The rise ...

Flemish cloth has long been an admired commodity. When the Romans entered the region they called Belgica, the high-quality cloth woven by the locals was greatly valued for making a man's toga and a woman's stola. In the early Middle Ages, Flanders' major trading partners were situated on the North Sea and Baltic, since these areas were easily accessible by ship. Records exist of Flemish cloth turning up in the markets of Novgorod in Russia.

A number of factors were combined to contribute to this position. There was an ancient tradition of craftsmanship in the Low Countries, particularly in the monasteries and abbeys. The population density of the region was relatively high, forcing residents to supplement agriculture with other trades. And the terrain was suitable for rearing sheep, particularly on the newly reclaimed polders.

As the industry grew, so did the towns. "Rural weavers, spinners and fullers migrated to Bruges, Ghent and Ypres where the burgeoning cloth trade was centred," says Professor Marc Boone, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Ghent. "A major acceleration occurred when weaving underwent a technological revolution in the 11th century. The shift from the conventional horizontal to the new vertical loom is estimated to have tripled workers' productivity."

In the early 12th century, Flemish cloth merchants began to look towards the south of Europe for a new export market, and they started to participate in the grand fairs of Champagne in France. These were rapidly becoming the most commercially-important trade fairs on the European continent and provided the necessary link between the Low Countries and Italy - which at the time were the two main commercial hubs in the known world. The commerce focused on a cycle of six fairs, each lasting six weeks. Two each were held in Provins and Troyes, and one each in Bar-sur-Aube and Lagny.

Soon every textile producing town in Flanders had a presence in the cloth halls of Provins and Troyes. Here, their cloth was snapped up by Italian merchants, who took their purchases back to the cities of Genoa, Milan and Florence and even further afield to the Middle East. A document dating from 1234 lists Flemish cloth as an important item in the bazaars of Syria.

Towards the end of the 13th century, a conflict arose between the King of France, who had recently annexed the county of Champagne, and the Count of Flanders. The result was that Flemish cloth was forbidden to be sold at the Champagne fairs. A potential economic disaster was averted by the Italians. With their newer, larger galleys, they opened up a direct sea route through the Straits of Gibraltar and up the French coast to Flanders.

Bruges was immediately catapulted into the status of a leading international port. A regular galley service between Genoa and Bruges was established. Venice was slow to follow, but by 1314 had supplemented her usual route over the Alps to the Low Countries with a maritime service to Bruges. Venetian merchants could not afford to delay, because by then Bruges was the most important European market north of the Alps. Italian merchants and bankers arrived in large numbers, installing themselves in resident colonies. Their money led to the construction of numerous prestigious buildings.

"The famous cloth halls typified the wealth created by the cloth trade," says Boone. "Not only were they were the centres of trade, they were important status symbols too. There would have been a lot of competition between towns to build the biggest, most impressive cloth hall. They also acted as quality control centres. Flemish cloth received a stamp or a seal; a kind of 'Made in Flanders' guarantee of quality."

It was a boom time for Flemish cloth. "In Ghent, almost two-thirds of its 65,000 inhabitants were directly or indirectly associated with the textile industry," explains Boone. "So great was the production of Flemish draperies at that time that it has been regarded as an industrial revolution only a little less advanced than that at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries." However, as in industrial 19th century England, an imbalance existed between the different classes.

At one extreme were the patricians, members of the wealthy families who had interests in the cloth industry and to a large extent governed the textile towns. They lived in luxury in inner city palatial buildings. At the other extreme were the textile workers, who were often relegated to peripheral quarters where the factories were located. Even this group had its divisions. Weavers used the services of spinners, fullers and threadmakers. In Ghent, conflicts between weavers and fullers repeatedly led to social and political unrest, since both groups strived for political influence. The weavers consistently came out on top. The fullers were particularly poorly paid, and their job was considered filthy and degrading.

In the traditional process used in the Low Countries from the 14th to 16th centuries, the fullers placed the woven cloth in a large vat containing a mixture of hot water, fuller's earth (a claylike substance) and urine. The fuller would then stamp upon the cloth in this noxious emulsion for three days - or even longer in the case of very luxurious cloths. "It's therefore no surprise that being a fuller was considered the lowest, most degrading job," says Professor Boone. "What's more, the addition of dyes at this stage led to fullers having permanently discoloured hands and feet."

The inequality between the patricians and textile workers led to uprisings. In Ghent in 1252 and 1274, poor cloth workers demonstrated against their lack of rights. In 1280 workers took to the streets in virtually every textile town in Flanders to protest against their working conditions. It was not until the time of Jacques van Artevelde, 50 years later, that the status of Flemish textile workers improved. By then however it was too late; the Flemish textile industry was already in decline.

The fall ...

According to experts, there were three main reasons behind the decline of the Flemish cloth industry. One was the sand that for a number of years had been gradually silting up Bruges harbour. Amidst concerns that the Bruges harbour would become inaccessible, the nearby port of Damme was built in 1180. But by the end of the 13th century even Damme could no longer accept the deep draught Italian ships. In 1290 a new but even more distant seaport was opened in Sluis. The improvement was only temporary. Sluis harbour also silted up and the larger ships had to anchor at an offshore island and forward their cargoes to Sluis by barge, which wasted time and money. Bruges was beginning to lose its status, and the process of exporting cloth was no longer as straightforward as it used to be.

With the port facilities becoming less convenient, Italian merchants and bankers moved eastwards to Antwerp. It was not only a better port for deep draught ships but also a more strategic location. It gave merchants easy access to the new land trade routes that were developing not through France but through Germany, and which offered other, more profitable investments than cloth.

Another reason for the decline was the political tension between England and France, which often had repercussions in the economy of Flanders. An English embargo on the export of wool to Flanders was a frequent weapon in the conflict, and an effective one too. Without high quality English wool, there could be no high quality Flemish cloth.

Thirdly, Flemish cloth was, for the first time, facing serious competition. England itself was developing its own cloth industry. To protect it, England gradually increased the tax on the export of its wool. The initial taxation of English wool exports had begun with Edward I's Old Custom of 1275, which imposed a fairly modest levy of 6 shillings and 8 pence (6s 8d) per sack (166 kg). With his New Custom of 1303, Edward increased the export tax to 10s per sack. In 1336, his grandson Edward III secured an additional subsidy of 20s per sack, in order to finance his coming campaigns in France. Two years later, the crown increased the export duties to 33s 4d per sack, and by 1341 the total tax burden on a sack of wool stood at a whopping 46s 8d. This crippling increase in taxes was the final hammer blow.

A cheaper alternative to English wool was found. It came from the Merino sheep of Spain. Its import into Flanders marked the appearance of Spanish merchants in Bruges, Ghent and Ypres. However, the quality of Spanish wool, while perfectly satisfactory for medium-quality garments, was not suitable for the luxury woollens on which the Flemish cloth industry had been based. The Flemish monopoly had been broken.

Some Flemish textile workers migrated to England to seek work but most remained to await better times. Their prospects improved in the late 14th century after their ranks had been thinned by the Black Death. The ensuing labour shortage resulted in an enhanced market position and therefore more favourable work conditions. But the golden era of Flemish supremacy in cloth had ended.