GENERAL
Bruges
History
SIGHTSEEING
Monuments
Museums
Tourist Attractions
USEFUL INFO
- City Map
- Hotels
- Transport Bruges
- Campings
EXTERNAL LINKS
- Trains
- Port of Zeebrugge
- Concert Hall
-
Lace Centre
-
College of Europe
The oldest citizen of Bruges
According
to legend, a bear was the oldest citizen of Bruges. It started when in 862
Baldwin I, Count of Flanders kidnapped Judith, the daughter
of the French king Charles the Bold, from a monastery in Senlis (France).After
the kidnapping, Baldwin married Judith, but was not accepted by her father
as his new son-in-law. To punish Baldwin, Charles the Bold sent him off to
one of his northern territories, the area now known as Flanders.
When Baldwin and his new bride arrived in the forests surrounding
the area where now Bruges lies, he did not see one living soul. Suddenly, a
ferocious bear came out of the woods. Baldwin killed the
animal with his spear. According to legend, the bear crept out of his skin
and took his place in the town weapon of Bruges. Later he received a statue
in the Porters' Lodge.
Bruges
(Brugge) was founded in the 9th century by Vikings who settled here at the
end of the little river 'de Reie'. The name Bruges is probably derived from
the old-Scandinavian word 'Brygga', which means 'harbor,
or mooring place'. Because of the proximity of the North Sea, the settlement
very quickly became an important international harbor. A sea-arm, called the
Zwin, connected Bruges with the North Sea. The young
settlement acquired city rights as early as the 12th century. At that time a
first protective wall was built around Bruges. Soon, however, the Zwin
started to silt up. This would have caused major problems for the city, were
it not that Bruges adapted itself to this situation by creating outports in
Damme and in Sluis. Moreover, transport of goods
over land became more and more usual. In the 14th century Bruges became the
starting point of a commercial transport road to the Rhineland (over
Brussels and Leuven, cities in Brabant which also started to flourish
because of this trade).
Already
in the 13th century Bruges was an important international trading
center. Traders from all over the then known world came to the city
to sell their products to each other and to buy Flemish
cloth, a internationally
acclaimed textile product, produced in different Flemish cities (e.g. Gent).
In the early 14th century Bruges was the scene of political unrest between
the citizens and the count of Flanders. Because of this unrest the French
king tried to annex the county of Flanders, but the population managed to
kick out the French garisson on May the 18th 1302. Later the Flemish army
beat the French army in the 'Battle of the Golden Spurs' on July the 11th in
the Flemish city of Kortrijk.
In the 14th century Bruges turned also into an international financial and trading center. It became the wharehouse of the North-European Hanza cities. Several countries had their own representation in Bruges: the Italians, the Germans, the Scottish, the Spanish made the city into a true European center where different languages could be heard and where the most exotic products could be found.
The decline of Bruges' wealth started in the 15th century : the unstoppable silting up of the Zwin, the competition with the bigger harbor of Antwerp and the crisis in the cloth industry resulted in less commercial activity. The crisis, however, was not immediately noticable. Bruges continued to construct splendid late-gothic buildings and churches, and the Flemish painting school (with e.g. the brothers Van Eyck and Hans Memling ) started to flourish as never before.
By the end of the 16th century the former glory was only a memory and Bruges slipped into a wintersleep that took several centuries. New textile industries were introduced in the 19th century, but to no avail. In the middle of the 1800's Brugge was the poorest city in Belgium. The 20th century, however, brought new life. The city was discovered by the international tourism and the medieval heritage turned out to be a new source of wealth for the 'Venice of the North'. Economically and industrially another important evolution took place. The new harbor of Zeebrugge (Seabruges-at 10 miles outside of the city, at the Belgian coast) brought new developments and new industries to the region.
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