Bevere is a village in the municipality of

Oudenaarde Oudenaarde (; french: Audenarde ; in English sometimes ''Oudenarde'') is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, H ...

. It is located in the

Flemish Ardennes The Flemish Ardennes (Dutch: ''Vlaamse Ardennen'') is an informal name given to a hilly region in the south of the province of East Flanders, Belgium. Highest summit is the Hotondberg (145 m). Main characteristics of the region are rural hilly lan ...

, the hilly southern part of the province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In the mid-19th century, it started to form a single urban area with Oudenaarde, but retained some rural parts.

History

Bevere is situated on the left bank of the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

. The village used to be surrounded by areas which were flooded annually. Settlements from the

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

and the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

have been discovered near Bevere. The village was first mentioned in 966 as Buerna, and probably means "brook with

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

s". The village was an independent '' heerlijkheid''. Bevere was frequently damaged by war due to its location near the city walls of Oudenaarde. In 1579, the church and many houses were demolished for an extension of the city's fortification. In 1708, the Battle of Oudenarde was partially fought in Bevere. In 1845, plans were made for the construction of railway lines. At the time, the fortification of Ouenaarde were considered important, and it was decided to built the station in Bevere. In 1856, was constructed. The railway lines, and the demolition of the city walls in 1859, resulted in Bevere forming a single urban area with its neighbouring city. Bevere was an independent municipality until 1965, when it was merged into

Buildings and sights

The Vierschaar is a protected monument which served as an open air court of law in the Middle Ages. Jurisdiction originally rested with the Count and Lords, but during the Middle Ages it shifted to the ''

schout In Dutch-speaking areas, a ''schout'' was a local official appointed to carry out administrative, law enforcement and prosecutorial tasks. The office was abolished with the introduction of administrative reforms during the Napoleonic period. Fu ...

'' and ''

schepenen A schepen (Dutch; . ') or échevin (French) or Schöffe (German) is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands. It has been replaced by the ' in the Netherlands (a municipal executive). In modern Belgium, the ''schepen'' or ''éch ...

'' who held an open air court underneath a

tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain a ...

tree. Four ropes which laid out, and inside the ropes the trial took place. The original bench for the judges is still present in the field. The St Peter Church is a three aisled basilica-like church. The foundations of the church are from the Early Middle Ages. The current church was built between 1872 and 1876 in

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. Unlike most churches it is oriented to the south-east. The church was severely damaged in November 1918, and restored between 1921 and 1923.

Notable inhabitants

* Hendrik Cornelis (1910–1999), last

Governor-General of the Belgian Congo This is a list of European colonial administrators responsible for the territory of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). International Association of the Congo Prior to the creation of the Congo F ...

Gallery

File:Station Oudenaarde Gebouw oud.jpg, Oudenaarde railway station in Bevere File:Vierschaar Moregem.JPG, Vierschaar File:Bevere - Sint-Petruskerk 2.jpg, St Peter Church File:PM 120926 B Bevere.jpg, Corner house

References

External links

* {{Authority control Oudenaarde Populated places in East Flanders