The Matter of Piety Studies in Netherlandish Art and Cultural History Editorial Board H. Perry Chapman (University of Delaware) Yannis Hadjinicolaou (University of Hamburg) Tine Meganck (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) Herman Roodenburg (Formerly Meertens Institute and Free University Amsterdam) Frits Scholten (Rijksmuseum and University of Amsterdam) Advisory Board Reindert Falkenburg (New York University) Pamela Smith (Columbia University) Mariët Westermann (New York University) VOLUME 16 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nach The Matter of Piety Zoutleeuw’s Church of Saint Leonard and Religious Material Culture in the Low Countries (c. 1450-1620) By Ruben Suykerbuyk LEIDEN | BOSTON Publication of this book has been aided by Ghent University and the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Cover illustration: Anonymous, Saint Leonard, c. 1350–1360, Zoutleeuw, church of Saint Leonard (© KIK-IRPA, Brussels). The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2020022180 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1���-��3� isbn ���-�0-04-4�630-6 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-43310-6 (e-book) Copyright 2020 by Ruben Suykerbuyk. Published by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Requests for re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via brill.com or copyright.com. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. Contents Acknowledgements ix List of Illustrations xi Abbreviations xxi Note on Currencies xxii Introduction: The Matter of Piety in an Age of Religious Change 1 A Pulverized Image? Status quaestionis 8 Sources, Methodology and Set-up 11 Part 1 Late Medieval Piety in Perspective 1 The Cult of Saint Leonard at Zoutleeuw 19 Saint Leonard’s Altarpiece 19 Protohistory of the Cult 28 The Fortunes of Devotion: Offerings 35 Assessing Devotion: Offerings in Kind 37 Quantifying Devotion: Offerings in Specie 39 The Promotion of Devotion 46 Cultic Awareness 46 Spreading the Word: Badges and Indulgences 51 Furnishing Sacred Space: Saint Leonard’s Chapel 55 Creating Sacred Space: Making It Work 67 2 The Image of Piety at the Dawn of Iconoclasm 75 Old Sources, New Views: Miracles and Indulgences 76 Miracle Collections 77 Indulgences 79 Toward a New Image 83 The Cult Circuit in the Low Countries 89 Mapping the Cult Circuit 90 Saint Leonard’s Share 94 The Circuit Condenses: Brabant, c. 1500 98 A Spirited Devotional Culture Materialized 103 vi contents part 2 Catholic Piety in Iconoclastic Times 3 1520: The Waning of Medieval Piety? 111 Cornelis Floris’ Sacrament House 111 The Introduction of Protestant Thought 118 The 1520-Thesis 122 Problems 124 Alternatives 126 Continuities 128 4 Pilgrimage 133 The Public Debate on Images, Miracles and Pilgrims 133 Protestant Critiques 133 The Low Countries 136 Catholic Responses 141 The Cult of Saint Leonard at Zoutleeuw: Tradition and Innovation 144 Maintaining Tradition 145 The Sale of Devotionalia 146 Distribution of Food and Drinks 151 Miracles and Cults, Old and New 153 Miracles: Continuity versus Cessation 154 New Cults and Cultic Renewal: Our Lady of the Ossenweg 155 Miracles as Anti-Protestant Statements 160 The Brussels Holy Sacrament of Miracle 161 Miracles against Protestants 164 5 Parish Liturgy 169 The Eucharist 170 Musical Embellishment 183 6 Patronage 195 The Memorial Landscape in Zoutleeuw 197 Van Wilre’s Project 207 Countering the Reformation 222 Defining the Counter-Reformation 222 The Eucharist as an Emblem of Counter-Reformatory Action 224 Sacrament Houses as Objects of Defiance 226 Polemical Forms: Style, Size and Iconography 227 Catholic Profiling 236 contents vii 7 1566: The Beeldenstorm and Its Aftermath 241 Destructions and Descriptions 241 The Wonderyear: Facts and Theories 243 Les villes bonnes 245 Zoutleeuw and the Hageland Region 250 Part 3 The Miraculous Counter-Reformation 8 The Resumption of Miracles 259 Paulus Gautier’s Miracle Memorial Painting 259 A New Era? 268 Explaining Intermittency, Asserting Continuity 270 Cultic Antiquarianism 272 The Rise of Votive Paintings 274 A Culture of the Miraculous 280 Zoutleeuw, 1612 286 Restoration 286 The Intention of the Painting 292 9 Devotional Negotiation with the Archducal Government 297 The Object of Devotion: Image versus Relic 298 The Gift 302 The Translation 310 Conclusion: The Thin Line Between Tradition and Transformation 321 Appendix 1: The Churchwarden Accounts of Zoutleeuw’s Church of Saint Leonard 329 Appendix 2: Graphs 333 Notes 348 Bibliography 381 Primary Sources 381 Published Sources 382 Literature 385 Online Databases 418 Index 419 Acknowledgements This book is the fruit of the four-year research project Embodied piety in the age of iconoclasm. Church, artefact and religious routine in the sixteenth-century Low Countries at Ghent University (2013–2017), which was generously sponsored by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). Finishing it would not have been possible without the invaluable help and unremitting support of some very special people, and these words of gratitude are not merely customary, but heartfelt. First and foremost, I warmly thank my two promotors, Anne-Laure Van Bruaene and Koenraad Jonckheere, for their trust in my ability to bring the project to a good end. They wisely steered me through the Scylla and Charybdis of doctoral research, and provided me with the most useful suggestions and advice. They were not only devoted and helpful promotors, but also the kindest people to work with. Subsequently reworking a hefty dissertation into a readable book would not have been possible without the expert judgment of the members of my doctoral committee – Frederik Buylaert, Maarten Delbeke, Reindert Falkenburg, Maximiliaan Martens, Eddy Put and Hugo van der Velden – and the critical eyes of editors Tine Meganck, Herman Roodenburg and Frits Scholten. I acknowledge every single one of them for pushing me to sharpen my arguments, and for encouraging me to get rid of textual dead weight. The church of Zoutleeuw has become very dear to me through the wonderful discoveries I made with Ward Hendrickx as my knowledge- able guide, and he and Guido Coningx (De Vrienden van Zoutleeuw) were always willing and able to provide me with any requested bits of information. My archival research was greatly facilitated by the expert help of Eddy Put and Marc Carnier (Rijksarchief Leuven), Gerrit Vanden Bosch (Aartsbisschoppelijk Archief Mechelen) and Robrecht Janssen (Vlierbeek). I was introduced to the court of the Archdukes by René Vermeir and Luc Duerloo, Frederik Buylaert took me on a trip through the wondrous world of the nobility, and Erik Aerts enlightened me on previously unknown principles of inflation and real wage indexes. It was a privilege to enjoy the hospitality of the Rubenianum and its wonderful team, and I particularly thank director Véronique Van de Kerckhof for kindly inviting me to make use of the institution’s facilities. Emanuelle Mercier, Ingrid Geelen and Géraldine Patigny from the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Brussels (KIK-IRPA) very generously shared their own research data with me, as did Jan x acknowledgements van Herwaarden on Zoutleeuw as a destination for judicial pilgrim- ages and Dagmar Germonprez on the financial support from Albert and Isabella. It would not have been possible to interpret the Latin sources I used without the generous help and translating skills of Monique Van Melkebeek, Jetze Touber, Pieter Byttebier and Roman Roobroeck. Thomas Jacobs was the kindest help for English issues. I also warmly thank Jacques Toussat for the drawing reconstructing Saint Leonard’s chapel and for unbegrudgingly reworking it time and again to include the slightest details, Hans Blomme for providing the maps, and Justin Kroesen, Elizabeth Mattison, Friso Lammertse, Maarten Bassens, Jeroen Reyniers and Suzanne Laemers for provid- ing me with proper and indispensable images. On a more personal level, I should thank my colleagues from the Department of History at Ghent University who made the office a warm and welcoming home from the very first day; as an art histo- rian I have not once felt like the odd one out. Conversely, I am also immensely grateful to my art historical mates, who never abandoned me in spite of my historical escapades, not even when I started mak- ing graphs. Many of these colleagues have become deeply appreci- ated friends, and I thank all of them as much for the stimulating discussions as for the shared sorrows of the burdens and more pro- saic aspects to doctoral life. Because of their collegiality and friend- ship my mental well-being remained firm, even after the intellectual and emotional rollercoaster of writing this book. The same goes for all of my other friends elsewhere in the Low Countries, whom I also thank for the necessary distractions throughout the sometimes stressful times.