Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Dendermonde

DENDERMONDE, in French Termonde, a town of Belgium, in the province of East Flanders, about 18 miles east of Ghent, so called from its situation at the mouth of the Dender, a right-hand affluent of the Scheldt. It is the seat of a court of primary instance, has a hospital, a lunatic asylum, two orphanages, an academy of architecture and design, a public library, and a picture gallery, and carries on the manufacture of woollens, linens, ropes, paper, tobacco, and various other branches of industry. In the old church of Notre Dame, which was raised to collegiate rank in 1106, there are two paintings by Vandyck—a Crucifixion and an Adoration of the Shepherds. Till 1264, when it passed into the possession of Robert Bethune, count of Flanders, Dendermonde was governed in direct dependence on the empire. Its name frequently occurs in the history of the various wars in the Low Countries, the most memorable occasions being in 1667, when it defended itself against Louis XIV. by laying the neighbourhood under water; in 1706, when it was besieged and captured by General Churchill; and in 1745, when it was taken by the French. The fortifications were dismantled by Joseph II. in 1784; but they were restored in 1822. The bridge over the Scheldt dates from 1825. Population in 1866, 8300.