CANPVERE, now called VERE, VEERE, or TER-VERE, a small fortified t. on the n.e. of the island of Walcheren, in the Netherlands province of Zealand, 4 in. u.u.e. of .Middelburg. It has a port on the Veersche Gat, which runs front the Sloe to the Roompot, separating Walcheren from North Beveland. The town has fallen into decay; but its former prosperity is indicated by the town-house of white freestone, with elegant tower, and the front ornamented by statues of several lords and ladies of the house of Borssele; and by the large and beautiful cathedral church which is no loner used. Pop. Jan. 1, 1875, 1192. C. owed its name to the ferry (Dutch, veer) existing from thence to the village of Campen, in North Beveland, the site of the present ham let of Kamperland.
From a historical point of view, C. is a town of great interest.. In 1304, it was the scene of a battle between William, governor of Holland and Zealand, and Guy, count of Flanders, who was victorious. In 1572, the Spaniards were driven away; and a cen tury later, C. was the first town which proclaimed William III., the prince of Orange, general stadtholder. It is chiefly interesting as the seat of a Scottish factory for three and a half centuries. Wolfaard van Borsscle, lord of C., having, in 1141, married a princess of the Stuart line, an impulse was given to the Scottishtrade. A factory
of merchants was formed, and by contract between the royal burghs of Scotland and the united provinces, C. became the only staple port. The goods could not be transferred to any other place until sold, merchants resorting thither to do business. The factors obtained many- privileges, such as 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. No factor might settle at O. without the written authority of the commis sioners of royal burghs of Scotland, who took security for his honorable behavior. 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. The magistrates of C. were bound to provide a church for the factory, " to the end that the people of the Scottish nation be not frustrate of the Word of God and exercise of the reformed religion in their own proper language," The ministers were appointed by the commissioners of royal burghs, from 1613 to 1790, when the last appointment was made.