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E-book At Home in Renaissance Bruges : Connecting Objects, People and Domestic Spaces in a Sixteenth-Century City

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Penilaian

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Early fifteenth-century travellers such as Spanish writer Pero Tafur praised the city of Bruges because of its liveliness and economic activity: ‘Bruges was a large and wealthy city, and one of the greatest markets of the world [...] anyone who has mon-ey, and wished to spend it, will find in this town alone everything which the world produces’.1 Bruges had played an important role in the European network of trade already since the mid-twelfth century.2 In this capacity, it offered a remarkable quan-tity and variety of consumer and luxury goods. Not only the ducal court could hap-pily thrive there, but local and international merchants found their way to Bruges as well, lured as by favourable business opportunities in this important northern Euro-pean trade centre.3 Artisans were attracted by this environment of creativity as well, among them several of the most renowned painters of the age.4 Wealthy craftspeo-ple and the higher middling groups in Bruges society provided an important local demand and increasingly proved to be keen consumers of luxury goods themselves.In the middle of the fifteenth century, however, the Bruges economy became increasingly affected by unfavourable conditions.5 Due to shifts in international trade networks, whereby land trade regained importance, Antwerp’s location on the Scheldt river allowed it to develop into a new trade hub for both maritime and con-tinental trade.6 Strong competition in the production of cheaper cloth in neighbour-ing centres caused the Bruges traditional wool industries to decline. Consequently, the city had to look for alternatives to keep its economy running and reconverted its industries from producing heavy woollens towards a more differentiated economy with the production of luxury goods, luxury textiles and accessories.7 However, some economic and political problems left a deeper impression on the city’s commercial ac-tivities. The Flemish Revolt against Archduke Maximilian of Austria caused an occu-pation of the Bruges outer port of Damme, which not only seriously disrupted trade but also prevented the import of raw materials and the export of finished products by local crafts people.8 The economic warfare of the Habsburg duke clearly undermined the city’s attractiveness. To make things worse (and to further weaken Bruges’s trade position), the archduke ordered foreign and local merchants to leave the city and to settle in the more loyal Brabantian city of Antwerp.9 Large groups of local and foreign merchants and craftspeople left the city – some only temporarily, but others were not planning to return soon and started to build a new life in the Scheldt city. Although the Bruges government made several concessions to foreign nations in terms of trade and tax privileges, it did not succeed in keeping all nations in the city permanently. So, at the dawn of the sixteenth century, international trade found a new focal point in the new metropolis of Antwerp.10 Vigorous attempts were made to reverse the down-wards spiral and to attract (and keep) foreign trade, such as new channels and govern-ment initiatives regarding infrastructure, the construction of better roads in and to the city and up-to-date streets. In 1562 the city government asked painter and engrav-er Marcus Gerards to make a large city map to highlight the renewed accessibility of the city from the sea. The map was intended as a deliberate promotional stunt to pro-mote Bruges as a reliable and easy accessible trade city. Gerards’s city map was a clear attempt by the city government to bring the infrastructure the city had to offer for trade and commerce to the attention of foreign nations. The map therefore presented an idealised image of an economically thriving city, highlighting its most important public places: the large squares and stately public buildings such as commercial halls, the city crane, churches and the city hall. However, notwithstanding these efforts, it was clear that international trade could only be revived for a short period of time.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

940 DEG a

Penerbit

Leuven : Leuven University Press., 2022

Deskripsi Fisik

321 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9789461664389

Klasifikasi

940

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

-

Subjek

HIstory of Europe

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

-

Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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