The Achievements of the Flemings

On a recent flight from Vancouver to Chicago I sat next to the CEO of a London-based consulting firm. A Canadian woman with an advanced degree, she asked me the ethnicity of my surname. When she heard the term "Fleming", she responded: "so that is what you call yourselves."

While hardly the response I would have hoped for, it reflects a broad ignorance of both the name and national origin. Had she been able to first peruse some London bookshops, she may have come up with a better line. In 1930 a diligent genealogist by the name of John Arnold Fleming sought to remedy this gap in human understanding with his two volume book, "Flemish Influence in Britain".

The book attempts to explain the history of the Flemish diaspora in the British Isles. While the author was not an historian, his work was pioneering. Fleming pointed out that those with his surname - and similar constructions such as Flemyng, Flemming, Flanders, etc. -  derived their name from immigrants who arrived from the Low Countries.

A simple online search for New York, Chicago, London and elsewhere in the English-speaking world reveals hundreds (if not thousands) of individual listings for the name "Fleming". These individuals carry in their name proof of their origins, yet are not recognized as such. Below I point out a few of the more prominent "Flemings".

Impressive British Roots
Because the appellation "Fleming" is an English-language term, it is in England and Scotland where we find the first examples and the largest numbers.

Although almost by definition the forefathers of these "Flemings" were common immigrants, some rose to high status.

Richard Fleming - Bishop and Founder of Lincoln College, Oxford (1385-1431) 

Malcolm Fleming - 3rd Lord Fleming and Lord Chamberlain (and son-in-law) to King Kames IV of Scotland (1494-1547)

Mary Fleming - daughter of Malcolm and lady-in-Waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-158?)

Later generations of British Flemings have gone on to recognition that is truly global:

Alexander Fleming - scientist Nobel Prize winner, inventor of penicillin the world's first and most widely used antibiotic (1881-1955) 

Ian Fleming - author "James Bond" series (1908-1964) 

Matthew Fleming - Ian's nephew and Chairman of the Professional Cricketers' Assoc.(1964-)

Colin Fleming - Tennis player ranked 26th in the world ()

As well as too many Scottish (Bernard, Charlie, Derek, Greg, Jim & Jimmy), English (Craig, & Terry) and Irish (Curtis & Gary) footballers to mention!



Quintessential Americans
Americans have also had one 'footballer' - called soccer here - who was a Fleming (Tommy) but he was born in Scotland. However, the quintessential American sports of baseball, basketball and American football have also seen Fleming athletes and Olympians. Beyond sports, Flemings have also earned a World War II Medal of Honor and a Miss America award. 

Captain Richard E. Fleming - Medal of Honor Recipient (1917-1942)    

Don Fleming - NFL Cleveland Browns Defensive Back (1937-1963)

Vern Fleming - Olympian and NBA point guard (1962-)

Dave Fleming - MLB pitcher for the Seattle Mariners (1969-)

Nancy Fleming - Ms America 1961 (1942- )  

Peggy Fleming - Olympic Gold Medal ice skater (1948-)

Lest others think this is not a melting pot, even a Native American mayor and an African-American politician carry the name...

Elaine Fleming - Native American mayor (?-present)  

Erik R. Fleming - African-American representative (1965-)  

Anglo-Saxon Notables
It was not just in the U.S. that Flemings in the diaspora made their mark. Throughout the Commonwealth - Canada, Australia, and New Zealand - Flemings have left a mark. In case you're wondering why Flemings seem to gravitate toward cricket, it might be because it was invented by Flemings!

Reg Fleming - a Canadian NHL player for American and Canadian hockey teams (1936-2009)

Donald Fleming, MP - Canadian member of Parliament for 17 years (1905-1986)  

Damien Fleming - Top Australian cricketeer known as "Flemo" (1970-)

Stephen Fleming - Captain of the New Zealand national cricket team (1973-)

Osbourne Fleming - Chief Minister of Anguilla (1940-)



Beyond the Commonwealth
The "Fleming" diaspora - like that of the broader diaspora of those of us with other Flemish surnames - has never been limited to the English-speaking world. Prominent "Flemings" have surfaced in Scandinavia, Latin America, and continental Europe.

Hendryk Fleming - Late 13th century Polish bishop (?-1300) 

Louis-Constant Fleming - French UMP Senator for Saint Martin near Anguilla (1946-)  

Rudymar Fleming - Venezuelan Silver Medalist in Judo at 2003 Pan-American Games (1980-)

Kieran Fleming - Irish Republican fighter who died fighting the British (1959-1984)







Surprisingly, neither of the Fleming historians (D.F. and Katherine) seemed interested in researching the Flemings. 

The above is only a snippet of what the Flemings, Flemmings, Flemyngs, Flanders, and similarly named have accomplished. If you are interested in a deeper dive, check out John Arnold Fleming's book - or look them up on Wikipedia! 

Copyright 2014 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without my express, written, consent.

The De Milles of Flanders, New Netherland and Hollywood

Cecil B.DeMille died on this day, January 21^st, in 1959. At the time of his death he was at the very top of the “A list” of Hollywood directors. DeMille is probably not well remembered by many outside of the film industry today. But among DeMille’s Academy Award winning films were “Cleopatra”, “Samson and Delilah”, “The Greatest Show on Earth”, and, of course, “The Ten Commandments”. This last film was among the top five most profitable films in history and is still considered a classic (it won multiple Academy Awards).

De Mille’s importance to us here is that he epitomizes for that time what an American celebrity was. Yet, the reality is that he was a Flemish American. This of course speaks to the issues of assimilation and self-identity (I have not seen any article or statement where De Mille publicly acknowledged his Flemish roots). Be that as it may, DeMille is a direct descendant of Flemish emigrants. The important point here, of course, is that DeMille’s genealogy speaks to the unacknowledged presence (and prominence) of Flemish Americans.

Permit me then to offer to you, on this anniversary of his passing, an abrdiged and edited reprinting of the Flemish origins of the DeMilles (edited by me for style but content primarily excerpted from Louis P. de Boer’s “Pre-American Notes on Old New Netherland Families,” from The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Volume III/1928).

Anthony deMil/DeMille (1625-1689) is the first of his family name to reside in America.[i] He is a direct ancestor in the male line of Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959). The De Milles belonged to the colony of Flemish refugees which had established itself at Haarlem after 1577, just after that city had freed itself from Spanish control.[ii] The Flemish colony at Haarlem had grown as a result of immigration, by numbers of settlers, either directly from Flanders, or from Flemish refugee colonies in England and Germany.[iii]

The persecutions of dissenters [such as the Pilgrims, who of course fled England for the Netherlands in 1607] by the British King James I caused many Flemings to flee England and relocate in Haarlem. Even at that time this was remarked upon. In the Haarlem city archives there is a thin booklet called [translated into English] “An Account of the Flemings who have come to the city of Haarlem in the year 1612”.[iv]

After the outbreak of the Thirty Years War in 1618[v], still more Flemings came to Haarlem. These Flemish refugees were part of the mass exodus of Flemish Protestants who had established congregations in the Rhineland and Palatine[vi] (western Germany). Like their fellow Flemings in the diaspora in England and France, the Flemish diaspora in western Germany came into being after Catholic Spain reconquered Flanders (1577-1585).

This influx of Flemish refugees transformed Haarlem. By 1622 more than 50% of all Haarlem residents were from the Southern Netherlands.[vii] This had a profound impact on the culture and even the language (with the Haarlem dialect adopting the “zachte ‘g’”/soft “g” of Flanders).

Of the Flemish refugees at Haarlem, the largest numbers appear to have come from Brugge (Bruges), Gent (Ghent) and Antwerp.[viii] For the first few generations this Flemish community kept up their Flemish traditions and customs and frequently intermarried. When they emmigrated abroad, these practices were carried over to New Netherland. In fact, many of these Haarlem Flemings settled in New Netherland beginning around the middle of the 17^th century.

The Flemish Haarlem family we are most interested in, the De Mille family, was originally from Brugge (Bruges), in West Flanders. For example: a certain Gerard de Mille lived at Brugge in 1350; a Jan de Mille lived there in 1400 and a Martin de Mille was a resident at Brugge in 1550. Some members of the De Mille family were wholesale flour and grain merchants. This appears to be a profession passed from father to son. A branch of the family also existed at Antwerp.[ix]

Like his father before him, Anthony de Mille (grandfather of Anthony De Mille the New Netherlander) was born at Brugge about 1550. There he married Maria Cobrysse [perhaps sometime in the late 1570s or early 1580s]. Maria was the daughter of Jacob Cobrysse and his wife Jacomyntje. Maria’s mother’s sister [name unknown] married a Matthys van de Walle. Sometime before 1597 both Anthony de Mille and his wife Maria Cobrysse died and their minor children were taken in by their great uncle Matthys de Walle.

It was also about this time that the family fled – as many Bruggelings and West Flemings did – to Zealand. Since Brugge fell to the Spanish in 1584 it might have been then. At any rate, the son of the deceased Anthony de Mille of Brugge, also (and confusingly) named Anthony de Mille (but referred to here as the Elder), was raised in Vlissingen (aka Flushing) in Zealand. It is here where Anthoiny de Mille the Younger (the New Netherlander) may have been born.

Anthony de Mille the Younger at some point gravitated back to the “half-Flemish city” of Haarlem. For it was at the Dutch Reformed Church at Haarlem on September 19, 1653 that Anthony de Mille the Younger married Elisabeth van der Liphorst, a lady of Flemish origins residing at Haarlem.[x] Both bride and groom had lived on the Anegang, a narrow street still used in Haarlem.

Like some of his ancestors, Anthony de Mille the Younger made his living as a grain merchant. This required frequent travel. But since the grain trade was closely tied into the financial exchange at Amsterdam, it is likely this which pulled the young family from Haarlem to Amsterdam. It was in Amsterdam in the following year, 1654, that the couple’s first child (named Maria, after her paternal grandmother as was the practice) was born.

However business must have been unstable. Because by 1656 the family was living in Vlissingen (Flushing), Zealand. And in 1657 the family was back in Haarlem. On May May 3^rd, 1657 “Anthony de Mil, formerly of Vlissingen, and at present residing here at Haarlem,” appointed Pieter van der Voort of Haarlem guardian of the minor children of his late sister “Grietje Antonis…widow of the late Johannes Reynders.”[xi]

The next child we know of from the notarial records was born and baptized in Haarlem. The translated entry reads:

21 August 1657 Father: Anthony de Mil of Haarlem Mother: Elisabeth van der Liphorst

ANNA Witnesses: Jacob van de Water & Elisabeth van der Schalcken

On May 15, 1658) the de Mille family left for America.[xii] Anthony de Mille and his family sailed from Amsterdam in Holland for New Amsterdam in New Netherland on the ship De Vergulde Bever (The Gilded Beaver).[xiii] The family included Anthony, his wife Elisabeth van der Liphorst, and their children, Maria (aged 4) and Anna (9 months).[xiv]

However, this soon changed. In quick succession Anthony and Elisabeth added three sons and another daughter to their brood.

7 December 1659 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van der Liphorst

ISAAC Witnesses: Govert Loockermans & Neeltje de Nys

12 October 1661 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van Liphorst

PETRUS Witnesses: Johannes van Brugge & Cornelia de Peyster

30 December 1663 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van der Liphorst

SARA Witnesses: Hendrick van de Water & Ytie Strycker

14 March 1666 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van der Liphorst

ANTHONY Witnesses: Johannes de Peyster & Catharina Roelofs

It is remarkable that most of the baptismal witnesses named above had Flemish names, although Govert Loockermans is the only one actually born in modern-day Flanders (Turnhout).[xv] The last three named – Van Brugge, de Peyster, and van der Water – all belonged to the Haarlem-Flemish diaspora that resettled in New Netherland.[xvi]

Once in New Netherland, Anthony de Mille earned his daily bread (literally) as a baker. It is possible that de Mille was even involved in baking Sinterklaas cookies for the half-Flemish Maria van Rensselaer http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2011/12/flemish-claim-to-sinterklaas-in-america.html While baking seems to be a safe occupation, de Mille did seem to get into trouble. Noted New Netherlands historian Dr. Jaap Jacobs cites an example where de Mille (whose name is incorrectly transcribed as “de Milt”) is fined 150 guilders for baking bread lighter than regulations.[xvii]

Anthony de Mille’s will, dated May 27, 1689, was proved December 10, 1689, and confirmed by Governor Leisler January 4, 1690. The will names him “a merchant living in the City of New York, and a widower.” It mentions his children and his housekeeper, Mary Winter [as heirs]. While locally prominent to various degrees, none of these de Milles ever reached real prominence. Little did they all know that one day a direct descendant would claim the world stage.

Endnotes

---

[i] There appears to be a great deal of misinformation floating around on DeMille, his birthplace, his ancestors, etc. (from websites – cf http://www.geni.com/people/Anthony-Demill/6000000000609950526 and http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jmthompson/Roads/familygroup/fg03_203.htm ). Thus, the genealogies associated with these names are always suspect unless one has the documentation as verification. So,permit me to offer a disclaimer: with the exception of the sources I include below, I am not able to verify the full genealogical contents of Louis de Boer’s article.

[ii] Haarlem was besieged by the Spanish and after capitulating, the surrendering Netherlandic troops were butchered and the city sacked by the Spaniards. In 1577 the Agreement of Veere was signed that granted equal rights to both Catholics and Protestants. The accord lasted for a year before Catholicism was forbidden. The ebb and flow of the Dutch Revolt/Eighty Years War is difficult to follow and not treated in any recent books in English that I am aware of. The two best authorities (in English) are Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt, (Norwich: Penguin Books, 1977) and Pieter Geyl, The Revolt of the Netherlands, 1555-1609, (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1980). Sadly, Jonathan I. Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477-1806, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), fails miserably for anyone who seeks to understand the timeline of the period. Israel also appears shockingly oblivious to the major contribution of Zuid Nederlanders to the rise and greatness of the Dutch Republic.

[iii] Please see a nice article here on the Flemish influence on Haarlem (in Dutch): http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4324/nieuws/article/detail/1083652/2010/01/16/Vlaming-in-Haarlem.dhtml . For the definitive overview in Dutch on the Flemings in Haarlem, see also P. Biesboer, et.al., Vlamingen in Haarlem, (Haarlem: De Vrieseborch, 1996).

[iv] Unfortunately I have been unable to locate a single reference to such a book anywhere. This leads me to wonder if the good Mr. DeBoer might have mistranscribed the reference. The only document that I am aware of is Pieter van Hulle’s 1642 Memoriaal van de Overkomste der Vlamingen hier binnen Haarlem. Incidentally (and unfortunately) Van Hulle’s “Memoriaal” is not on Google books.

[v] See Geoffrey Parker, The Thirty Years’ War, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984).

[vi] A good online source and summary of the history of the Palatine as it relates to immigrants to America in the 17^th century can be found here: http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/palatines/palatine-history.shtml

[vii] See Dr. J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek, 1572-1630: Een demografische en cultuurhistorische studie, (Sint-Niklaas, Danthe, 1985), “Tabel XXI: Immigratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden-Samenvatting”, p.214. Dr. Briels shows that several other cities which contributed large numbers of immigrants to America – Leyden and Middleburg each had more than 50% immigrants from modern day Belgium in 1622. Even Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Gouda were reckoned to have more than 30% Zuid-Nederlanders. For Dr. Briel’s analysis of the composition of the Flemish influx to Haarlem during this time see ibid, pp.107-116.

[viii] In this respect De Boer is not basing his claim on statistics. Dr. J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek, 1572-1630: Een demografische en cultuurhistorische studie, (Sint-Niklaas, Danthe, 1985), “Tabel XXI: Immigratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden-Samenvatting”, in his “Tabel II: Immigratie in Haarlem – 1578-1609. Bron: lidmatenboeken van de calvinistische gemeente” p.112, refugees from Gent (234) and Antwerp (225) far exceeded those from Brugge (60). Even Tielt (76), Menen (75), Roeselare (74), and Kortrijk (66) exceeded those listed as from Brugge. However, the greatest number (453) simply said they were from “Vlaanderen”.

[ix] De Boer goes onto say: “In the old Abbey-Church of St. Michel at Antwerp there is a tombstone with the following inscription (translated): ‘Here lies buried, Francois de Mil, Lord of Westerem and Faerden.” Mr. de Boer goes onto offer an inscription at the church and other details. Unfortunately, the closest example to a church that fits that description that I am able to uncover is this church in Antwerp: http://www.topa.be/site/216.html. The Wikipedia description is a bit clearer: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Michielsabdij_(Antwerpen) However, according to the history, the church was demolished by Napolean’s troops preparing for a crossing of the English Channel in the 1790s. So it is very hard to place the actual details of this transcription. Parenthetically, the fief that this Francois de Mil was theoretically suzerain over appears to be now a part of Gent, not Antwerp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Denijs-Westrem .

[x] In the Haarlem Art Museum there is an oil painting of a Maria van der Liphorst who appears to have been a sister. Their mother’s maiden name was Van Brugh or Van Brugge. See http://wingetgenealogy.com/tree/family.php?famid=F2642&show_full=1

[xi] Louis de Boer cites Document #280 of the City Archives of Haarlem as the source. Per de Boer, this was notarized by W. van Kittensteyn and witnessed by Anthony de Mil and Jan Thomas van Son). For an interesting look at the importance of notaries in the lives of Netherlanders and New Netherlanders see Donna Merwick, Death of a Notary: Conquest and Change in Colonial New York, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999). Note that the main protagonist in Merwick’s tale, Ludovicus Cobus, is a native of Herentals, in the Province of Antwerp.

[xii] Ship sailings can be found online here http://immigrantships.net/newcompass/pass_lists/listolivetree2.html for New Netherland bound passengers.

[xiii] The ship passenger lists for those sailing to New Netherland at this time can be found here: http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/nn/ships/

[xiv][xiv] The family name was mis-transcribed as “de Mis”. Also on board was Jan Evertsen from Lokeren, East Flanders. See http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nnship05.shtml For a detailed (and crisply accurate) genealogy and documentary trail of Jan Evertsen of Lokeren and the Ten Eyck and Boel families of Antwerp, please see Gwen F. Epperson, New Netherland Roots, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994), especially pages 3-4 for Jan Evertsen, Appendix C, “The Ten Eyck-Boel European Connection” (pp.123-129).

[xv] The 400^th anniversary of Govert Loockermans’ birthday is July 2^nd, 2012. I intend to have a blog post about Loockermans completed by that time.

[xvi] The de Peysters were originally from Gent. The Van Brugges originally from Brugge. The Van der Waters may also have been from Brugge. The van de Waters participated in De Mille family baptisms both in Haarlem and in New Amsterdam. Johannes Van Brugges has been listed as a relative of the De Milles, according to de Boer.

[xvii] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Leiden: Brill, 2005), pp.248-249: “Baker Anthony de Milt [sic] was accused by the Schout Pieter Tonneman of baking bread that was too light in weight. De Milt did not deny that his bread was below standard, but maintained that this was not deliberate. According to him the batch had been left in the oven for too long. His explanation was supported by his assistant, Laurens van der Spiegel, who declared that the bread had been in the oven for four hours, an hour longer than normal. This had happened while De Milt [sic] was out on business and Van der Spiegel was busy in the loft. Furthermore, the batch consisted of only forty loaves instead of the usual seventy. And since bread from between sixty and seventy schepels [about fifty bushels] of grain had been baked during the previous days, the oven was very hot. The result of all this was that the bread became too dry, and consequently weighed less than it should have. Other bakers consulted by the court stated that this was a plausible explanation. Burgemeesters and Schepen nonetheless sentenced De Milt to a fine of one hundred and fifty guilders, but rejected the demand by Schout Tonneman that he be banned from baking for six weeks, probably because they were convinced that this was not a case of deliberate attempt to defraud.” Parenthetically, while I am generally delighted with the breadth and scope (and scholarship) of Dr. Jacobs’ New Netherland, his book retains the critical flaw of many Dutch-centric books: ignoring or glossing over the contributions of the Flemish.

Copyright 2012 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any format permitted without my express, written consent.

Steenvoorde, Iconoclasm, and the Start of the Dutch Revolt

Today, August 10th, 445 years ago, the Dutch Revolt started. It started in Steenvoorde, Flanders - territory now occupied by France but historically, ethnically, and linguistically Flemish. In fact, the municipality of Steenvoorde in France literally rests just outside the current borders of West Flanders, bordering the West Flemish town of Watou.

This post will be brief. I doubt many have a chance to actually read the details of what happened that day. So I will quote, in detail, from an authoritative historian of the period: my former professor, Geoffrey Parker, in his classic, The Dutch Revolt, (pp.74-76):

"In 1566 a [Spanish] government agent was able to report by mid-July that:

'The audacity of the Calvinist preachers in this area [of Flanders] has grown so great that in their sermons they admonish the people that it is not enough to remove all idolatry from their hearts; they must also remove it from their sight. Little by little, it seems, they are trying to impress upon their hearers the need to pillage the churches and abolish all images'

Similar tidings flowed in from other quarters. The deputy bailiff of Veurne noted on 22 July that the tone of the Protestant sermons delivered in his locality was becoming more strident and 'it is to be feared that...they will soon commit some shameful pillage of the churches, monasteries and abbeys; some of them are already making boasts about it.'

On 2 August Viglius wrote to a friend in Spain:

'The town of Ieper, among others, is in turmoil on account of the daring of the populace inside and outside who go to the open-air services in their thousands, armed and defended as if they were off to perform some great exploit of war. It is to be feared that the first blow will fall on the monasteries and clergy and that the fire, once lit, will spread, and that, since trade is beginning to cease on account of these troubles, several working folk - constrained by hunger - will join in, waiting for the opportunity to acquire a share of the property of the rich.'

If any group now controlled the march of events in the Netherlands, it was the predikanten, the Calvinist pastors, who seemed to make new converts every day. The Ghent patrician and chronicler, Marcus van Vaernewijck, marvelled that four or five sermons were enough to change the beliefs ordinary people had held for thirty or forty years, but so it was. After decades of neglect from the old church and a mounting tide of anti-clerical criticism, many people appear to have become spiritually disoriented and ready to rally to any authoritative figure who could reassure them about the after-life and salvation.

Such figures were to hand in increasing numbers. A steady stream of new preachers arrived in the Netherlands, some from Geneva, more from France, England and Germany, some of them wearing (of all things) blue leggings (blaye upgherolde slapkauskens), which appear to have become, at least in Flanders, the insignia of the 'hedge preacher'.

Some of the predikanten were foreigners, like Johan Scheizhabener (the senior pastor of Maastricht, who was born in the Rhineland), or Francois du Jon or Junius (from Bourges), but most were born in the Netherlands.Many were returning from several years of exile, determined that they would never be chased out of their homeland again.

One such returned exile was Sebastian Matte, a hatmaker by trade, born at Ieper in or about 1533 and forced to flee to England in 1563 on account of his Protestant sympathies. By 26 May 1566 he was back in his native Flanders and preaching at Roesbrugge (north-west of Ieper). On 1 August he appeared before the walled town of Veurne with an entourage of 2,000 armed Calvinists from the Ieper area, hoping to force an entry and make the town a fortified base for further operations. The plan failed.

Undaunted, Matte continued to preach and on 10 August he delivered an inflammatory sermon just outside the monastery of St. Lawrence at Steenvoorde. The exact text of his sermon is unknown, but after he had finished a group of about twenty of his audience went into the convent and smashed all the images there, led by another predikant, Jacob de Buzere (a renegade Augustinian monk, also from Ieper and also an exile returned from England).

On 13 August de Buzere preached a rousing sermon himself and promptly led his hearers to the monastery of St. Anthony outside Bailleul, which they proceeded to sack. The following day [August 14] Matte preached at Poperinghe and this time his sermon was followed by a rather larger iconoclastic outburst, involving about 100 people (over half of them refugees returned from England) and from there Matte's disciples fanned out to break images in scores of towns and villages all over Flanders. The 'iconoclastic fury' had begun."

noto bene: I have re-arranged the sequence of some of the text from the original published format. However, I have not altered the text as it appears in my 1979 Penguin Books copy.

Text copyright Geoffrey Parker. Arrangement copyright 2011 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction without my express, written consent.

800 Year Chronology of the Flemish Contribution to the Discovery and Settlement of America: 864 AD -1664 AD

September is an important month for me. September 3rd is the anniversary of my father's arrival in America from Flanders. It is also the anniversary of Henry Hudson's first foray up the mighty river that now bears his name. Bracketing that, September 8th is the anniversary of the capitulation of Pieter Stuyvesant to the Duke of York, and the lowering of the flag of the West India Company (which is almost identical to that of the United Provinces of the Netherlands) 346 years ago.

Wednesday evening, September 8, 2010, I gave an hour long talk to a gathering at Flanders House in New York, under their kind auspices. The discussion topic is "The Flemish Contribution to the Discovery & Settlement of America". Many of you of course will not be able to attend. So although the powerpoint is too large to post here, I thought I would at least share a rough chronology. Needless to say, if anyone wishes to know more details, please feel free to contact me.

Chronology of Flemish Contributions to the Discovery & Settlement of America 864-1664

• 800s – Charlemagne dies (814); grandsons squabble; Vikings invade Flanders (870s-880s) stay at St. Baaf's; intermarry with Flemish; First Flemish Count (Baldwin) appointed (864) collaborates with Vikings; Flemish priests (Ansgar, Rembert) from Tourhout proselytize into Scandinavia (800s- 1000s).

• 900s – Discovery and settlement of Iceland, Greenland; conversion of Norwegians to Christianity (990s); Flemish Archbishop Dankbrand; Lief Eriksson's "foster father" Thyrkir/Dirk possible Fleming; rise of Flanders as trade and textile center

• 1000s – Discovery of Vinland (named by Thyrkir/Dirk); Flemish largest % of William the Conqueror’s army (1066) thanks to wife, Matilda of Brugge; Flemings in Greenland, England, Scotland.

• 1100s – Construction of St. Baafs & of Newport Tower? Flemish colony in England by William of Ypres; Flemish colony in Ireland (Forth & Bargy).

• 1200s – Recorded Brugge trade with Greenland; Bruges Itinerarium; Flemish priests in Asia; Ruusbroeck meets with Great Khan (1250s); Tartar Relations written describing Asia

• 1300s – Flanders and Norway sign a trade agreement governing Greenland exports (1308); Flemish merchant from Brugge purchases 2,000 lbs of walrus ivory for 28 lbs of silver (1327); Jan de Langhe author of Mandeville (1330s?); Flemish papal legate collects tithes from Greenland (1360s); "Fifth generation Bruxelensis" priest from Greenland visits Norway and shares information with Jacob Cnoyen who writes down in the "Belgic" language in 1364 (copy to Mercator); Flemish innovations in fishing; Inventio Fortunata map of polar regions (1360s); Flemish fishermen off the Newfoundland coast; Flemish mijts left at Concepcion Bay, Newfoundland (late 14th/early 15th century); Philip of Burgundy ransoms his son back from the Muslims for 12 Greenland gyrfalcons (1396).

• 1400s – Last known sojourner between Greenland and Flanders (1408); Vinland Map (1430s/1440s); Discovery (1427) and settlement (1450s-1490s) of the Azores by Flemings; Danish-Portuguese expedition to Greenland (1476-1477); Bristol expeditions w/Fernandez the Labrador from the Azores(1480s-1490s); Van Olmen’s expedition (1484) from the Azores; Corte Real expeditions (1490s-1502) Azores to Newfoundland; Martin Behaim’s Nuremberg globe (1492); Columbus’ expeditions (1492-1506); Flemish Franciscans officially the first priests to the New World (1493).

• 1500s – Antwerp succeeds Brugge as center of European trade; Vrelant, a Flemish cartographer/miniaturist in Lisbon, creates the Cantino Map - 1st map to show New World outside elite Iberian circles (1502); 1st Printed Map of New World by Johannes Ruysch (1507); 1st book in English about the New World printed at Antwerp (1511); 1st Printed Map of Portuguese Charles V becomes first world ruler (1517); Adolf Van Wakken awarded colony in Yucatan (1517); Luther’s 95 These (1517); Roland Van Brugge sees the Pacific 1st on Magellan’s crew (1520); Becomes 1st Fleming to circumnavigate the world (1522); Magellan’s story written by Maximillian of Brussels (1523); Flemish Franciscan (Dekker, de Muir, Van der Auwere, Van Ghent) priests sent by Charles V Flemish mercenaries at Venezuela (1520s);1st Protestant martyrs (1523); English New Testaments printed at Antwerp (1520s) and smuggled into England by Jacob Van Meteren and others (1530s-1550s); William Tyndale, et.al. at Antwerp (executed at Vilvoorde 1536); Flemish missionaries under New Spain penetrate Arizona and New Mexico (1530s-1540s); Lucas Van Huden of Ghent conquers Chile for New Spain (1530s-1550s); Repression of Flemish Protestants and Anabaptists (1520s on); Flemish flee to England and elsewhere; Van Meterens to England (1550); Flemish Church at London (1550); English Moscovy Company (1553-1555) w/John Dee and Sebastian Cabot; Mercator sends Dee cartographic info (1550s-1590s); John Rogers burned at stake (1555); English send expeditions to find northern route (Northwest or Northeast passage) to Asia; Queen Elizabeth (Flemish ancestry) Queen of England (1558); First permannet settlement in the continental U.S. by Europeans, Fort Caroline in Florida, includes Flemish Protestants (1562-1565); Flemish Jesuits land in Florida and try to establish missionary outpost among the Indians there and later in Chesepeake Bay (1566-1570); Oliver Brunell of Brussels returns from Moscow and shares knowledge that Asia can be reached thru Muscovy to Mercator and Plancius (1566); Beeldenstorm (Iconoclasm) in Netherlands starts in Steenvoorde, Flanders (August 10, 1566); Duke of Alva arrives in Netherlands and Flemish Protestants flee (1567 - ) to England, Netherlands, Germany; Flemish innovations (carriage, starch, draining swamps, cartography, etc.) transmitted to English and Dutch (1560s-1600s); Flemish cartographers, innovators and theologians (Ortellius, Hondius, Van Der Keere, Plancius, Mercator Jr., De Laet, Baudartius) all spend time in England (1550s-1620s); English seek Northwest (Davis/Frobisher) and Northeast Passages to Asia (Jenkinson/Willoughby) (1550s-1580s); Flemish Anabaptists convey thinking to English Cambridge-educated clerics who develop Separatist belief (1580s-1610s); Antwerp falls and Flemings and Brabanders flee (1585-1589); Plancius inspired voyages to seek Northeast Passage (1590s); Voorcompagnieen (1590s-1602);

• 1600s –VOC established (1602); Jamestown established (1607); Pilgrims leave England (1607-8); Pilgrims at FlemishLeiden (1608-1620); Hudson recruited by Van Meteren (1608) advised by Plancius and guided by Hondius and hired by Van Os (1609); HH sails up the Hudson (Sept 10 – Oct 2, 1609); reports back to England (1610); Marcus de Vogelaer (and other Antwerpenaars) sail to Hudson’s “discoveries (1610-1623) Van Meteren publishes (1611); Adriaen Block in Manhattan (1613-1614); Block names Nieuw Nederland (1614); Council of Dort (Dordrecht) dominated by Flemish Protestants De Laet, Gomarus, et.al. (1619); Pilgrims leave for New England (1620); West India Company (WIC) IPO (1621); Fort Orange established (1623); 30 families – 6 Flemish – sent to Nieuw Nederland (1624); De Laet’s publication of “New World” (1625); Pieter Minuit 'buys' Manhattan (1626); WIC captures the Spanish silver fleet (1628); Patroonships allowed in Nieuw Nederland (1629); Rensselaerswijck establish (1630); Other patroonships established by Antwerpenaars Blommaert, De Laet, Godijn, Melyn (1630s-1650s); “Flemish Bastard” born (1630s); 1st eyewitness painting of the New World by Mostaert (1645); Adrian Vander Donck’s publication of life in Nieuw Nederland (1650); Cornelis Melyn’s tract 'Breeden Raedt' (1650); Immigration rises (1650s-1660s); Pieter Stuyvesant capitulates and the English take over Nieuw Nederland ofte Nova Belgica September 8, 1664.

A whole slew of additional examples exist for the period 1664-the present. That chronology will have to remain for a future post.

Copyright 2010 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without my express, written consent.

The Flemish Influence on the Pilgrims: Part 6

Every so often I stumble upon something obscure yet dead-on to explaining the contribution of the Flemish to the discovery and settlement of the New World. A while back it was the piece by Professor Verlinden. Today it is this superb article that has been hidden in dusty tomes for more than fifty years. Because I am fortunate to work near a library that holds a vast array of periodicals I was able to access this piece. For all of you without the access - but yet with the burning desire to confirm what you might suspect of the Flemish contribution to the New World, I post this for you.

The Flemish influence on the Pilgrims Part 6: Excerpts From, “The Cultural Impact of the Flemish Low Countries on Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England”

By John J. Murray – The American Historical Review, Vol. 62, No.4, (1957); pp. 837-854

“Historians have treated at some length the cultural impact of Celt, German, Scandinavian, Frenchman, Spaniard, and Italian, but they have too often ignored the significance of the Flemings. This is indeed curious, for cultural currents from the Flemish speaking Low Countries seriously although quietly helped to shape the flow of British life, especially during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the long run, their significance was perhaps equal to and in some respects superior to the combined influences of Italy and France….

“English and Scottish contingents in the Low Countries fought side by side with the Flemings against the troops of Alva and his successors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The soldiers serving [in the Flemish Low Countries at this time] came to know and appreciate Flemish ways and as a result took many Flemish customs – military and social – back to Britain with them…

“While the military marched, Flemish civilians flocked to England by the thousands seeking to escape the rapine, slaughter, and economic chaos resulting from Protestant and Catholic furies that alternately swept the Low Countries. The Flemings came as “strangers” and attended their own Dutch speaking churches, but their children born in England were British. Many became Anglicans, adopted British habits, and changed their names. But when Willem van der Straaten became William Streets, and Hoek became Leeke, and Haerstricht, the Flemish manufacturer at Bow, became James, they did not desert completely the old ways and the old customs…When they built their homes, they incorporated in them nostalgic reminders of their Flemish ancestry….

“Refugee traffic between the two countries ran both ways: Flemings came to England and Englishmen went to the Netherlands…. The Pilgrim Fathers were not a unique group so far as seventeenth-century Holland was concerned, and it is to be remembered that they did not embark for the New World before they had acquired some Dutch ideas and customs….

“Economic activities also provided a pathway for Flemish ideas. From the Low Countries, England drew many artisans and craftsmen, and these Flemish refugees brought new crafts with them. The coming of the “new Draperies” to England is directly connected with the Elizabethan settlements of Flemish refugees in Norwich, Sandwich, Colchester, London, and elsewhere. During Elizabeth’s reign, eleven thousand artisans from Ghent, mostly weavers, came to England….

“The town of Norwich opened its gates to four thousand Flemish strangers, the majority of whom were in the cloth trade….

“In spite of some local animosities, the immigrants prospered….they provided not only for their own poor but for the poor of their hosts as well….King and Parliament, however, levied heavy charges on them, and as a result some…migrated to the New World….

“Sir Thomas Gresham modeled the Royal Exchange on the Antwerp Bourse; Sir Balthazar Gerbier…outlined a plan for a bank for England in 1641; and fifty-three years later, under a Dutch king [William III], the Bank of England came into existence, with Sir James Houblon, grandson of a Flemish immigrant, as its first governor….

“One way to evaluate the importance of the Low Countries influence on England is to study the numerous Flemish words that crept into the English language….the common origin of many words and the similarity between English and Flemish in the fifteenth century. A pamphleteer could comment two hundred years later that ‘most of our old words are Dutch’….

“The test of language shows very clearly England’s debt….in maritime ventures. As might be expected, the English language abounds with Dutch nautical and marine terms…The influence of the Low Countries on English shipping [and exploration] extended [still] further…’The reform of cartography in the sixteenth century owed much to the achievements of Mercator and Ortelius.’ In the seventeenth century, Flemish predominance [in cartography] continued unabated….

“Flemish printing houses poured forth magnificent prints that were widely copied in England. The Flemish refugees John and Martin Droeshout are well known to students of Shakespeare because of their engraved portrait of the great dramatist….Prints from the house of Hondius-Janszoon and Blaeuw were well known to British buyers, who bought emblems along with landscapes and maps. Emblem books….had a tremendous vogue throughout the next century [1600s]. Francis Quarles, the most renowned of England’s emblem poets, borrowed all but ten of seventy-nine emblems from the books of two Flemish Jesuits…[the] British emblem writers…all plundered Flemish artists for their engravings….

“Flemings played a definite role in the history of English printing….From 1483, when Flemish printers first began to issue books for the English market, to 1640 over two hundred Flemish printers and booksellers had connections with England. Christopher Plantin, Martinus de Keyser, the Elseviers, the Blaeuws, and Hans Luft printed books specifically for English buyers. Others such as Christoffel van Ruremund and his brother Hans sold their books personally in England.…A third group, in which were Emanuel van Meteren, Stephen Mierdam, and Nicholas van de Berghe, settled in England and became British subjects.

“These booksellers and printers of Flemish birth and extraction were in the forefront in the battle for men’s minds and souls waged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A steady stream of Bibles and Protestant tracts were smuggled into England from the Low Countries. After [the Duke of] Parma was able to save the Southern Netherlands for the Spanish crown and for Rome, Antwerp and Brussels became focal points for the printing and distribution of Jesuit and other Catholic books [bound for British Catholics]….

“Flanders served as the outlet for disseminating information during the seventeenth-century religious conflicts in England, and its thinkers actually contributed many important ideas to British theological arguments….There was a direct, traceable progression of latitudinarian ideas from Erasmus, through Arminius and Grotius, to Milton and John Locke….In few periods in English history has thought been so vitally affected by ideas and occurrences in a foreign country….

“The controversy of the Dutch Remonstrant followers of Arminius with the orthodox party in the Netherlands was ‘followed with breathless interest in England’. British ecclesiastics sat at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619)….and were loud in their praise of orthodox champions such as Gomarus [of Flanders and an acquaintance of the Pilgrims]….

“[The Protestant sect of] Congregationalism drew strength from the Netherlands as well as from New England. The English separatists [from which America’s Pilgrims came], during their stay in the Low Countries, ‘had been considerably influenced by their Arminian and Anabaptist neighbors’ [in Leiden, which was nearly 70% made up of refugees, primarily from Flanders]…

“In the arts, as in other fields…Flemish polyphony merged with the active native [=British] tradition….Such Flemish musicians as Johannes Okelgem, Josquin des Pres, and Orlande de Lassus, through the subsequent developments of the Italo-Flemish and Franco-Flemish schools of music, left their mark on English music….

“The influence of Flemish painters upon those in England began as far back as the Flemish primitives. Touching the portrait painters of the Tudors, it reached its greatest significance in the seventeenth century. Within the short space of thirty-five years (1634-1668), the Dutch words ‘easel’, ‘etch’, ‘maulstick’, ‘landscape’, and ‘sketch’ were added to the English language, while at the same time the artists Van Dyke, Rubens, Huysman, and others enjoyed a tremendous vogue in England…

“The fashion of having one’s portrait done by Flemish painters has sometimes provided the historian his only real idea of the appearance of many historical personages. The two Gheerharts, the De Critzes, Hans Eworth, Antonis Mor, Lucas de Heere, Joos van Cleef, to mention a few, reveal the character of various Tudor and Jacobean figures and illustrate the clothing of their times…

“What the portrait painters did for people, the two Van de Veldes…did for ships. Pepys could ask in his Naval Minutes, “What sea-scape of our nation have we ever had like Vandervelde [sic] or the others?’…

“Flemish [art] collectors and dealers, such as Gerbier and De Critz, did much to foster art in England and to preserve the masters for posterity. The English debt to them during the dispersal of the Royal and Buckingham collections cannot be overstressed….

“Architects from John Thorpe in the sixteenth century to Christopher Wren in the early eighteenth century…incorporated many Flemish characteristics in their own work….Wren steeples and Jacobean gabled houses bear testimony to Flemish influences….

“British household interiors, like their exteriors, sometimes became Flemish Renaissance….The Flemish bow, C-scroll, and curve can be found at least individually if not collectively in all chairs made in the late Stuart period….[In 1622]Johannes Fromanteel made the first long case, or perhaps we should say ‘grandfather’ clock….One of these clocks merrily ticked away in Dickens’ ‘old curiosity shop’.…[these] examples of marquetry and inlay were put to excellent use, not only in the manufacture of clock cases but also in the making of chests and cupboards. [Recall that] ‘Veneer’ is a Dutch word… [In wall-hangings] Up to the beginning of the reign of Charles I [reigned 1625-1649], Flemish tapestry makers dominated the British markets.

“In the sixteenth century a light plow that could be drawn by two horses was invented in the Netherlands, and it was introduced into Norfolk and Suffolk during the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Farmers in the Netherlands employed crop rotation, and in the seventeenth century Sir Richard Weston advocated the application of such Flemish methods to British agriculture. He initiated the planting of Dutch clover, so that in Norfolk and the Fen country, clover cultivation was practiced some years before 1700. Thirty years later, a decided impetus was given to the practice of crop rotation when Charles Viscount Townsend…quit his office of Secretary of State and returned to Raynham, his Dutch-style home, to farm his lands according to the ‘Husbandrie used in Brabant and Flanders.’

“Before the coming of the Flemings, the art of gardening seems to have been lost by the English…Queen Katherine of Aragon [1485-1536] had her table supplied from the Low Countries for she was unable to obtain the makings for a salad in all of England….[these] immigrants changed asparagus, artichokes, and water cress from aphrodisiacs and women’s remedies [in English minds] to edibles. By 1699, when Evelyn wrote his Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets, he could find in London gardens the ingredients needed to fill the salad bowl….

“Engineers from the Low Countries altered the face of England and shamed the British by their industry, ‘which makes them seem as if they had a faculty from the worlds Creation out of water to make dry land.’…Sir Richard Weston, in about 1645, brought out of Flanders ‘the Contrivance of Locks, Turnpikes, and tumbling Boyes for Rivers.’ Charles II, during a yachting party on September 11, 1680, had a discussion with Pepys on how it came ‘to pass that England has at all times served itself with strangers for engineers.’ By far the majority of those foreign engineers were Flemings….

“New industries meant new commodities; new tools and scientific instruments made new tasks possible….New eating habits and new drinking habits became established. The Dutch word ‘brewery’ took the place of the English word ‘brewhouse’…The stylish ruffle [worn by the elite] of the reign of Elizabeth [1558-1603] and the widespread use [in England] of lawn and cambric can both be traced to the Low Countries, as can the use of starch. On the streets, the new coach from Antwerp [first brought in the 1560s by the husband of the woman who introduced starch], often pulled by mares from Flanders, appreciably changed the London scene.

“The Flemish strangers themselves gave a colorful twist to English history. Some were sober and hard-working artisans; some were godly and walked with the saints; but others were more of the flesh than of the spirit…. Some of the newcomers were merchants, bankers, goldsmiths, engineers, architects, and doctors; others were freaks, acrobats, artists, and entertainers. Some sank down into the depths of the London underworld while others rose to mingle with the high and the mighty. One, Isaac Doreslaer, helped brief the legal arguments that sent Charles I to the scaffold; another, John de Critz the second, lost his life before Oxford fighting for the Royalist cause.

“An attempt has been made here to place in proper perspective the great debt that Britain owes to the Flemish Low Countries during the period in which Britain was developing….Just as European thought was given a definite British tinge before it came to Boston and Philadelphia, so did the characteristics of the Renaissance and Reformation receive Flemish overtones before they arrived in Norwich and London.

Professor Murray’s article originally was delivered as a speech on November 13, 1954 at the first meeting of the Midwest Conference of British Historians.

Copyright 2010 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any form without my express, written consent.