Last modified: 2004-07-31 by ivan sache
Keywords: nord | bergues | sint winksbergen | lions: 2 (black) |
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![[Flag of Bergues]](../images/f/fr-59-br.gif)
by Olivier Touzeau
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The city of Bergues (Dutch, Sint Winksbergen; 4,306 inhabitants) is located near the French-Belgian border, c. 10 km south-east of Dunkirk. Bergues is a typical Flemish city surrounded by an elaborated system of fortifications and canals derived from the river Colme. The city is nicknamed "the other Flemish Bruges".
During the Gallo-Roman times, the region of Bergues was inhabited by the Menapians. It was evangelized in the VIIth century by saint Winoc, today the local patron saint of millers. The first city walls were erected in the VIIIth-IXth centuries, surrounding the village build on the Groenberg (Green hill), a small hill emerging from swamps. The Saint Winoc's abbey was founded on the Groenberg by count Baudoin la Belle Barbe (the Beutiful Beard) in 1022.
Bergues was a wealthy city famous for its woollen cloth and allowed the control of the hinterland of the port of Dunkirk. Accordingly, the city was besieged, seized and trashed several times during its long history. Charles V's troops trashed Bergues on 3 September 1383; in 1588, the city was seized once again by the French, who nearly razed it. In the XVIIth century, Bergues was seized by the French in 1646, by the Spaniards in 1651, and aga