Bostelaar (patrician family)

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Coat of arms of the Bostelaar family

Bostelaar is the name of an old Middelburg patrician family (older spelling Borselaer or Borsselaere). With a complete line of trunks going back to 1286, they are one of the oldest still existing families in Zeeland .

history

origin

The established line of the Bostelaar family begins in 1286 with the birth of Hannekijn Johannes Borsselaere in Middelburg. There are no reliable sources about his ancestors. As early as the late Middle Ages, however, the family had a genealogy which documents the lifetimes of the members from the 13th century. The origin of the family is almost certainly closely connected with the important Zeeland noble family van Borsselen . This origin is confirmed in Mattheus Smalleganges “Nieuwe Cronyk van Zeeland” or in the “Beschrijving van den Zeelandschen adel” contained therein from 1696. To what extent the origin from the family v. Borsselen behaves however not known. It is likely that it is a very early branch of the family, a result of a descendant of a morganatic marriage or a son who was not considered due to legal agreements (primogeniture). Nonetheless, the Bostelaar family is one of the oldest family members in Zeeland, if not the oldest, starting at the end of the 13th century.

14th to 21st century

The geographical origin of the family lies in the region around the later village of Borsele, built in the vicinity of the sunken village of Monster. In the middle of the 16th century Adriaan Henderiksz still owned Borselaar (also spelled Borselaar), u. a. Mayor of Middelburg, a good in the region. The ancestral home of the von family was also located here until it fell into disrepair in the mid-16th century. Borsselen "Slot Troje" on the "Berg Troje" of the same name from the 10th century. In the 15th century the family moved their headquarters to Veere on the Zandenburg.

In documented times, the early geographical centers of the Bostelaar family were Middelburg, Goes and Ritthem , which have been preserved to this day. Within these cities and in the adjoining counties of Zeeland, the family members worked in government and administration and appear to have been continuously employed in commerce. But the Bostelaars also emerged as large landowners, shipowners, horse breeders and scholars / doctors in the period that followed.

Since Hannekijn Johannes Borsselaere (1286–1340) one branch of the family has lived almost completely in Middelburg to this day. His grandson, Jan Borsselaere, born in 1340, was in the service of Albrecht I of Bavaria . In this capacity he was promoted to Pope Boniface IX in Rome in 1389 . sent for his support in the choice of his son Duke Johann III. to secure the Bishop of Liege. Four years later, in 1393, he was sent again to Rome to secure the Pope's support for the election of the candidate Rutger van Bronckhorst, who had been nominated by Albrecht I, as Bishop of Utrecht. With the exception of the years of birth of the other descendants, there is no knowledge of the activities of family members in the 15th century. Evidence in this regard is only available at the beginning of the 16th century.

Jan Adriaan Borselaere, born in 1470, became the owner of a shipping company in March 1514. His (twin) brother Jacop Borselaere was councilor of the city of Middelburg, 1510 hospital master (Gaasthuismeester), 1518 aldermen (Schepen) and 1520 kwartiermeester. Sebastiaan Pieter Borselaar (born 1495), son of Jan Adriaan Borselaere, was Middelburg councilor and mayor of Middelburg from 1542 to 1548. His brother Adriaan Henderikse Borselaar, who was five years his junior, was Kwartiermeester and Gaasthuismeester of Middelburg in 1543, Mayor of Middelburg in 1551, 1545–1558 (interrupted by the year he was mayor) Schepen. He also served as Gecommitteerde van Walcheren. He was married to Janneken Bartels de Loobeele in his first marriage. His second wife was Paschina Favolius (daughter of Franciscus Favolius from Pisa). His second marriage son, Cornelis Pieter Borselaer (born 1550) was married to Pieternella van Stapelen (after the death of her husband, she married Cornelis Willem Eversdijck in 1637, but died in 1638). A portrait of Cornelis Pieter and his wife painted by Gortzius Geldorp in 1600 is missing. The younger brother Antheunis Adriaan Borselaer, born in 1545, appears as a large landowner and owner of a horse breeding company in Ritthem. Married to Janneke Jakops, he is Schepen von Vlissingen from June 1621 . His son, Pieter Antheunis Borselaer, born in 1565, appears from 1621 to 1625 as a sworn or Schepen van Zuidwatering. In his first marriage he was married to Magdalena Jacobs, his second wife was Neeltje Cornelis Jongepier. His son Cornelis Pieters Borselaer, born on December 26, 1619 in Ritthem, was active as a surgeon in the South African fort “Goede Hoop” or “ Kasteel de Goede Hoop ”, which laid the foundation stone for the city of Cape Town . His son Cornelis Borselaer, born on October 1, 1645 in Ritthem , was also a doctor and had studied at the University of Leuven from 1663 .

The categorization of the family's status is sometimes difficult. The family originally belonged to the ancient nobility. In later times, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, it is more likely to be assigned to the patriciate. The family, like many patrician and regent families in the Netherlands, seems to have moved to the city as early as the 13th century, with rural estates remaining in the family's hands. The reason was probably that the aristocratic standard of living could not be maintained, so that one was considered a "welborn" or knight, that is, a nobleman, but legally no longer belonged to the nobility. With the 16th century, which can be seen as the heyday of the family, this status changed. The highest offices in administration and government, especially in the city of Middelburg, as well as marriage in families of the nobility (Favolius, van Hoogelande) result in belonging into the high patriciate. At this point it should be noted that it was common in Zeeland to inherit nobility through the maternal side. Due to the low proportion of nobility, measured against the total population of the country (4% in 1431), attempts were made to preserve the ruling class.

With the gradual economic decline of the region and the beginning loss of importance of Zeeland at the end of the 18th century, the importance of the Bostelaar family also declined. The cause was the loss of trade due to the silting up of the canal from Welzingen to Middelburg, which had enabled large merchant ships and the navy to enter the city. The economically fatal consequences of the fourth Anglo-Dutch War with the occupation by the French shortly thereafter were difficult for many families. Zeeland did not become a center of the beginning industrialization and remained dominated by agriculture. As a result of this development, the family spreads to large parts of the country. In addition to the earlier emigration movements to Utrecht and Mechelen, where family members had been present since the early 17th century at the latest and established branches of the family, Rotterdam and Amersfoort are now added. In Mechelen, due to close trade relations and travel activities by family members from Middelburg, an earlier presence is documented. A family coat of arms has been handed down here, which was given to the family members who lived there. The branch there appears under the name Bosselaer, which has changed slightly over time, in the "Tables ascendantes ou Quartiers Généalogiques des familles de la noblesse Belge" published in 1952. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, some family members followed the increasing emigration to the United States of America. Michigan is the early settlement center, and from here further parts of the country, u. a. California and Florida are inhabited. Family members have also been represented in Australia and Canada since the 1950s. The oldest branch of the Zeeland family has also been based in Germany since the 1980s. Other family members live in Sagres, Portugal. The Bonn historian and archivist Jan Bostelaar deals, among other things, with family history.

coat of arms

Bostelaar coat of arms.jpg

Blazon: embroidered coat of arms. Upper right and lower left two red grapevines on a silver background, separated by a red sloping bar with three silver roses. Upper left and lower right three black eagle claws on a silver background. The colors of the coat of arms, red and silver, determine the design of the crest and the helmet cover. The bow helmet is crowned by a five-pointed crown of leaves.

Early images of the coat of arms can be found on the seal of Pieter Jacops Borsselaer from 1592, which appears as a witness to a document from Baron van der Feltz. In addition, the coat of arms appears in the portrait of Cornelis Pieter Borselaer and his wife Pieternella van Stapelen from 1600. However, the portrait created by Gortzius Geldorp is lost. Furthermore, in the so-called “Privilegieboek” of the St. Lucasgilde in Middelburg, the coat of arms can be found through the entry of Pieter Borselaer in 1717. He was an extremely well-known painter in the “Golden Century” in England and the Netherlands. Some of his works include a. present in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. He made numerous portraits of members of the European nobility and the so-called Chesterfield portrait of William Shakespeare, which is in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Since he died at the end of the 17th century, it can be assumed that the entry was made posthumously. It also appears on the coat of arms of the mayor of Middelburg. The coat of arms can also be found in various heraldic collections such as E.g. in Reinier van Heemskerck's “Waapen boeck van adelijke en aanzienelijke famiellien in de 17 provintien van de Nederlanden”. The coat of arms is also shown on the coat of arms card "Edele en Aensienelyke Geslachten in het Souverain Graefschap van Zeeland", published in 1696 in the "Niuwe Cronyc van Zeeland". In the brief description of the family in the chapter "Beschrijving van den Zeelandschen adel", the origin of the family is described.

Name bearer

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "The must jehen me süezer words". Liber amicorum for Norbert Voorlösungen. Edited by L.Jongen & S.Onderdelinden, Amsterdam 1997, p. 108.
  2. ↑ Staring, A. Weinig bekende portrettisten, Pieter Borsselaer, in: Oud Holland, Quarterly for Dutch Art History, Vol. 62, pp. 33–42.
  3. ↑ Tables ascendantes ou Quartiers Généalogiques des familles de la noblesse Belge, ed. v. Oscar Coomans de Brachène, Brussels 1952.
  4. ^ Archives of Bad Honnef AG - When the gas works came into being . In: General-Anzeiger Bonn . March 30, 2016 ( general-anzeiger-bonn.de [accessed on May 24, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Staring, A. Weinig bekende portrettisten, Pieter Borsselaer, in: Oud Holland, Quarterly for Dutch Art History, Vol. 62, pp. 33–42.
  6. ↑ Wapenkaart van de burgemeesters van Middelburg, 1498–1741, ed. v. Ottho and Pieter van Thol, 1742.
  7. ↑ Heemskercks, Reinier van. Waapen boeck van adelijke en aanzienelijke famillien in de 17 provintien van de Nederlanden, 1790.
  8. ↑ Nieuwe Cronyc van Zeeland, ed. v. Mattheus Smallegange, Middelburg 1696.