Archive Guild of Saint-Sebastian
The Royal Guild of Saint-Sebastian in the City of Bruges is an association that has been continuously active since 1375. This is unique in the word! Shooting sessions with the longbow are organized weekly for the members. The Guild is housed from 1573 in the current magnificent building in the Carmersstraat, called the Lombaertheester. Its long history has produced a rich archive, which the guild takes great care of.
The oldest records go back to 1416, they are charters. In addition to charters, there are membership lists (16th-18th century), accounts (15th-20th century), death debt books (16th-18th century), admission books (19th-20th century), record books (17th-20th century), collections of collected correspondence and documents (16th-20th century)…
For privacy reasons, not everything can be consulted online. For more information please contact (link van maken: info@sebastiaansgilde.be) the Guild.
Source https://www.sebastiaansgilde.be/
Archive of the Academy of Fine Arts
General contents
The Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1717 as a free association of painters. This makes it one of the oldest in the Low Countries. From 1720 she found a home in the Poortersloge. In 1881 it becomes an urban institution. In 2025, the former Academy of Fine Arts consists of two schools: Kunsthumaniora Brugge (daytime education) and Academy Brugge DKO (evening and weekend). Over the years, many well-known figures have taught or attended school there.
The archive of the Academy of Fine Arts was not transferred to the city until 1892, together with the art collections. It forms series number 409 within the archive file Oud Archief. In 1958 Albert Schouteet made an inventory to the archive of the Academy: 'Inventory of the archive of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Bruges (1717-1892). In the meantime, this was supplemented after new transfers. This inventory can be consulted in the reading room of the City Archives. Interesting series within this archive are the resolution books, correspondence, student lists, accounts ...
How to consult the archive of The Academy of Fine Arts
A limited part is currently available online at the Bruges Archives Bank. It concerns student lists (numbers 15-17 and 43-46), teacher lists (numbers 27-38), correspondence (numbers 10-13) and resolution books (numbers 2-7). They are gradually provided with metadata. The other issues can only be consulted in the reading room of the City Archives.
Sources
A. Vandewalle. ‘Beknopte inventaris van het stadsarchief van Brugge. Deel I: Oud Archief’ (Brugse Geschiedbronnen uitgegeven door het gemeentebestuur van Brugge VIII). Brugge, 1979, p. 151.
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academie_voor_Schone_Kunsten_Brugge (accessed 30 January 2025).
Books of Resolution
Contents
Books of Resolution (series 118 from the Old Archives) contain the minutes of the deliberations of the city magistrate on general administrative matters. These minutes are sometimes called “secret resolutions”. Here, you will find a lot of information about the ins and outs of the city over the centuries. The records cover the 1535-1796 period, with some gaps: between 2 September 1537 and 3 September 1539, between 2 September 1553 and 28 August 1557 and between 30 January 1773 and 21 August 1781.
Consultation
There is no metadata for the Books of Resolution. In the margin of each item, however, a keyword or topic is mentioned. Nineteenth-century handwritten tables of contents exist in the records from 1541 to 1585 and from 1607 to 1641. These can be requested in the reading room.
Source
A. Vandewalle. ‘Beknopte inventaris van het stadsarchief van Brugge. Deel I: Oud Archief' (Concise inventory of the City Archives of Bruges. Part I: Old Archives) (Bruges Historical Sources published by the Municipal Council of Bruges VIII). Bruges, 1979, p. 70.
Burghers' books and outsiders' books
Burghers' books
In the Ancien Régime, not every resident of Bruges had the same rights. This was the case in other cities in the Netherlands too. Only those who were citizens had all the rights: they could join a guild, did not have to pay a toll, could initiate legal proceedings, had the right to protection, could hold administrative offices, etc. There were several ways to acquire citizenship, the main ones being birth, marriage, living in a town for a certain period of time and purchase.
The Bruges burghers' books (series 130 from the Old Archives) only refer to the latter. They contain the names of those who bought their burghership. In exceptional cases, there is also the occasional gift. The registers cover the 1418-1794 period, with a gap between 1496 and 1530. Metadata has been added. In other words, it is possible to query the burghers' books using the search functions.
Outsiders' books
The latter also applies to the outsiders' books (series 131 in the Old Archives). If you left Bruges for a certain period of time, you could keep your privileges as a citizen. You had to register yourself as an outsider. This meant that you chose to be domiciled with another burgher in the city and that you provided a guarantee for the payment of an annual tax. All this is to be found in four registers, which together span the 1548-1788 period.
Cartulary of the “Drie Santinnen” (Three Saints)
The Cartulary contains a lot of information about religious life in the late Middle Ages. The guild of the “Drie Santinnen” (Three Saints) had all important documents from its archives copied into this parchment register. Very important is the beautiful miniature which opens the manuscript: this painting of the three Saints (The saints Catherine, Mary Magdalene and Barbara) shows great craftsmanship and is of a high artistic level. The guild of the “Drie Santinnen” (Three Saints) was one of the two major rhetoricians' guilds in late medieval Bruges. Their members, the rhetoricians, performed plays, wrote poetry and recited it in their own circle. The Cartulary covers the period approximately 1474-1475-16th century and is number 1 within the 390 series of the Old Archives.
Civil judgements
Until the French period, at the end of the eighteenth century, there was no separation of powers. The aldermen of Bruges, like their colleagues from other cities, were also judges. They passed judgement in the Vierschaar (important, public cases in civil jurisdiction and all criminal jurisdiction) and in the Chamber (small, non-public disputes in civil jurisdiction). This explains the presence of several series relating to justice in the Old Archives of the city of Bruges. Today, there is civil law and criminal law, while in the past, the terms were civil and criminal justice. Civil justice dealt with civil disputes, criminal justice with crimes.
Archiefbank Brugge contains two series from the civil justice system, both without metadata: Vierschaar Civil Judgements (1447-1574, major civil disputes, series 157 from the Old Archives) and Chamber Civil Judgements (1473-1645, minor civil disputes, series 165 from the Old Archives).
A. Vandewalle. ‘Beknopte inventaris van het stadsarchief van Brugge. Deel I: Oud Archief' (Concise inventory of the City Archives of Bruges. Part I: Old Archives) (Bruges Historical Sources published by the Municipal Council of Bruges VIII). Bruges, 1979, pp. 81-85 and 90.
Civil registry records
During the French period in the late eighteenth century, a great many social changes took place, including at the administrative level. In 1796, for example, the French introduced the civil registry. From then on, municipalities were obliged to draw up certificates of births, marriages and deaths. This was done to replace the abolished parish registers. The system still exists today. Until a few years ago, municipalities used to prepare one copy for themselves and one for the registry of the court of first instance, each on paper. The latter copy eventually ended up in the State Archives. Since the introduction of DABS in 2019, everything has been done digitally and the records are kept in one central registry by the federal government.
The civil registry records are one of the most important sources for genealogical research. They allow you to go back step by step. For instance, people's birth certificates almost always contain the names of the parents with their age, place of birth, occupation and address. This enables you to look up their birth certificate as well, taking you further and further back into the past. Marriage and death certificates also give you these kinds of leads. They tell you a great deal about who people were.
Archiefbank Brugge contains not only the civil registry records for Bruges, but also for the former independent municipalities of Assebroek, Dudzele, Koolkerke, Lissewege, Sint-Andries, Sint-Kruis, Sint-Michiels and Sint-Pieters. Bruges-by-Sea is included under Bruges.
Another thing: there are also special registers at the civil registry department where, for example, divorces, changes of nationality, corrections to erroneous certificates, etc. can be found.
Please note that not all civil registry records can be freely consulted. Birth certificates become public once they reach 100 years of age. For marriage certificates, this period is 75 years and, for death certificates, 50 years. More recent records can be consulted at the City of Bruges Civil Affairs Department under certain conditions. See also the Royal Decree of 17 March 2021.
Metadata has been added to the civil registry records, so they can be searched using the search functions. Please note that a possible exception to this is the most recently disclosed years. If you are looking for people from those years and cannot find them immediately, it is best to consult the scans in the tree structure directly. Use the scanned index first (in a separate folder under each year)
Read more
Take a look at https://www.familiegeschiedenis.be/nl/bronnen/burgerlijke-stand (Accessed on 22 December, 2020).
Clerks of the Vierschaar
Today, anyone buying a house, making a gift or drawing up a will, etc., goes to a notary. This has become common practice, but that was not the case centuries ago. In those days, you could go to the aldermen too. Until the end of the eighteenth century, there was no separation of powers. In those days, aldermen were not only administrators, but judges too. In the latter capacity, they not only administered justice in criminal and civil matters, but also practised voluntary justice. This was the ratification of deeds of a civil nature such as sales, securities, wills and suchlike. There were notaries, but the aldermen were a major competitor.
In Bruges, the town council appointed clerks to draw up these authentic deeds of a civil nature – the Clerks of the Vierschaar. First, they wrote the text of a deed in a special register called a protocol. It is these registers that can be consulted at Archiefbank Brugge. After recording the text in the protocol, they went to the aldermen's room with the parties to read out the text and to have it ratified by the aldermen. Finally, the parties were given a sealed deed for the text.
The series of registers by Clerks of the Vierschaar (series 198 from the Old Archives) runs from 1484 to 1796. This series is not complete. Some protocols have been lost. In addition, several registers ended up in the Bruges State Archives. For a complete overview, see A. Schouteet. ‘The Clerks of the Vierschaar in Bruges with an inventory of their protocols kept in the Bruges City Archives’. Bruges, 1973. Not all the protocol registers kept in the City Archives have yet been digitalised.
No metadata has been added to the scans. In the reading room, the eighteenth-century name indexes for the Clerks of the Vierschaar from before 1580 can be consulted on local PCs. Summaries are also available for some of the oldest registers. These are available on request.
A. Vandewalle. ‘Beknopte inventaris van het stadsarchief van Brugge. Deel I: Oud Archief' (Concise inventory of the City Archives of Bruges. Part I: Old Archives) (Bruges Historical Sources published by the Municipal Council of Bruges VIII). Bruges, 1979, p. 93.
Confiscation accounts
The confiscation accounts take us back to the aftermath of the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. These are accounts of the proceeds from real estate: levies, interest, rent, etc. These revenues used to belong to the Bruges Leliaards (a section of the nobility loyal to France), but were confiscated by the city after their defeat in July 1302. The money was initially intended for war expenses, but later often for unspecified payments to various people.
It concerns six registers, series 271 from the Old Archives, of which the first five have a double (volume 2). The registers cover the following years: early August 1302-31 May 1303, 31 May 1303-2 February 1304, 2 February 1304-11 June 1304, 11 June 1304-1 October 1304, 1 October 1304-2 February 1305 and 2 February 1305-4 April 1305.
There are four possible categories of receipts in the registers: arrears from the previous term, land levies within or outside Bruges, house interest/rents and room interest. Each section is divided up by street and place names in Bruges, with a list of entries consisting of people's names and amounts. The first person's name in an entry is presumably the occupant/tenant or levy-payer for the plot or property in question. That first person owed payment to one or more people. The names of the latter follow after the first person's name, with the amounts due alongside. It is these amounts that were confiscated by the city, because the recipients were Leliaards.
No metadata has been added to the scanned registers.
Criminal justice: Book of Stone (Boek van het Steen), Books of Inquest (Schouwboeken) and Books of Confession (Verluydboeken)
Until the French period, at the end of the eighteenth century, there was no separation of powers. The aldermen of Bruges, like their colleagues from other cities, were also judges. They passed judgement in the Vierschaar (important, public cases in civil jurisdiction and all criminal jurisdiction) and in the Chamber (small, non-public disputes in civil jurisdiction). This explains the presence of several series relating to justice in the Old Archives of the city of Bruges. Today, there is civil law and criminal law, while in the past, the terms were civil and criminal justice. Civil justice dealt with civil disputes, criminal justice with crimes. At Archiefbank Brugge, you will find various sources from Bruges criminal justice: the Book of Stone, the Books of Inquest and the Books of Confession. There is no metadata for these sources.
Book of Stone (Boek van het Steen)
The Book of Stone (series 193 from the Old Archives) consists of two registers, which are also sometimes called the “Criminal Examination Book” or “Book of Criminal Acquaintances”. They contain confessions made by prisoners at Het Steen (‘The Stone Fortress’) for the periods 1554-1557 and 1558-1559. Het Steen, located on the Burg square, was the city prison of Bruges for centuries, until most of the building burnt down in 1689. The prison then moved to the Raephuis on the Pandreitje.
Books of Inquest (Schouwboeken)
The Books of Inquest (series 191 from the Old Archives) chronicled the autopsies that were carried out, with the results and any complaints and further investigations. This series covers the 1554-1770 period, with a gap between 1606 and 1622.
Books of Confession (Verluydboeken)
Criminals' confessions were read out in the Vierschaar. In addition to these confessions, the Books of Confession (series 192 in the Old Archives) also contain the verdicts. These verdicts were read to the public to set an example. It covers the 1490-1795 period, with a gap between 1555 and 1611.
Hallegeboden
In an age without social media, newspapers, television, etc., people received news in very different ways. The people of Bruges had the hallegeboden (series 120 in the Old Archives) for centuries. These were announcements and decrees by the city council, called out from the balcony above the entrance gate to the hall. Central government regulations were also announced this way. In concrete terms, these included public order, trade, industry, etc.
Bells tolled to announce the call-out. Then the amman (a royal justice officer) appeared and read out the hallegebod in a loud voice. He did this in the presence of at least two aldermen. From that moment on, the hallegebod had the force of law.
To make sure that as many people as possible heard the hallegeboden, they were also called out at other places in the city. There were also placards, at first in written form and later in printed form. From 1769 onwards, the call-outs no longer took place from the balcony of the hall, but instead from the façade of the town hall. However, the term hallegeboden remained in use.
Although it undoubtedly began much earlier, the preserved written record of the hallegeboden only begins in 1490. The series consists of 29 registers and runs until 1796. There is only a gap for the period between 29 August 1499 and 9 September 1503. No metadata has been added to the online images. An index is available for most of the registers. When you open the subfolders, the index is always at the top. The metadata can be consulted on local PCs in the reading room. An extra tip: you can also request the placards mentioned above there (Old Archive series 122. Placards).
Manuscript De Doppere
The Bruges native Rombout De Doppere (Bruges, circa 1432 – 1502), cleric and notary, compiled a practical travel guide in 1491-1492 for pilgrims to Rome and especially Jerusalem. The guide primarily contains an abridged version of the travel diary of Jan Adornes, who traveled to Jerusalem with his father Anselm and some friends in 1470-71. The pilgrims' itinerary is carefully described, with attention to the local population and its customs, fauna and flora and the relationships between the different religions. Naturally, a lot of attention is also paid to the description of the holy places visited in and around Jerusalem. The report ends with a brief summary of the trip. In a second part, De Doppere notes a number of practical tips for those who want to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem departing from Venice. Useful tips for negotiating with the captain and for purchasing travel equipment and provisions are neatly listed, together with tips on which place to choose on the boat and the money to provide. The third and fourth parts list the indulgences that can be earned by a pilgrimage to the holy places in Palestine and the churches in Rome. The manuscript is number 1 in the series “Pieces with unknown provenance” of the Brugge Social Service Department Archive.
Memling Museum visitor records
The Memling Museum, located in the chapel of the old St John's Hospital in Bruges, is known worldwide. Since 1839, visitors have been able to admire several works by the painter Hans Memling (1433-1494), among others.
Shortly after the museum opened in 1843, they started keeping visitor records. Alongside the visitors' signatures, you will also find their occupation, where they lived and the date of their visit. These include a great many famous people.
For now, you can only browse the registers digitally – no metadata is available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_St._John%27s_Hospital
Minutes of the Office of Charity
The Office of Charity (‘Bureel van Weldadigheid’, BvW) is a predecessor to the current PCSW/Mintus. It came into being during the French period, along with the Committee of Civil Almshouses (‘Commissie van Burgerlijk Godshuizen’, CBG), as a successor to the former almshouses and hospices. The BvW's main task was to support the poor. From 1925, both the BvW and the CBG merged into the Committee for Public Assistance (‘Commissie van Openbare Onderstand’, COO).
In 1976, this then became the PCSW.
The minutes of the Office of Charity are a particularly rich source for research into the granting of aid to the poor, properties, people, etc. They cover the 1799-1925 period. Until 1899, they were written in French, and from 1900 in Dutch.
No metadata have been added for registers 1-18. They can only be browsed digitally. Metadata have been added for registers 19-36, use Free search.
Municipal Council Minutes
The minutes of the Bruges municipal council are available at Archiefbank Brugge for the 1800-1900 period. Along with those of the College of Aldermen (not online), they form the heart of the city's decision-making process. All possible subjects are discussed: public works, city property, trade, culture, etc. The minutes of the municipal council are therefore a first-rate source for anyone doing research on nineteenth-century Bruges.
No metadata has been added. It is possible to search per register using a contemporary index.
The minutes are in French. Dutch was only used during the years 1889-1891.
Would you like to consult minutes of the Bruges municipal council from other years? Then come and visit us in our reading room. You will find the printed verbatim reports of the municipal council, namely the Bulletin Communal or Municipal Gazette, here as well.
Obituaries
Obituaries are an interesting source for genealogy research. In addition to the name of the deceased and the date of death, they often contain many other details: place of death, date of birth, place of birth, partner's name, names of family members, etc.
The City Archives hold a collection of tens of thousands of obituaries, from the eighteenth century to the present day. Please note: for privacy reasons, we only show obituaries that are at least 50 years old, by analogy with the publicity period of death certificates of the civil registrty records. This is done entirely under the responsibility of the City Archives. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
The other obituaries can be consulted in our reading room.
Orphanage deeds
An orphanage in Bruges is attested from the late fourteenth century. Its members, including two aldermen, supervised the guardians of Bruges' orphans. Whenever underage children from Bruges lost their father or mother, or both parents, and the parents were not penniless, the orphanage appointed guardians. Note: the parents had to be burghers of Bruges. The guardians were entrusted with orphan/orphans' personal care and the management of property. An accurate inventory of the estate was drawn up, including the share for the orphan(s). For as long as the complete settlement and division of the estate had not been completed, the guardians had to submit an annual account of income and expenditure to the orphanage. This provided some control over the management of property. This administrative process, which lasted for centuries, produced several archive series. Two of them have been scanned and are available: the registers of orphans' property (series 208 from the Old Archives) and the orphans' consent registers (series 209 from the Old Archives).
The orphan's share of the property was recorded in the orphans' estate registers, after examining the inventory of the estate. Any changes were noted afterwards. The registers were compiled for each of the city's six sections: Sint-Donaas, Carmers, Sint-Jans, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw, Sint-Niklaas and Sint-Jacobs. These six sections were administrative subdivisions of the city, which had existed since the Middle Ages. The orphans' property registers run from 1398 to 1719. Their successors can be found in the orphans' consent registers. The latter run up to and including 1784 and are no longer subdivided by one of the six sections, but instead relate to the entire city.
There is no metadata for these records. However, this can be consulted on the local PCs in the reading room.
A. Vandewalle. ‘Beknopte inventaris van het stadsarchief van Brugge. Deel I: Oud Archief' (Concise inventory of the City Archives of Bruges. Part I: Old Archives) (Bruges Historical Sources published by the Municipal Council of Bruges VIII). Bruges, 1979, pp. 95-96.
Parish records
In the parish records or baptismal, marriage and burial books, priests noted the baptisms, marriages and funerals of their parishioners. This was mandatory, for baptisms and marriages, from the promulgation of the decrees from the Council of Trent. For the diocese of Bruges, this proclamation took place on 11 August 1565. Some priests were already doing it voluntarily, often as part of their personal record-keeping. Burial records were probably not required until the seventeenth century. In the course of the eighteenth century, the secular authorities exercised more and more control over the compilation of the parish records. This explains why there is some duplication. For Bruges, for example, this is from 1757 onwards. Eventually, in 1796, the French abolished the system and it was the task of the municipalities to record births, marriages and deaths from then on. The current system of civil registries was born. Priests, however, continued to add to the parish records at their own initiative.
From the late sixteenth to late eighteenth century, then, the parish records are among the most important sources for genealogical research. In a baptismal certificate, you will find not only the name of the person baptised, but also those of the parents, the godfather and the godmother. Note: a baptismal certificate always contains the date of baptism and sometimes also the date of birth, but not always! A marriage certificate includes the date of marriage, names of the bride and groom, and names of witnesses. Over time, more information began to be added: date of the betrothal, the three calls for any impediment to the marriage, any dispensations, place of origin, etc. A burial certificate also contains various information: name of the deceased, date of burial, sometimes the date of death, family relationships, occasionally occupations, sometimes some details on the nature of the burial, etc.
The parish records of Bruges and how to consult them
For many places, there are only parish records from the seventeenth century onwards. Bruges is an exception to this. They have generally been preserved from the fourth quarter of the sixteenth century, in some cases even from the third quarter. This is despite the fact that they were only kept carefully from the early seventeenth century. The series of scanned parish records at Archiefbank Brugge go back to the late eighteenth century. For the later parish records, it is best to contact the Episcopal Archives of Bruges.
You can find records from the following parishes at Archiefbank Brugge: Sint-Donaas, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe, Sint-Walburga, Sint-Salvators, Sint-Gillis, Sint-Jacob, Sint-Catharina, Sint-Anna, Sint-Kruis and Sint-Pieters-op-de-Dijk. There are also from St John's Hospital, the Potterie and the Spanish Chaplaincy. There is no metadata at present. You can visit our reading room for this or the online database Akten West-Vlaanderen (West Flanders Records). It is also possible to consult indexes and old inventories through the tree structure at Archiefbank Brugge.
One more thing: the parish records for the present Bruges sub-municipalities are kept in the Bruges State Archives.
Pieter Le Doulx about famous Bruges residents. Biographies to 1800
Until the early years of the 19th century, the Bruges artist Pieter Le Doulx worked as an amateur historian on two large-scale collections containing around a thousand biographies of fellow citizens. In his works he recorded Bruges' past, but he was also the chronicler of his own time. The two works that can be consulted here were written by Le Doulx in a beautiful and easy-to-read handwriting. They were never published. “Lives of the Artists” is undoubtedly Le Doulx's best-known manuscript. No fewer than 158 biographies of well-known and lesser-known painters, sculptors, draftsmen, wood carvers, miniature painters, engravers and tapestry workers are presented. The second manuscript, “Lives of learned and renowned men”, contains more than 500 biographies of scholars, lawyers, civil servants, government figures, writers and clergymen, mainly Bruges men from the Middle Ages to Le Doulx's own time. Both manuscripts form an inexhaustible source for local historians and those interested in Bruges history. They suffered quite a bit of damage during the Second World War. They were expertly restored a few years ago. The two manuscripts can be found in the Manuscripts collection (series 539 of the Old Archive) manuscript 18 and the Archives of the Academy (series 409 of the Old Archives) number 230 respectively.
Population registers
Just like the certificates of births, marriages and deaths, the population registers also appeared in the late eighteenth century. For Bruges itself, the series starts in 1790. The starting date for the sub-municipalities varies from 1800 (Sint-Michiels) to 1846 (Koolkerke).
Population registers are arranged by district, street and number. They are the result of censuses and contain information about the people who lived at each address: names, occupations, dates of birth and possibly death, family relationships, nationality, previous and subsequent places of residence, etc. Population registers are therefore excellent sources for reconstructing households. In the first decades of the series, this data is not as extensive. At that time, the counts were also more of a snapshot. Only in the course of the nineteenth century was the data in the registers systematically supplemented. From 1880 onwards, a census took place every ten years. Registers containing the data collected were maintained for a decade. After that, everything started all over again. The Second World War disrupted this system: there was no census in 1940, but there was one in 1946.
From 1961, the registers were replaced by card indexes. Finally, the National Registry replaced the population registers, as was made compulsory by the Act of 8 August 1983.
The population registers at Archiefbank Brugge have not yet had all their metadata added. If you cannot find someone in the population registers using the search functions, it is advisable to browse through the scans using the tree structure. The scanned indexes are an indispensable tool.
Please note: only the population registers older than 120 years can be freely consulted. It is best to contact us if you want to consult more recent population registers. See also the Royal Decree of 5 January 2014.
Take a look at https://www.familiegeschiedenis.be/nl/bronnen/bevolkingsregister (accessed on 7 January 2021).
The city accounts
The City Accounts are a very important series in the old archives of the City of Bruges, providing an overview of the City's annual income and expenses. They can tell you, for example, which works the City carried out or how many people the City employed and how much they earned. Or you can find out what taxes Bruges levied during a certain period and how much these brought in. On special occasions, such as a ‘Joyous Entry’ (the first official visits of a reigning monarch), all the expenses associated with the corresponding festivities were meticulously recorded. And there is much more to discover.
The records go back all the way to 1280, even though the municipal administration already kept accounts before that date. However, the oldest records were irretrievably lost when the belfry burnt down in 1280. From that year onwards and until 1794, almost all the accounts have been kept without interruption.
The online images do not contain any metadata. They are, however, arranged according to a number of set categories, which allows for quick browsing. The order of the categories has occasionally changed over time.
It should be noted that the City accounts for the period from 15 October 1281 to 14 October 1282 have not yet been digitised because of the large size of the rolls. They can be consulted in the City Archives and in the publication by C. WIJFFELS and J. DE SMET 'De rekeningen van de stad Brugge (1280-1319). Eerste deel (1280-1302). Eerste stuk', Brussels, 1965, XVII + 1052 pages. The City accounts for the period 1478-1794 can only be consulted in the reading room.
The Memorial List of the “Beeldenmakersambacht” (The Craft of the Painters)
The Memorial List of the “Beeldenmakersambacht” (The Craft of the Painters) is the reference work par excellence for those looking for data on several craftsmen from the period 1450 to 1801 in Bruges. It lists painters, saddlers, glaziers, harness makers and many others. You will find minor masters, but also well-known painters such as Hans Memling and Gerard David. This list served to commemorate all deceased members of the craft during official worship services. In addition to the names of the deceased, you will also find the year of death. Please note: some years of death were added later and may not be completely correct. The Memorial List was severely damaged during the Second World War. Yet many interested parties continued to request the document for research. Only in 2000-2001 could the manuscript be properly restored. It was immediately completely digitized. The Memorial List is under series 314 of the Old Archives.
War posters
In commemoration of 100 years since the First World War (1914-1918), the printed posters from that period were scanned and their content was described by volunteers. This involves 929 war posters, as they are known: 774 issued by the German occupier and 155 by the (Belgian) city council of Bruges. They were posted in public places in Bruges, where the people of Bruges could read them.
The war posters provide a good picture of daily life and events in Bruges during the First World War. You will find out, for instance, that on 17 October 1914 (three days after the capture of Bruges by German troops), the clocks on the Belfry of Bruges were advanced by one hour and that no-one was allowed to use the public highway after 10pm. You will also find out what goods were requisitioned and who had to make their home available for billeting German soldiers. If you want to know when Captain Charles Fryatt was executed or what the German occupiers did with stray dogs, just enter the keyword ‘Fryatt’ or ‘dogs’ and the result will appear on the screen.
Metadata is available for the war posters. This means you can search through them using the search functions.
For your information: the City Archives hold thousands more posters. They go back to the fifteenth century! You can come to the reading room to consult them.
Zestendelen registers
The Zestendelen registers (historically, a type of land registry, series 138 in the Old Archives) are of great importance for the history of the houses in Bruges. They cover the 1580-1800 period and are the old land registry for the city. Each house has a numbered page where you will find a short description of all possible transactions: sale, interest, mortgage, easement, change, etc. Would you like to see the complete deed of a transaction? This is perfectly possible: for each one, there is a reference to the records of the Clerks of the Vierschaar (make this a link), in which the minutes for these deeds were noted down.
Both the Zestendelen registers and those of the Clerks of the Vierschaar can be browsed digitally through Archiefbank Brugge. There is no metadata. You can find part of these on the local PCs in our reading room for the Clerks of the Vierschaar (link van maken) and through the portal site erfgoedbrugge.be for the Zestendelen.
Zestendelen
Oh yes, why is it called Zestendelen? This is an old Dutch terms for ‘six parts’. Bruges was administratively divided into six sections from as early as the Middle Ages: Sint-Niklaas, Sint-Jacobs, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw, Sint-Donaas, Sint-Jans and Carmers. These six sections in turn included 119 circles or districts. Finally, there are also nine registers for the city area outside the city walls (extra muros) and one register for fortifications (relating to the sale of the materials and grounds of the demolished fortresses in 1782-1783).