Great Bridge and Medieval Tollhouse

This is the medieval "Hoogbrug" (High Bridge) or "Grootbrug" (Great Bridge) and the medieval tollhouse.

The "Great Bridge" dates from the 13th century and is still in service.  In the 19th century the parapets were removed and replaced by a wrought iron railing.  People thought at the time that the bridge was ready to collapse under the weight.  Probably the assesment was wrong and the change was not necessary.  The bridge is still standing and we can still enjoy the sight of it.  Imagine how strong it was built to last for over 700 years already.  Now wonder its name at the time.

The tollhouse was built right over the water to have a good view on the ships coming into the city.  From the modern floating walkway you have a nice sight on the underside of the building.  You can even see part of the stairs to the basement sticking out.  The tollhouse is now a small special wine store.

Antwerp 16th Century Guild Houses

The grand market in Antwerp still has a series of beautiful original 16th century guild houses.

The houses were burnt down during the Spanish Fury of 1576. The Spanish troops who were stationed in the fortress adjacent to the city, pillaged the city because they had not been paid.  The guild houses were set on fire, but then rebuilt in the contemporary 16th century style.

It is strange to see that when the Antwerp city hall was built in 1565 on the grand market itself, a new street was formed at the back side called the "Gildekamerstraat", which translates into Guild House Street.  These houses always had had a direct view on the grand market and were now degraded into looking at the back side of the new city hall.  The houses are still beautiful, but difficult to photograph.

My entire set photographs of the guild house can be seen on here.

Wooden treadmill cranes for heavy lifting

For unloading heavy cargo - like barrels of wine or blocks of stone - from ships, treadmill cranes were used.  Smaller cargo was carried off the ship.  The picture below is a reconstruction of such a treadmill crane.  It was built for Bruges 2002, when the city was the cultural capital of Europe.  The crane is still on display in the Wulpenstraat near the ringroad.
In the 16th century two such cranes were in use in Bruges.  Two to four men were used to operate the crane, depending on the load.  The crane could lift up to a ton.

You can read about the history of the crane on the link below.

http://www.regiobrugge.be/tourist/brugsetredmolen.php

In Mechelen a similar type of crane was used.  It was first mentioned in 1311, renewed several times and finally taken out of service in 1887.  From the 19th century a painting and pictures still exist.  It was located on the Haverwerf and the adjacent bridge over the Dijle river was named after it, i.e. Kraanbrug or Crane Bridge.

The mechanism of the cranes is fairly simple.  A rope coils and uncoils around the axis of the crane by the turns of the treadmills.  The rope runs over a pulley.  There is no mechanism for leverage, such as cogwheels or a block and tackle mechanism.  The crane itself could be turned by a beam at the backside.

Another example of a still-existing treadmill crane can be seen in the Crane Chamber of the Sint-Romboutstower at Mechelen.  Three persons could walk next to each other to operate the crane.

Michiel Coxcie - Painter - 1499-1592

Michiel Coxcie was a painter who lived a large part of his life in Mechelen.  He became very old and got to see most of the 16th century.  Charles V and Filip II both ordered paintings by him, including some copies of the Flemish primitives that were still popular at the time.
He settled in Mechelen in 1559, at the time the archdiocese was created in Mechelen.  His furniture was stolen during the Spanish Fury in 1572.  But he was able to get it back due to his good contacts with the authorities.

My pictures of his paintings on my Flickr page.

Links :
Wikipedia
Book of Painters by Karel van Mander in 1604

Jacob of Deventer - Mapmaker

Jacob of Deventer (1500 - 1575) was a publisher of 16th century contemporary maps.  He worked under assignment of Charles V and Filip II.  His home base was Mechelen.  As one of the first, he used trigonometry to create accurate maps, far ahead of the symbolic maps that were created in the middle ages and still used at that time.

His maps can be viewed here in great detail on the site of the Royal Library of Belgium.  Here is the map of Mechelen.

The map of Mechelen of Jacob van Deventer was referred to in (at least) two archeological investigations.  The investigations took place when there was digging within the Mechelen city walls.  The maps were then used to determine what could have been located there.  The reports can be found via this link.  Look at reports 110 and 125.

This the link to the Wikipedia entry.

Hof van Savoye

The Hof van Savoye was built for Margaret of Austria at the beginning of the 16th century.  It was one of the first Renaissance buildings in Northern Europe.  When Margaret of Austria was given a house when she became regent in 1507, it quickly became too small.  She rebuilt her house in two waves from 1507 until 1530, the year she died.  The palace was at that time the political and artistic centre of the Netherlands.  It saw all the important people of the time.

After Margaret of Austria died, the palace was used by Margaret of Hungary and briefly by Cardinal Granvelle, who became the first cardinal of the Netherlands in 1559.

The palace was the home of the Great Council from 1609 until 1795.

The palace has a beautiful courtyard that is normally closed.  It currently houses the court of appeal.

My pictures of the Hof of Savoye can found at my Flickr page.

Excellent detail about the palace can be found in Dutch on the Heritage Inventory website.

Margaret of York remains unfindable

Now that Richard III has been found in Leicester, his sister remains unfindable.  Margaret of York was the third wife of Charles the Bold and was reputed to be very attractive with long blonde hair.  They were married on July 3rd 1468 in house St-Jan in Damme (left).

After the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 she settled permanently in Mechelen.  She was buried in the Minderbroederskerk in Mechelen in 1503.

During the Iconoclastic Fury (Beeldenstorm) in 1566 and later during the French Revolution there was quite a lot of damage in the church.  The coffin and bones of Margaret remain unfindable.  So she still lies beneath the floor tiles, hopefully to be found in the future.  For now, the church is used as a festivities hall.  Not many of the partygoer will know about the queen beneath their feet.

You can read the article in the newspaper here.  More about Margaret in Wikipedia.