Brugge 1574

Description

Map from the "Civitatis Orbis Terrarum", an early atlas published and edited by George Braun, Canon of Cologne Cathedral. Braun gathered vast amounts of information and draft plans to produce over 500 city views/maps published in six parts between 1572 and 1617. Most of these engravings were made by Simon Novellanus, Frans Hogenberg (this map) and Joris Hoefnagel, together some 100 cartographs and artisans worked on the atlas. Although not very accurate, a very desirable and early town-plan of Brugge, seen "from a northwesterly direction, ringed by numerous windmills. At the center can be seen the market square with the cloth hall, a rectangular complex dating from the 13th century and incorporating a belfry. Diagonally to the right behind it, with its even taller tower, is the Gothic Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe church, burial place of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy.

In the 9th century, as a defense against the attacking Normans, Baldouin II the Bald built a fortress on the only bridge surviving from Roman times, it was this that probably gave the site its name. In the 12th century Bruges rose to become a major center of European trade, after a flood left the city with direct access to the nearby North Sea.
Bruges received its charter in 1128.
As a center of Flemish cloth production, towards 1200 Bruges began holding trade fairs, at which wool imported from England was also sold. The first stock exchange was born at the inn run by the van der Buerse family of merchants, who subsequently gave their name to the concept of the "bourse" itself. In the 15th century Bruges saw a flowering of the arts: major artists such as the Van Eyck brothers, Hans Memling and Gerard David lived and worked here."