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Small village over the river Zwyn in 1128 it became an autonomous municipality, in this period were also built walls and new channels, the city had a significant development, becoming an important centre for manufacturing wool and a commercial market for wool and fabric.

Bruges (Brugge) in the thirteenth century, was one of the commercial, economic and cultural capital of Europe, with direct trade with rich Italian cities, which opened the city to the Mediterranean and Eastern products.

Great impulse had also banking and commercial techniques, as once past to the Duke of Burgundy (1384), the city became an important artistic centre, it was here that in the fifteenth century was born the Flemish Primitive School painting, in this period, the Brugge population overcame the 40,000 inhabitants. In the sixteenth century the city declined, for the competition of Antwerp and Ghent and also for the gradual silting of river Zwyn.