Gilbert Mayhuus, who was dean of shippers and harboured a secret hatred of
Jan, cut off a third or a quarter of the profits due to him from his shipping activity.
Jan suffered it all in silence, wisely remaining inconspicuous and accepting everything done to him.
Pieter van den Bossche, who was one of his varlets, was astounded by this and sometimes asked his master how he could bear the wrongs done to him, and
Jan replied,
"Let us be calm for now. There is a time to be silent and a time to speak."
Gilbert had a brother named
Etienne, a shrewd and exceedingly discerning man, and he said to his brothers and foretold what was to become of them,
"Of course, sirs,
Jan Yoens is suffering now and keeping his head low, but he is doing all of this out of cunning and malice, for he will yet dishonour us all and send us as far down as we are now high up. But I would proffer one piece of advice; while we are in the good graces of my lord the
count and he is not, let us kill him. I could easily slay him if I were charged with the task, and in this fashion we would be out of danger and could be exonerated for his death without difficulty." None of his brothers was prepared to consent to this, saying that Yoens had done them no harm and that a man should not be killed if he had not patently warranted it.
The circumstances remained as they were for a time, until the devil, who never sleeps, roused the inhabitants of
Bruges to dig trenches in order to gain the use of the
river Leie. The
count was sufficiently in agreement with them, and they sent a great many sappers and pioneers there, with men-at-arms to protect them. In past years the Brugeois had tried to do a similar thing, but the
Ghenters had always vigorously resisted their attempts. Tidings reached
Ghent that, once again, the
Brugeois were digging trenches in force to redirect the flow of the
river Leie, which would be very much to the detriment of Ghent. Thus many people of the town of
Ghent, and particularly the shippers who were the worst affected by the matter, began to murmur that they should not tolerate the
Brugeois digging out a canal from the river to hijack the course and flow of water, whereby their town would be devastated. Some of them said quietly,
"Oh, God preserve
Jan Yoens! If he were our dean, the situation would not have arisen. The people of
Bruges would not have been so bold as to approach us so closely."
Jan Yoens was well informed of all of these events and began to awaken a little, saying to himself,
"I have been slumbering for a time but it seems that this petty affair will rouse me, and I shall stir up such trouble between this town and the
count as to cost a hundred thousand lives."
The issue of these sappers began to escalate and ignite, for it so happened that a woman returning from a pilgrimage to
Notre-Dame de Boulogne, weary and exhausted, sat down in the market place which was the most crowded with people, showing signs of great distress. People asked her where she had come from, to which she replied,
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