The Emperor Charles V reigned over an empire where the sun never set, since he was emperor of the larger part of Western Europe, most part of South-, Central and North America, and the Philippines during the 16th century. Charles was born in 1500 in Ghent, one of the proud cities of Flanders, and raised in Mechelen, Brussels and Leuven, three other Flemish cities.
Legend has it that on one of his many journeys across his empire, Charles V stayed overnight in the little village of Olen near Antwerp. Having ordered a beer, the common beverage, the Emperor was brought a mug by the innkeeper, who held the mug by the ear as he handed it over. Charles V felt he could not take hold of the mug like that, and asked for a mug with two ears. The innkeeper then brought the ordered mug of beer, both hands clasped firmly around both ears of the mug.

The Emperor was faced with the same problem, whereupon he handed the innkeeper a piece of gold and asked him to have a third ear put on the mug so that he would be able to accept the mug like a gentleman. An enlarged replica of these three mugs still adorns the main square in Olen today. And, in the surrounding villages, the people of Olen still have a reputation of not being too high up the intellectual ladder.
In these times the Emperor was not only given a mug of beer, but also a local young beauty to keep his majesty’s bed warm. Bearing a bastard child of the Emperor or the King in these times was not a horrible situation, since it meant that the mother would be taken care of for the rest of the life of the child. Some of these bastard children (a nicer name is “love-children”) became very powerful, and landed lucrative official functions. It is common knowledge that everybody named Jansen(s) in the Netherlands has King Jan as one of his forefathers, and everybody named Karels has probably the Emperor as one of his forefathers.

A whole collection of new belgian Beer Glasses landed in our warehouse this month. They are for sale on our website. One of them is the Olen-Mug with 3 ears, as used for the Belgian “Charles Quint” beer.

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Newsletter March, 2001