Campvere

Campvere, now called VERE, VEERE, or TER-VERE, and formerly often written CAMPHIRE, a small fortified town on the north-east of the island of Walcheren, in the Netherlands province of Zeeland, with a port on the Veergat, which separates Walcheren from North Beveland. The town has fallen into decay; but its former prosperity is indicated by such large edifices as the town-house and cathedral church. Pop. about 900. In 1304 Campvere was the scene of a battle between William, Governor of Holland, and Guy, Count of Flanders; in 1572 the Spaniards were driven away; and in 1809 the town was bombarded and occupied during the disastrous Walcheren expedition. For three and a half centuries it was the seat of a Scottish factory. Wolfaert van Borselen, Lord of Campvere, having in 1444 married Mary, fifth daughter of James I. of Scotland, a factory of merchants was formed, and by contract between the royal burghs of Scotland and the United Provinces, Campvere became the only staple port, the merchants resorting thither to do business. The factors obtained freedom from several duties, and the right of being governed by the law of Scotland, having a Lord Conservator who was supreme judge in all matters, and a Scots church was maintained here from 1613. No factor might settle at Campvere without the written authority of the commissioners of royal burghs of Scotland, who took security for his honourable behaviour. In 1795 the Batavian Republic withdrew the privileges, and the factory was broken up, but the conservatorship was held as a sinecure long after the necessity for the office had ceased, the name of Sir Alexander Ferrier appearing in the Edinburgh Almanac as 'Conservator at Campvere' so lately as 1847.