Monnikerede: The Rise and Decline of a Medieval Port Community in the Zwin Estuary

Sedimentary and stratigraphic architecture in the geoarchaeological context of Late-Holocene deposits in the eastern coastal plain of Belgium: Zwin region – Hoeke

“…During the High-and Late-Middle Ages (ca. 1000-1500 AD), Bruges was a leading hub in the international maritime trading system connecting the North Sea area with the Baltic, the Mediterranean and even the Asian silk route (Brown and Dumolyn, 2018;De Clercq et al, 2021;Dumolyn and Leloup, 2016). Bruges itself is located inland and was never bordering the seashore throughout its history.…”

“…Bruges itself is located inland and was never bordering the seashore throughout its history. During the heydays of its commerce and culture, the connection with the North Sea was assured via a tidal channel, known as the 'Zwin', which -according to some brief historical sources -was formed in the year 1134, following a storm surge or some other catastrophic marine event (De Clercq et al, 2021;Pannier, 1970;Verhulst, 1959). Historical and archaeological research demonstrated that the economic activity was not restricted to the city of Bruges itself, but extended along the Zwin tidal channel via a network of harbours, the so-called outports of Damme, Monnikerede, Hoeke, Mude and Sluis which were thriving towns on their own (Figure 1) (De Clercq et al, 2017Leloup, 2018;Trachet et al, 2016Trachet et al, , 2017aTrachet et al, , 2017bTrachet et al, , 2017cTrachet and De Clercq, 2018).…”

“…In the course of the Late Middle Ages, the Zwin steadily lost its function as an economical viable transport route. The harbour facilities of the outports were deserted and most of the sites were abandoned (De Clercq et al, 2021;Ryckaert, 1989). The mediaeval outports of Monnikerede and Hoeke have been studied by combining landscape-archaeological data (implying archaeological, geophysical, remotely sensed and cartographic data) and historical data, resulting in the diachronic and morphological reconstruction of the harbour-towns (Trachet, 2018;Trachet et al, 2017a).…”