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.

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)

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



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)