Brugge, SPQB, Senatus Populusque BrugiensisWindow in the College of Europe residence
in anticipation of a visit by Napoleon
This post is a little piece of indulgience on my part.
Albert Folens' associations with the Belgian city of Brugge (Bruges) are fairly tentative. His aunt was a nun there. He nearly ended up in prison there. And some of his relations live there today.
My own associations with the city are somewhat stronger.
I spent an academic year in the College of Europe in 1967/8 (Promotion Comenius) and returned on the fiftieth anniversary of my graduation in 2018 to celebrate with fellow students on the site of St. John's Hospital where Folens' aunt was a nun. I like to fantasise that Dweerstraat is named after my stay there (Ó Duibhir). And I finally traced a book, in which RTÉ tells us Folens claimed to be a war criminal, to a bookshop on the Potterierei in Brugge.
The city itself has very strong associations with the Battle of the Golden Spurs, a battle which has inspired the Flemish cause through the ages and which is celebrated in the famous Flemish novel The Lion of Flanders by Frederick Conscience. This novel was a formative influence in Folens' young life.
St. John's Hospital
The Battle of the Golden SpursMarket Square
Commemorating my stay in Brugge?
Willy Tibergien who sent me the bookThank you Willy
The book misquoted by RTÉ
Me in Schiphol July 2023Finally, not Brugge but Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands. I passed through here in both directions this year and on the return journey thought of Albert Folens' flight to Ireland from this very spot some 75 years ago.
You can follow my adventures regarding the title of this post here. But I do think the College owes me the piece of paper to confirm my continuing honorary residence in Brugge, even if I am not strictly entitled to the "Freedom of the City".
Leentje's book about her father is available to readers in Europe here, and to those outside Europe, and particularly in the USA here
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