph. Finally, there is an important expense that remains hidden in this graph: the reconciliation tax. The treaty of reconciliation of 17 September 1584, which was signed by Ghent and Farnese, required Ghent to pay a tax of 24 million Flemish deniers groten. The city of Ghent arranged for the collection of this sum in two rounds (at the end of 1584 and in January 1585). Assessors appointed by Farnese estimated the wealth, social status and involvement in the rebellion per family head to calculate the taxation. Compared to many other taxations and punishments (Caroline Concession), the reconciliation tax was very high and weighed heavily on a great many of the citizens.⁴³⁶ All these elements show that an immediate recovery after 1584 was far from straightforward.

Collecting an income

Once again, just as with the analysis of the accounts for the period 1560-1577, it is important to keep in mind that the accounts do not reveal everything. For example, a more or less informal circle could have generated a continued, but unregistered income for the church during the period of Calvinist rule. A relatively large part of the income registered in the ordinary churchwarden accounts of 1583-1585 – 86 pounds of the total income of 229 pounds or 37% – was in fact a reserve, supposedly generated in previous years. As accounts are missing, it is hard to tell where this reserve came from. A plausible explanation is that it came from rents for properties owned by St James. If the years for which the accounts are missing generated the same income from rents as 1581-1582 and 1582-1583 did, then an income of 82 pounds could have been collected between 1578 and 1583.

The first remarkable feature of the churchwarden accounts after 1583 is the growing importance of the category called "miscellaneous income". The ordinary income categories, which appeared annually in the accounts, were rents and annuities, income from funeralia, seating, collections of alms, testaments and anniversaries (masses funded for the dead). Miscellaneous income was a catch-all term for forms of income that did not fit into the ordinary income categories. Rents and annuities were usually the most stable form of ordinary income as they came from financial structures linked with property and functioned almost independently of the church.⁴³⁷ Income from funeralia came from the sale of torches (although not all the torches were used at funerals), palls, tombstones and

436 Dambruyne, Corporatieve Middengroepen. Aspiraties, Relaties En Transformaties in de 16de-Eeuwse Gentse Ambachtswereld, 394–99.

437 Kuys, ‘Churchwardens’ Accounts and Parish Finances in the Netherlands during the Late Middle Ages’, 101.

the ringing of bells. Seating was another way for the church to earn money; wealthy men and women paid for specific seating in the church. More direct ways of collecting money were listed in the category “Ontfanck van aporten ten altaere ende muenich wyne, ende ommeganhen te hoochtijde bij de keerckmeesters ghehaelt”. This was the money collected during mass and sermons in the church.⁴³⁸

Figure 7 shows the portion of miscellaneous income in the total income of St James. It reveals that this diverse income made little difference in the decades before the Calvinist Republic. Clearly, after 1584 the parish was finding new ways of collecting money that did not fit into the ordinary income categories. During the early 1560s the miscellaneous income category would sometimes include specific revenues from burial practices, but this was not the case after 1584. Then, the income from burial practices was listed together with other ordinary income. This development proves again that the rise in total income after 1584 was the result of an absolute rise in income and cannot simply be attributed to inflation. The fact that there is an extra set of accounts for 1584-1586 which registered a large income to pay for repairs is already evidence of this.

438 For a detailed study on the collection of income for the cathedral, see: Wim H. Vroom, Financing Cathedral Building in the Middle Ages. The Generosity of the Faithful (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010); For the historical background of the "apport", see: A. Viaene, ‘Appoort. Een Term Uit de Kerkelijke Boekhouding in Vlaanderen 1300-1600’, Annales de La Société d’Emulation de Bruges: Revue Trimestrielle Pour L’étude de L’histoire et Des Antiquités de La Flandre, 87-101, 103 (1966): 99–101.

Figure 7 Graph portion of miscellaneous income in the total income of the ordinary churchwarden accounts of St James, in Flemish deniers groten per year (1562-1590)⁴³⁹

Further analysis of this miscellaneous income clarifies what caused its rise. The magistracy and guilds, but above all the parishioners, donated generously on various occasions during this period. In particular, they contributed through the offertory boxes (offerblok), gifts (sometimes in a general collection and sometimes individually) and by extending loans through the churchwardens (see fig 8). Offerings through the offertory box were not mentioned in the previous accounts of St James, which seems to imply that this was a new way of donating to the church. However, as offertory boxes were already widespread in churches during the Middle Ages, this system of giving was known.⁴⁴⁰ Van Vaernewijck also mentions the destruction and theft of the content of three of these boxes in St James during the first iconoclasm. One of the offertory boxes was for the poor, another for the altar of the Sweet Name of Jesus and the third was “den block van der keercken”.⁴⁴¹ This most likely was for the churchwardens. Maybe the sum of money found in this offertory box before 1584 might not have been substantial enough to grant a special mention in the churchwarden accounts, and the sum was added to the

439 For this graph the income of account 1583-1585 was devided in two, half the amount was put at 1583-1584, the other half at 1584-1585.

440 Kuys, ‘Churchwardens’ Accounts and Parish Finances in the Netherlands during the Late Middle Ages’, 100;

Vroom, Financing Cathedral Building in the Middle Ages. The Generosity of the Faithful, 174.

441 Van Vaernewijck, Van Die Beroerlicke Tijden in Die Nederlanden, En Voornamelick in Ghendt, 1566-1568, 207 (I).

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miscellaneous income other income

gatherings?⁴⁴² Another possible explanation is that previously the income from the offertory boxes was used by the churchwardens for direct, smaller payments that were not registered in the accounts.⁴⁴³

After 1584 a separate box must have been installed especially for the churchwardens to collect money for repairs. It became a popular way of donating to the church. The first ordinary accounts after the Calvinist Republic reveal that the offerings alone totalled 16 pounds, increasing to 31 pounds in the subsequent accounts. During the following years it fluctuated but remained in the region of 30 pounds. In the accounts of 1589-1590, the offerings reached a peak of almost 45 pounds. Besides the offerings, the church contracted loans with several parishioners. This was also a relatively new practice that had not been registered in the accounts before 1584. The principle of contracting loans or selling annuities, however, was a well-known technique in this period for obtaining money in the short term.⁴⁴⁴

442 For a case study that illustrates the various roles of these income categories and the search for new ways to

442 For a case study that illustrates the various roles of these income categories and the search for new ways to