The Gold of the Vanquished. Belgian Claims on the Order of the Golden Fleece’s Treasure in the Aftermath of the First World War

Abstract

ABSTRACT One of the most brilliant symbols of the splendour of the Burgundian period remains the Order of the Golden Fleece and the ornaments which constitute its ‘treasure’, preserved since the end of the eighteenth century in Viennese museums. With the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, some politicians and opinion makers in Belgium saw the perfect opportunity to reclaim this prestigious ensemble as a national artefact inherent to the Belgian territory. By virtue of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the Belgian government was authorized to set up a committee in charge of demonstrating property rights to ‘national’ works of art that could be claimed as a compensation for war damages. The present contribution aims to explain who, in Belgium, militated for the restitution of the treasure of the Golden Fleece. This judicial case, abundantly covered by the contemporary press and revealing a national identity that drew upon an idealized Burgundian past, was nevertheless doomed to failure.