Historyes of Troye came from Bruges in 1473 and was printed for Margaret,
Duchess of Burgundy and sister of English Kings Edward IV and Richard III
(Various 1907–1921; Blake 1976, 2004).
Bruges’ wealth started to diminish in the fifteenth century, when the larger
harbor of Antwerp began to dominate and take up the trade of Bruges and
Damme. Mother Nature never sleeps and she continued to create challenges for
the port. In 1520 the Zwin’s silting closed off sea access and set off real economic
decline. Damme was virtually destroyed by the Gueux (Gueuzen), insurgents
battling Philip II, King of Spain and sovereign of the Netherlands (the XVII
Provinces, imperial lands of the Habsburg) during the period spanning 1578
through 1584. But Bruges was not giving up yet. A 1622 canal to Oostende gave
Bruges a new outlet to the sea. They continued to import from other Hanseatic
League trading cities and guilds quite actively from the thirteenth to the seventeenth
centuries. Silting problems continued and struggling to hold on to its trade, yet
another canal is built further away. Begun in 1751 and finished in 1753 the Coupure
Canal opened access for sea going vessels from Ghent into the city centre
(Boussauw 2014; Charlier 2005; De le Courte 1891).
Damme lived a short revival when Napoleon I (1769–1821) who ruled over the
occupied Belgian (Southern Netherlands) provinces, initiated the digging of a canal
that would have linked Bruges with the Scheldt river and thereby given Bruges and
Damme a new access to the sea. The waterway went as far as Hoeke. When the
Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) selected William I (1772–1841) of OrangeNassau (King of The Netherlands, 1813–1840) to succeed Napoleon I to the
reunited XVII Provinces, he ordered the pursuit of the digging which proceeded
to Sluis (to the French L’Ecluse). That is where the “canal that goes nowhere”
stopped because the Belgians revolted in 1830 and demanded independence. Sluis
and the lower part of the Scheldt River became Dutch territory, the Sluis Canal – the
canal that goes nowhere) was put to rest forever and Scaldisian Ghent got the direct
link to the Scheldt delta by way of a Ghent-Terneuzen canal, in part through Dutch
territory (Lambert 1985).
By 1847 Bruges had declined to the poorest city in Belgium and its hungry
citizens were moved to riot. By the 1890s Bruges had became known in the world
through the writings of Georges Rodenbach (Rodenbach 1892) as Bruges la morte
or “the dead city”.
36.4 Coastal Lands Versus Ebb and Flow
Bruges is not the first town to find itself at the mercy of Mother Nature’s whims. A
glance at old maps shows the considerable difference of position of the shoreline in
the Humber Estuary of England during Roman Times and the contemporary
littoral (Bruun et al. 1978). It is part of the FloodProBE research project supported
by the European Commission addressing “Technologies for Improved Safety of the
Built Environment in Relation to Flood Events”. As a pilot site (in company with
36 Venice-of-the-North’s Ups and Downs: A Brief History of the Port. . .
607
Duchess of Burgundy and sister of English Kings Edward IV and Richard III
(Various 1907–1921; Blake 1976, 2004).
Bruges’ wealth started to diminish in the fifteenth century, when the larger
harbor of Antwerp began to dominate and take up the trade of Bruges and
Damme. Mother Nature never sleeps and she continued to create challenges for
the port. In 1520 the Zwin’s silting closed off sea access and set off real economic
decline. Damme was virtually destroyed by the Gueux (Gueuzen), insurgents
battling Philip II, King of Spain and sovereign of the Netherlands (the XVII
Provinces, imperial lands of the Habsburg) during the period spanning 1578
through 1584. But Bruges was not giving up yet. A 1622 canal to Oostende gave
Bruges a new outlet to the sea. They continued to import from other Hanseatic
League trading cities and guilds quite actively from the thirteenth to the seventeenth
centuries. Silting problems continued and struggling to hold on to its trade, yet
another canal is built further away. Begun in 1751 and finished in 1753 the Coupure
Canal opened access for sea going vessels from Ghent into the city centre
(Boussauw 2014; Charlier 2005; De le Courte 1891).
Damme lived a short revival when Napoleon I (1769–1821) who ruled over the
occupied Belgian (Southern Netherlands) provinces, initiated the digging of a canal
that would have linked Bruges with the Scheldt river and thereby given Bruges and
Damme a new access to the sea. The waterway went as far as Hoeke. When the
Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) selected William I (1772–1841) of OrangeNassau (King of The Netherlands, 1813–1840) to succeed Napoleon I to the
reunited XVII Provinces, he ordered the pursuit of the digging which proceeded
to Sluis (to the French L’Ecluse). That is where the “canal that goes nowhere”
stopped because the Belgians revolted in 1830 and demanded independence. Sluis
and the lower part of the Scheldt River became Dutch territory, the Sluis Canal – the
canal that goes nowhere) was put to rest forever and Scaldisian Ghent got the direct
link to the Scheldt delta by way of a Ghent-Terneuzen canal, in part through Dutch
territory (Lambert 1985).
By 1847 Bruges had declined to the poorest city in Belgium and its hungry
citizens were moved to riot. By the 1890s Bruges had became known in the world
through the writings of Georges Rodenbach (Rodenbach 1892) as Bruges la morte
or “the dead city”.
36.4 Coastal Lands Versus Ebb and Flow
Bruges is not the first town to find itself at the mercy of Mother Nature’s whims. A
glance at old maps shows the considerable difference of position of the shoreline in
the Humber Estuary of England during Roman Times and the contemporary
littoral (Bruun et al. 1978). It is part of the FloodProBE research project supported
by the European Commission addressing “Technologies for Improved Safety of the
Built Environment in Relation to Flood Events”. As a pilot site (in company with
36 Venice-of-the-North’s Ups and Downs: A Brief History of the Port. . .
607