Battlefields – Europe – Belgium WW1 – Kortrijk

Kortrijk is a municipality in the Flanders Region, western Belgium. It lies along the Leie (Lys) River and the Leie-Scheldt Canal. The Roman settlement of Cortracum was established there, and in the 7th century St. Eloi erected a chapel on the site of the present St. Martin’s Church. Chartered in 1190, Kortrijk reached its peak in the Middle Ages as a centre of the linen damask industry.

Kortrijk was heavily bombed in the summer of 1917, but was liberated by the British Army the following year.

The Begijnhof in Kortrijk was founded in 1238 by Johanna of Constantinople . The intact medieval district is a combination of a square beguinage* and a street beguinage (0.7 ha). Since December 2, 1998 , the Kortrijk beguinage has belonged to the cultural and natural world heritage of UNESCO as part of the group registration of Flemish beguinages.

Like an enchanting little village on a knot of alleys within the old city, the UNESCO-listed beguinage of Kortrijk was set up in the 13th century by Joan, Countess of Flanders (1199-1244). This complex for lay religious women, set between the city’s two main churches, was ransacked several times, notably during the epochal Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. The 41 houses all date from the 17th century, and you’ll be able to make out the home of the Mother Superior (Grootjuffrouw) by its double-stepped gable.

The beguinage of Kortrijk was surrounded by the Count’s castle, the ramparts and the Saint Martin’s Cemetery and is located near the Our Lady and Saint Martin . The Kortrijk beguinage was destroyed several times: in 1302 at the time of the Battle of the Golden Spurs , in 1382 after the Battle of Westrozebeke and again by the French in 1684 .

Source: Wikipedia NL

* A beguinage is a collection of individual and / or communal dwellings , called houses and convents , of beguines usually in the vicinity of a chapel or church and whether or not surrounded by a wall with one or more entrance gates. Specifically for the Netherlands, one speaks of hofje to indicate a series of small houses in which poor or elderly people reside.

Source: Wikipedia NL