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A volume of Wallon songs was discovered at Ghent in the last generation; and two other Gruthuyse books in the same language, from the great collection of M. Van Hulthem, are now deposited in the Burgundian Library at Brussels. The Dukes of Burgundy were of the book-loving race of the Valois.
After the death of Louis his books passed to his son Jean de Bruges; but most of them were soon afterwards acquired by Louis XII., who added them to the library at Blois, the insignia of La Gruthuyse being replaced by the arms of France.
The illuminated MSS. survived the perils of war and the excesses of the Revolution, and are still to be seen in the University with the Abbot's signature on their glittering title-pages. A more important collection belonged to Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de La Gruthuyse. As titular Earl of Winchester he was in some degree connected with this country.
A fine copy of the Forteresse du Foy belonged to Claude d'Urfé, whose library of 4000 books, 'all in green velvet, was kept in his castle at La Bastie; when all the others were dispersed the Gruthuyse volume remained as an heirloom, and descended to Honoré d'Urfé, the dreariest of all writers of romance.
The books of La Gruthuyse have been described as 'the bibliographical marvel of the age. They were celebrated for their choice vellum, their delicate penmanship, and their exquisite illustrations. Louis de Bruges was the friend and patron of Colard Mansion, who printed in partnership with Caxton.
Three copies are known of his work called the 'Penitence of Adam. One belonged to the Royal Library of France: another was borrowed from a monastery by the Duc d'Isenghien, an enthusiastic but somewhat unscrupulous collector, and this copy was sold at the Gaignat sale in 1769; the third was the property of M. Lambinet of Brussels, and is remarkable for the miniature in which Mansion is represented as offering the book to his patron in the garden of La Gruthuyse.
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