Burcht, Antwerp

Burcht is a village within the municipality of Zwijndrecht located in the Flemish province of Antwerp, in Belgium.

The name Burcht is derived from the old Germanic word “burgipja” which means “birch”, and probably refers to the type of vegetation that grows abundantly in the sandy ground of the area.

While very little archaeological excavation has been done in the municipality of Zwijndrecht itself, numerous findings have been documented in the surrounding region, which is referred to as Het Waasland. These have indicated occupation in the area from as early as the end of the Neolithic Period (c. 2200-1800 BC) Numerous indications of Roman occupation have also been uncovered in the Waasland area.

In the early Middle Ages, Zwijndrecht-Burcht was sparsely populated, its landscape consisting mainly of wet woodland and small settlements separated by forests. This situation remained until the latter half of the 11th century, when an increase in population necessitated changes in land use: the forests between settlements were cleared and fields were formed into communal agricultural spaces, using a three-course crop rotation system. These were referred to as “kouters” or ploughshares. Raised paths through the wetlands evolved into dikes, and by the 14th century, polders were in use.

On April 15, 1281, the Count of Flanders Gwijde van Dampierre granted manorial rights to Nikolaas van Kets, making him Lord of Zwijndrecht and Burcht. The seat of the Lords of Zwijndrecht was a manor house called the Kraaienhof (the ruins of which were demolished in the mid-20th century), which was located in what is now the village of Burcht. The van Kets held the manorial rights until 1445, when Wouter van Kets sold them to Jan Vilain. They passed by inheritance to the van Montmorency family. Due to financial pressures, the heir Filips II de Montmorency, Count of Horne (1524-1568) was forced to sell the title, property and rights to a conglomeration of four cities, Brugge, Gent, Ieper and the Brugse Vrije, known as the “Vier Leden” (four members). After rebelling against Spanish rule during the Eighty Years War, the Vier Leden were forced to forfeit the property to the Spanish crown in 1585, but it was later returned to them. The dikes and infrastructure were so badly damaged during the hostilities with Spain, that the Vier Leden were forced to loan money for repairs and restoration from Jan van Hove. When the Vier Leden defaulted on the loan, the property, rights and title defaulted to Jan van Hove, making him the new Lord of Zwijndrecht-Burcht. Van Hove held the property until 1621, when the Staten van Vlaanderen (formerly the Vier Leden) was able to pay its debts and reacquire it. After regaining the property, the Staten van Vlaanderen promptly auctioned it off to the highest bidder, an Italian businessman named Jacomo Antonio Carenna, who then became Lord of Zwijndrecht and Burcht. In 1666, he divided the property between his two sons, Jan Francisco Carenna (Zwijndrecht) and Ignacius Carenna (Burcht). Burcht and Zwijndrecht became separate villages and remained so until they were reunited as the municipality of Zwijndrecht in 1977.

...
Wikipedia