This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Bruges Matins (history) is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
The Bruges Matins or Brugse Metten was the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by the members of the local Flemish militia on 18 May 1302. The title of the massacre was an analogy to the Sicilian Vespers. The massacre has been compared to St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. This revolt led to the Battle of the Golden Spurs, which saw the Flemish militia defeat French troops on 11 July 1302.
Bruges had had the exclusive rights for the importation of sheep's wool from England. This trade was in the hands of the bourgeois but when Edward I began to deal directly with the customers, the traders lost their advantage. They and their political agents, the aldermen, called upon their liege, Philip the Fair, to maintain their dominant monopolistic position. To do so, he garrisoned French troops in the town.
During the night of 18 May 1302, armed insurrectionists with Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel at their head entered the houses where the French were garrisoned. According to tradition, to distinguish the French from the natives, they asked suspects to repeat the shibboleth: "schild en vriend" which means "shield and friend" a sentence difficult to pronounce for a French speaker. Another version suggests the alternative "des gildens vriend", "friend of the guilds". Only the governor, Jacques de Châtillon, and a handful of the French managed to escape with their lives.
After the Bruges, Matins Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck were celebrated as the leaders of the insurrection. Their statue, which was an initiative of Julius Sabbe, has decorated the market in Bruges since 1887.
References
- This article is a translation of the versions found on the Dutch and French Wikipedias on 17 November 2006.
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 23 July 2008, at 18:33.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Bruges Matins (history)".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.