Table Of ContentThe Matter of Piety
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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
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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
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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,
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Requests for re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via brill.com or
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This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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. My family has been the greatest support imaginable,
and I offer my deepest thanks to my parents, my brother and sister-
in-law, my youngest and sweetest family members Fien and Lowie –
who grew alongside this book – and my father- and mother-in-law
for always being there and for understanding when I could not. And
finally, my loving thanks goes to my dearest Claire, for her encour-
aging words in moments of doubt, and for supporting Mijn kleine
beeldenstorm.
Brussels
March 2020
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