Chapter 1: Farewelcome Margaret

After Margaret and Charles pronounce their vows in Damme, the people of Bruges prepare for the arrival of their new countess. It promises to be a joyous day, full of festivities to celebrate the marriage. Just a little longer and Margaret, in her golden litter, will appear through the Kruispoort and make her way towards the Prinsenhof… High time for residents to make the final preparations. Farewelcome Margaret!

Never was a more splendid wedding celebrated in the historic County of Flanders than that of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York. On Sunday evening, 3 July 1468, Margaret of York, with loose blonde hair and a diamond crown, pulled into the city of Bruges alone in a litter – a red sedan carriage hung with gold curtains. Bruges, a city in festive garb, a city as a wedding venue. “Alone?” Not quite… Sixteen ships packed with lords, barons, princes, and ladies moor with her in Sluis, happily anticipating what is to come.

At the Kruispoort, trumpets sound to greet the brand-new duchess and her entourage. Façades and walls are richly decorated, and petals swirl around merchants from distant lands, the renowned beguines, the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece… Altogether, some 1,100 horses are involved. Her entourage marches past decorated gates to the Burgundian city palace: the Prinsenhof.

These gates are painted with spells or surrounded by living paintings. Some gates have structures that release birds when the duchess passes beneath them. “We can do even better!” the Burgundians thought, and so they hung small coats of arms of the bride and groom on the neck of each bird. It is clear to all those who are watching this spectacle in complete awe: no expense was spared to make the wedding an unforgettable event. And they certainly succeeded! And they haven’t even got to the banquet… Vive la Bourgogne! Welcome Margaret!