List of people from Bruges

This is a list of notable people from Bruges, who were either born in Bruges, or spent part of their life there.

People born in Bruges

Philip I of Castile, Duke of Burgundy

Simon Stevin, mathematician and engineer

Before the 19th century

• Jan Breydel, leader of the uprising against the French (13th century)
• Pieter de Coninck, weaver and leader of the uprising against the French (13th century)
• Joannes Corvus, portrait painter
• Jan Heem, craftsman and politician (13th century)
• Anselm Adornes, merchant, diplomat (8 December 1424 - 1483)
• Louis de Gruuthuse, Flemish knight, courtier, and nobleman (1427–1492)
• Philip I of Castile, first Habsburg ruler in Spain (1478–1506)
• Adriaen Isenbrant, Renaissance painter (1490–1551)
• Adrian Willaert, composer of the Renaissance (c. 1490 – 1562, birth in Bruges uncertain)
• Petrus Vulcanius, humanist scholar and administrator (c 1503-1571)
• Bonaventura Vulcanius, humanist scholar (1538-1614)
• Levina Teerlinc, Flemish miniaturist (1510–1576)
• Johannes Vasaeus, humanist, teacher, historian (1511-1561)
• Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, engraver, illustrator, and painter (c. 1520 – c. 1590)
• Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, painter (1561–1636)
• Stradanus, mannerist painter (1523–1605)
• Pamelius, theologian (1536–1587)
• Peter Candid, painter and architect (1548–1628, birth in Bruges uncertain)
• Simon Stevin, mathematician and engineer (1548–1620)
• Franciscus Gomarus, Calvinist theologian (1563–1641)
• Louis de Deyster, Flemish painter (1656–1711)

19th century

• Henri Milne-Edwards, French zoologist (1800–1885)
• Eugène Charles Catalan, mathematician (1814–1894)
• Paul Jean Clays, marine painter (1819–1900)
• Émile Louis Victor de Laveleye, economist (1822–1892)
• Guido Gezelle, poet and priest (1830–1899)
• Louis Delacenserie, architect (1838–1909)
• Eugène Goossens, père, conductor (1845–1906)
• Albin van Hoonacker, Catholic theologian and Biblical scholar (1857–1933)
• Frank Brangwyn, Welsh artist, painter, colourist, engraver, and illustrator (1867–1956)
• Dobbelaer, a stained glass designer and maker (c. 1880)

20th century

• Nelly Landry, French tennis player (1916–2010)
• Hugo Claus, novelist, poet, playwright, painter, and film director (1929–2008)
• Jean Schramme, colonel and mercenary in Katanga (1929–1988)
• Andries Van den Abeele, historian, historical preservationist, entrepreneur and politician (councilor and alderman of Bruges) (born 1935)
• Noël Devisch, agriculture (born 1943)
• Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, politician, entrepreneur, and writer (1945-2018)
• Alain Billiet, alleged designer of the euro sign (born 1951)
• Pierre Chevalier, politician (born 1952)
• Pieter Aspe, writer of detective stories (1953-2021)
• Kris Defoort, avant-garde jazz pianist and composer (born 1959)
• Frank Vanhecke, politician (born 1959)
• Geert Hoste, cabaret performer (born 1960)
• Filip Dewinter, politician (born 1962)
• Peter Verhelst, novelist, poet, and dramatist (born 1962)
• Peter Verhoyen, flautist and piccolo player (born 1968)
• Swen Vincke, video game director (born 1972)
• Geoffrey Claeys, football player (born 1974)
• Olivier De Cock, football player (born 1975)
• Denis Viane, football player (born 1977)
• Gotye, Australian-Belgian singer songwriter (born 1980)
• Tony Parker, basketball player (born 1982)

21st century

• Thomas Van den Keybus, football player (born 2001)

Lived in Bruges

The Arnolfini portrait by Jan van Eyck

15th century

• Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy
• Giovanni Arnolfini, Italian merchant
• Adrien Basin, Franco-Flemish composer, singer, and diplomat
• William Caxton, English merchant, diplomat, write, and printer
• Petrus Christus, Flemish painter
• Gerard David, Renaissance painter
• Lupus Hellinck, composer of the Renaissance
• Gilles Joye, Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance
• Roger Machado, diplomat and officer of arms
• Hans Memling, Flemish painter
• Tommaso Portinari, Italian banker for the Medici bank
• Jan Provoost, Flemish painter
• Jean Richafort, Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance
• Jan van Eyck, Flemish painter
• Juan Luís Vives, Spanish scholar and humanist

Georges Emile Lebacq, 1910 Snow at Bruges

16th century until now

• George Cassander, Flemish theologian (1513–1566)
• Pieter Pourbus, Flemish Renaissance painter (1523–1584)
• Bernard Jungmann, German theologian and ecclesiastical historian (1833–1895)
• Fernand Khnopff, symbolist painter (1858–1921)
• Georges Emile Lebacq, Belgian artist, painter, colourist, pastellist, Impressionist, Post-Impressionist (1876–1950)
• Karel Verleye and Hendrik Brugmans, founders of the College of Europe
• Godfried Danneels, archbishop and cardinal (born 1933)
• Pieter Aspe, writer
• Salah Abdeslam Terrorist accused of involvement in the November 2015 Paris Attacks, and the March 2016 Brussels Attacks. (Born September 15, 1989)