Bruges ( BROOZH, French: [bʁyʒ] ⓘ; Dutch: Brugge [ˈbrʏɣə] ⓘ; West Flemish: Brugge [ˈbrœɦə]) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in Belgium. The predominant language is Dutch (West Flemish).
The area of the whole city amounts to more than 14,099 hectares (140.99 km2; 54.44 sq. miles), including 1,075 hectares off the coast, at Zeebrugge (from Brugge aan zee, meaning 'Bruges by the Sea'). The historic city center is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval and about 430 hectares in size. The city's total population is 120,669 (1 January 2006). The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km2 (238 sq mi) and had a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008.
Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam and Saint Petersburg, it is sometimes referred to as the Venice of the North. Bruges has significant economic importance, thanks to its port, and was once one of the world's chief commercial cities. It is a major tourist destination within Belgium and is well-known as the seat of the College of Europe, a university institute for European studies.
Toponymy
The earliest mention of the location's name is as Brugis in the Breviarium de thesauro Sancti Bavaris, an inventory of the Saint Bavo's Abbey compiled between 851-864 AD. The name Bruggas, Bruccas, Briuccas or Briuggas appears on coins minted between 864–875. This name resembles the Old Dutch for 'bridge': brugga, the Middle Dutch brucge or brugge and modern Dutch brug ('bridge'), but it is more likely derived from the Scandinavian 'Bryggja' which means 'Quay' or 'Jetty'.
Afterwards, it appears as Bruciam and Bruociam (892); as Brutgis uico (late ninth century); as in portu Bruggensi (c. 1010); as Bruggis (1012); as Bricge in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1037); as Brugensis (1046); as Brycge in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1049–1052); as Brugias (1072); as Bruges (1080–1085); as Bruggas (c. 1084); as Brugis (1089); and as Brugge (1116).
History
Origins
Bruges was a location of coastal settlement during prehistory. This Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement are unrelated to medieval city development. In the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesar's conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the whole region from the Gallo-Romans around the fourth century and administered it as the Pagus Flandrensis. The Viking incursions of the ninth century prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications. Whilst the Viking raids led to the decline of Dorestad, Quentovic and Domburg as harbors for trade with England, the Baltic Sea area and Scandinavia, Bruges was able to fill that gap. Early medieval habitation starts in the ninth and tenth centuries on the Burgh terrain, probably with a fortified settlement and church. Bruges gained some fame as destination for pilgrimage, when the relics of Saint Donatian of Reims were brought to the town and venerated in the St. Donatian's church. Saint Donatian became the patron saint of Bruges.
Bruges was described for the first time in the Encomium Emmae Reginae, written around 1042. The Enconium mentioned how Emma of Normandy, the queen dowager of England, which was exiled during the struggle for the succession of her husband Cnut, was received in 1036 by Baldwin V of Flanders in Bruges. This document described Bruges as a town full of merchants and diverse products, and where ships had direct access to sea.
Golden age (12th–15th centuries)
In 1089, Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built. By the 12th century, the city had gained an autonomous administration. Het Zwin (Golden Inlet), the tidal inlet of Bruges, was crucial to the development of local commerce. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its direct access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a natural channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched to Damme, a city that became the commercial outpost for Bruges.
Bruges had a strategic location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade, who had a kontor in the city, and the southern trade routes. Bruges was already included in the circuit of the Flemish and French cloth fairs at the beginning of the 13th century, but when the old system of fairs broke down, the entrepreneurs of Bruges innovated. They developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and pool their knowledge of markets. They employed new forms of economic exchange, including bills of exchange (i.e. promissory notes) and letters of credit. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices.
With the reawakening of town life in the 12th century, a wool market, a woolens weaving industry, and the cloth market all profited from the shelter of city walls, where surpluses could be safely accumulated under the patronage of the counts of Flanders. The city's entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotland's wool-producing districts. English contacts brought Normandy grain and Gascon wines. Hanseatic ships filled the harbor, which had to be expanded beyond Damme to Sluys to accommodate the new cog-ships.
In 1277, the first merchant fleet from the Republic of Genoa appeared in the port of Bruges, the first of the merchant colony that made Bruges the main link to the trade of the Mediterranean. This development opened not only the trade in spices from the Levant but also advanced commercial and financial techniques and a flood of capital that soon took over the banking of Bruges. The building where the Genoese Republic housed its commercial representation in the city still survives, now housing the Frietmuseum.
The Bourse opened in 1309 (most likely the first stock exchange in the world) and developed into the most sophisticated money market of the Low Countries in the 14th century. By the time Venetian galleys first appeared, in 1314, they were latecomers. Numerous foreign merchants were welcomed in Bruges, such as the Castilian wool merchants who first arrived in the 13th century. After the Castilian wool monopoly ended, the Basques, many hailing from Bilbao (Biscay), thrived as merchants (wool, iron commodities, etc.) and established their own commercial consulate in Bruges by the mid-15th century. The foreign merchants expanded the city's trading zones. They maintained separate communities governed by their own laws until the economic collapse after 1700.
At the start of the Franco-Flemish War in 1297, Bruges was sympathetic to the French cause and surrendered eagerly to the French king. The French army fortified the city with a second, seven kilometer long city wall, which enclosed 430 ha (1,100 acres). The French governor Jacques de Châtillon imposed harsh measures and taxes on Bruges, which ignated a rebellion. On 18 May 1302 during the Bruges Matins the local militia massacred the French garrison. Bruges, together with other Flemish towns, joined forces with the Count of Flanders against the French, culminating in the unexpected victory at the Battle of the Golden Spurs, fought near Kortrijk on 11 July. The statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, the leaders of the uprising, can still be seen on the Big Market square.
The city maintained a militia as a permanent paramilitary body. It gained flexibility and high prestige through close ties to a guild of the organized militia, comprising professionals and specialized units. Militia men bought and maintained their own weapons and armor, according to their family status and wealth.
Later, Bruges would be consumed in the Flemish revolts that occurred around the County of Flanders between 1323 and 1328.
The weavers and spinners of Bruges were thought to be the best in the world, and the population of Bruges grew to at least 46,000 inhabitants at this time around 1350. At the end of the 14th century, Bruges became one of the Four Members, along with Brugse Vrije, Ghent, and Ypres. Together they formed a parliament; however, they frequently quarreled amongst themselves.
In the 15th century, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, set up a court in Bruges, as well as Brussels and Lille, attracting several artists, bankers, and other prominent personalities from all over Europe. The new oil-painting techniques of the Flemish school gained world renown. The first book in English ever printed was published in Bruges by William Caxton. Edward IV and Richard III of England were then living in exile in Bruges.
Decline after 1500
Starting around 1500, the Zwin channel, (the Golden Inlet) which had given the city its prosperity, began silting up and the Golden Era ended. In the 16th century, Bruges was a centre of humanism and Protestantism, with international ramifications. In 1578, the city briefly came under Protestant rule. The execution of three Franciscan friars on the Burg caused a great stir. The secession of the Spanish Netherlands in 1584 led to the city's final decline, which soon fell behind Antwerp as the economic flagship of the Low Countries.
During the 17th century, the lace industry took off, and various efforts to bring back the glorious past were made. During the 1650s, the city was the base for Charles II of England and his court in exile. The maritime infrastructure was modernized, and new connections with the sea were built, but without much success, as Antwerp became increasingly dominant. Bruges became impoverished and gradually faded in importance.
19th century and later revival
In the second half of the 19th century, Bruges became one of the world's first tourist destinations, attracting wealthy British and French tourists. By 1909, the 'Bruges Forward: Society to Improve Tourist' association had come into operation.
The symbolist novelist George Rodenbach made the city into a character in his novel Bruges-la-Morte, meaning "Bruges-the-dead", which was adapted into Erich Wolfgang Korngold's opera, Die tote Stadt (The Dead City).
In World War I, German forces occupied Bruges. However, despite being a base for the Flanders U-boat flotilla, the city suffered virtually no damage, and was liberated on 19 October 1918 by the Allies. The city was occupied by the Germans from 1940 during World War II and was again spared destruction. On 12 September 1944, it was liberated by the 12th Manitoba Dragoons' Canadian troops.
After 1965, the original medieval city experienced a "renaissance". Restorations of residential and commercial structures, historic monuments, and churches generated a surge in tourism and economic activity in the downtown area. International tourism has boomed, and new efforts resulted in Bruges being designated European Capital of Culture in 2002. It attracts some eight million tourists annually.
The port of Zeebrugge was built in 1907. The Germans used it for their U-boats in World War I. It was greatly expanded in the 1970s and early 1980s and has become one of Europe's most important and modern ports.
Geography
The municipality comprises the following sub-municipalities:
- The historic city centre of Bruges, Sint-Jozef and Sint-Pieters (I)
- Koolkerke (II)
- Sint-Andries (III)
- Sint-Michiels (IV)
- Assebroek (V)
- Sint-Kruis (VI)
- Dudzele (VII)
- Lissewege (with Zeebrugge and Zwankendamme) (VIII)
Climate
Bruges has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb).
Landmarks, arts, and culture
The medieval architecture in Bruges is mostly intact, making it one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe. The "Historic Centre of Bruges" has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Its medieval buildings include the Church of Our Lady, whose brick spire reaches 115.6 m (379.27 ft), making it the world's second-highest brick tower/building. The sculpture Madonna and Child, which can be seen in the transept, is believed to be the only of Michelangelo's sculptures to have left Italy within his lifetime.
Bruges' best-known landmark is the Belfry of Bruges, a 13th-century belfry housing a municipal carillon comprising 47 bells. The Belfry of Bruges, independent of the previously mentioned UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bruges, is included on the World Heritage Site of Belfries of Belgium and France. The city still employs a full-time carillonneur, who gives free concerts regularly.
In addition to the "Historic Centre of Bruges" and the tower included in the "Belfries of Belgium and France", Bruges is also home to a third UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Ten Wijngaerde Beguinage, a beguinage built in the 13th century, is included in the World Heritage Site of "Flemish Beguinages".
Craft
Bruges is known for its lace, a textile technique. Moreover, the city and its lace would go on to inspire the Thread Routes film series, the second episode of which, shot in 2011, was partly set in Bruges.