A Hypothetical Van Oist Genealogy
As of the time I write this, Otto Gerrits van Oist is just a guy who was executed in 1436 by the city of Utrecht in an ill-conceived and ill-executed and probably pointless raid on Utrecht led by Johan van Arkel, lord of Heukelom. I believe that Otto Gerrits van Oist was probably the father of Gerrit Ottens and Willem Ottens, Willem Ottens being the progenitor of the den Hartog/Hertog lineages in Holland and the Swaim lineages in America, but I haven't proven this.
The primary reason I believe that Otto Gerrits van Oist was the father of Willem Ottens is that the van Oist family from Limburg, at the time that Otto Gerrits van Oist was born and died, live in and around the village of Swalmen; when Otto Gerrits van Oist was born, Dirck van Oist/Oest was in fact the lord of Swalmen, living in the castle Hillenraad; when Otto Gerrits van Oist died in 1436, Dirck's oldest son Johan was the lord of Swalmen. There's no record of a Gerrit van Oist or of an Otto van Oist, so there's no way of knowing how Gerrit van Oist fit into the van Oist family. Since Otto Gerrits van Oist's father was presumably named Gerrit, Otto couldn't have been a son of Dirck van Oist. But the van Oist genealogy is fragmentary, so there's plenty of room for unknown members of the larger van Oist family in Limburg. There's a Philips Scheffler van Oest mentioned in a document from 1419, and a Heinrich van Oest, and given the size of many families from these times, there were probably many other van Oist family members whose names were never mentioned in any documents because they hadn't done anything remarkable enough to be documented.
But it's also possible that Otto Gerrits van Oist is from some other family entirely, entirely unconnected to Limburg. It's also possible that he wasn't the father of Willem Ottens. What do we even have to connect Otto Gerrits van Oist with Willem Ottens, or with Limburg? The truth is that we have no proof whatsoever of either of those connections. The only proof could be through some document that makes such a connection, or through DNA matching evidence, but so far we have neither of these things.
So why do I think that Otto Gerrits van Oist was Willem Ottens' father?
First, he was obviously in the right place at the right time to have been Willem Ottens' father. H. den Hertog estimated Gerrit Ottens' year of birth as 1435 and Willem Ottens's at 1440, and we know that in 1436 Otto Gerrit van Oist was conspiring with Jan van Arkel Heukelom somewhere in the Land of Arkel.
Second, his patronymic name is exactly the name we'd expect him to be. The father of Gerrit and Willem Ottens would be some form of Ot, Otto, Otte, or Otten, and obviously Otto Gerrits had that name. Also, the given name of the first son of a man was traditionally that of his father's father. Thus, if Gerrit Willems was the first son, then his grandfather's name was likely Gerrit. Since Otto Gerrits' father was named Gerrit, this fits. Thus, although names didn't always fit this pattern, that pattern was the convention. No one else that I've seen in the records in the Land of Arkel in the 1440's was named Otto Gerrits—certainly not Otto van Arkel, who would have been called Otto Jansz.
Third, there's the fact that Willem Ottens' grandson Claes married Margriet van Afferen/Afferden sometime in the early 1500's, while in 1486 Isabella van Oest of Hillenrade married Arnold Shenck van Nydeggen, whose ancestral home was Bleijenbeek Castle at Afferden. There's some uncertainty as to whether or not Margriet's town of Afferden is the same as the one near Bleijenbeek, as there's another Affereden on the Waal between Tiel and Nijmegen, so a better understanding of Margriet van Afferden's ancestry would be helpful. Of course, even if Margriet van Afferden's family had come from the Afferden near Bleijenbeek this proves nothing, but would nonetheless be interesting evidence of a possible connection.
The primary reason I believe that Otto Gerrits van Oist was probably the father of Willem Ottens is that this would explain the use of the surname Sweym/Swaim in the Swaim/den Hartog line, first by Willem Ottens' son Jan, and second by Thys Barentsen four generations later, and third by the vast majority of Thys Barentsen's descendants in America. In Limburg the pronunciation of Swalmen was much closer to that of Sweym than it seems from the spelling of the two names, but old maps and records prove that the name was pronounced something close to Sweym (the German town of Schwaam, which lies on the river Swalm (Schwalm), is also evidence of the local pronunciation of the name).
In my opinion, there is simply no other credible explanation for the origin of the name Swaim/Sweym. But why did no one in the family ever use the surname van Oist? I think this is easily explained by the nature of the act that got Otto Gerrits executed, which may have been considered shameful and cowardly, especially since war had not been declared by Jan van Arkel before the attack occurred. Gerrit and Willem Ottens' families lived close to Utrecht, some even being burghers there, so it's easy to imagine they'd wan to bury the surname. However, it's aso possible that Otto Gerrits van Oist was actually a Sweym, either from Holland or Limburg, rather than a van Oist, and he'd gone by the name van Oist because it was plausibly a name he could use, yet wasn't common in Holland.
I haven't discovered any new evidence that Otto Gerrits van Oist was the father of Wilem Ottens, but for this post I've gone through the online extracts from the Roermond archives in a little more detail to look for information on the van Oist/Oest family in the 1300's and 1400's. So I'll provide some of that information here, along with some historical context, and then I'll also show that the van Oist family had some connection to a family named van Eill/Eijll, and propose a completely hypothetical relationship between the two families that could explain the origin of the den Hartog/Hertog surname that has become the most widely used surname in the Netherlands for descendants of Willem Ottens. The name means “of the Duke” or “from the Duke,” which at face value is a claim to have descended from a duke. But what duke, and through what connection? The answers to these questions are unknown, and I'll present one more possible answer that has no real evidence to support it.
What We Know About the Van Oist Family From the Roermond Archives
The first mention that I could of a van Oist is from and archive entry dated the 15th or 22nd of April 1348, from Roermond. This entry states that “Mattijs van Kessel and Deddrich van Oest, right citizen of Roermond...have concluded an agreement with the city of Roermond on the toll at Kessel.” The entry then details the various tolls that apply to shipments on the river Maas at Kessel. So we learn that Dirck (also called Dederick and Theodoricus) van Oest was a citizen of Roermond, and we know from other sources he was the lord of Oost, which was about 34 miles upstream of Roermond, just south of Maastricht. We don't know why he was a citizen of Roermond, but already we see that he's associated with the van Kessel family, which was also closely associated with the van Swalmen family (Kessel was located about 6 miles downstream of Swalmen, though on the west bank of the Mass while Swalmen was on the east side of the Maas). Also, we can assume that Dirck van Oest is also a man of some regional influence, since he's making decisions that affect a lot of people and that people had strong feelings about--tolls on goods transported on rivers were always highly contentious.
The next entry mentioning a van Oest is dated June 2, 1379, from Venlo. This entry summarized a meeting that was held at the ducal house of Gelre (Guelders) in Venlo. Present at the meeting were Maria, Duchess of Jülich and Gelre, her son Wilhelm, Duke of Gelre, Robijn van Swalmen (canon of St. Servatius in Maastricht), and “many other knights and servants.” Witnesses included:
Mr van Bronkhorst and Bateberg, lord of Vronen and Bergen
Johan van Broeckhusen
Wilhem van Broeckhusen
Johan van Kessel
Mathijs van Kessel
Dedrich van Oest
Godert van Vlodrop, guardian of Roermond
Henrich van der Straten
Among several others
The subject of this meeting was the settlement of the conflict between “the villages and parishes of Swalmen and Asselt” and “the parishes and villages of Echt, Besel, and Vlodrop.” The question was whether the villages of Swalmen and Asselt were indebted to the other villages for an incident or incidents that were unspecified in the entry. Robijn van Swalmen submitted the sealed documents and testimonies relating to this issue. Mr. van Bronkhorst deliberated and returned sentence, declaring that Swalmen and Asselt would “remain in their old rights as at least the time of Sieger Vuskens [van Swalmen] and as with Werner van Swalmen and not if the other villages were besieged with tribute.” This Google translation of the judgement doesn't seem entirely satisfactory, but it sounds as if the villages of Swalmen and Asselt had won their case; and in any case, the point of this entry for us isn't the outcome of the meeting, but the fact that Dirck van Oest was present at it.
This meeting was held within a few months after the termination of is known as the “First War of the Guelderian Succession” (1372-1379). This began with the death of Duke Reinoud III, who died without legitimate issue in 1371. The claimants to the ducal throne were Reinoud's half-sisters Maria and Matilda. Maria was the wife of William II, Count of Jülich and the mother of Willem I of Guelders, who we know eventually triumphed since they were present at the above meeting. But to get there their followers fought several battles, winning some and losing others, until after losing the last battle in march, 1379, at Honnepel. The faction supporting Maria and Willem in this war was called the Bronkhorsters, which the Wikipedia article on the war says was led by Gijsbert van Bronkhorst (1328-1356)--but since he was apparently long dead before this war began, it was probably one or more of his sons who did the fighting and who was the “Mr. van Bronkhorst” who settle this dispute between Swalmen/Asselt and the other villages. The dispute was probably a part of the succession struggle, and Swalmen and Asselt were probably on the side of Willem, but this is just conjecture.
As far as concerns Dirck van Oest, this was probably the same Dirck van Oest as the in the 1349 entry, the previous entry, but as we have no information on this, it's possible that they were father and son. In any case, he was present at a formal meeting with the new Duke of Guelders, who was about 16 years old at the time of the meeting. Thus, it was probably Willem's mother Maria who was making the decisions.
The next entry of importance to us that mentions Dirck van Oest is from the next year, October 14, 1380. This entry from Swalmen states: “Robijn van Swalmen, canon of St.-Servaas in Tricht, carries his property in Swalmen, consisting of house, mill, winwas, lease, fields, bemd, forest, marsh, water and meadow over to Diederick van Oost and Felicitas, spouse.”
This entry is followed by one date May 8, 1381: “Robijn van Swalmen sells the house in Swalmen etc, that he had inherited from his brother Werner van Swalmen, to his nephew Dirk van Oest and his wife Felicitas.” In this entry Dirck van Oest is called Robijn van Swalmen's “neef,” which could mean nephew or cousin. The exact relationship is unknown, but clearly they were related. It's quite possible that Dirck van Oest was a van Swalmen by his paternal line who had earlier come to own the lordship of Oost, but wished to return to his hometown of Swalmen. What Dirck van Oest had acutally bought from Robijn van Swalmen was the lordship of Swalmen, Hillenraad Castle, and the house Oudborg. Robijn van Swalmen had inherited the lordship of Swalmen from his brother Werner Vosken van Swalmen, who had died on January 17, 1380. This was probably because Robijn van Swalmen was interested only in his career in the Church, in his position at St. Servius in Maastrict. and so sold Swalment to his cousin.
There are further entries dated October 18, 1381, conerning the sale of Swalmen, one of which clarifies that the sale included the lordship of Swalmen and not just the land and buildings: “Robin van Swalmen, kanunnik te Tricht, verkoopt de heerlijkheid Swalmen plus het Huijs tot Swalmen met de hof, molen, winwas, tol te Asselt, akkers, bemden, bos, broek, water en weiden aan Henrick Dierck van Oest, ridder, en Felicitas.” (Robin van Swalmen, canon at Tricht, sells the lordship of Swalmen plus the Huijs tot Swalmen with the court, mill, winwas, toll at Asselt, fields, bemden, forest, trousers, water and meadows to Henrick Dierck van Oest, knight, and Felicitas.) We also learn from this entry that Dirck van Oest must have had the additional given name Henrick, although this appears to be the only time that name was used in archived entries.
An entry from May 9, 1382 from Eijsden (near Oost) states that “Felicitas van Uppey and her husband Theodoricus van Oest [lord van Hillenraad]” together with Adam van Uppey transferred property in Oost and Breust near Eijsden to the “camerarius of the Duke of Brabant.” This might mean that they were leaving Oost permanently, now that they were settled into Hillenraad. In this entry Dirk van Oost was called “milites,” Latin at that time for “knight.”
The next entry for Dirck van Oest apparently occurs eleven years later, on December 7, 1392.. This entry involved an incident in which “Diederich van Oyss” (who is now called a ridder, or knight) made an alliance with the city of Cologne such that if war broke out within 3 years with the Archbishop Friderich, he would make his two castles, “Hellenroide” and “Swalme” available for their use, and assist the city until the end of the battle (Swalmen lies only about 50 miles from Cologne, so would be a useful refuge after a strategic retreat in battle) Thus, van Oest was involving himself in a struggle for power between the Archbishop of Cologne and the civil city of Cologne. His help was in exchange for money, but was that the only reason he did that? I can't answer that question because I don't know enough about the history of these events, but presumably Dirck van Oest was following the orders of his lord Willem, the Duke of Guelders and Jülich. In any case, as it turned out, by June 11, 1393, the city of Cologne and the archbishop reconciled and there was no need to house the Cologne forces at Swalmen.
I don't know if anything is known of Dirck van Oest's life between the years of 1382 and 1392, but it's interesting that these are the years that Duke Willem had spent much time crusading against the Lithuanians in East Prussia, warring with Brabant on the side of the English in the Hundred Years' War between France and England and went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the summer of 1391 and ended up fighting Barbary Pirates in North Africa. Was Dirck van Oest with Willem for some or most of this time? one of the knights who were with him during this time? This could explain his absence from the archive entries during the 1380's, but this is just speculation.
On June 10, 1394, Dirck van Oest did some work on Hillenraad Castle, Also in 1394 an entry lists Dirck van Oest's name as “Deric van Eze,” which was probably less a variant spelling than a mixup with another surname. There was in fact a van Eze family, from Zutphen in Gelderland, but they had probably been enemies of Willem and his mother since they were also called van Heeckeren, and the name of the opposition to the Bronkhorsters was the Heeckerens. But there's not doubt that Dirck van Oest was the party in question because this entry was a confirmation of his ownership of “Hillenraad en te Swalmen.”
Willem, Duke of Guelders died in 1402 and was succeeded by his brother Reinald IV.
In March or April of 1404 Dirk van Oest did some more work on Hillenraad. In December 1404 “Dederich van Oyss,” along with Mathijs van Kessel and a few others, arbitrated a dispute between the city of Roermond and the guardian of Roermond (who was probably a van Vlodrop).
On February 14, 1419, at Asselt, there's an entry for a “Philips Sceeffeler van Oyss, richter (judge) made a decision concerning a local matter. Given this surname and the fact that it involves a matter at Asselt, which is part of the lordship of Swalmen, there's no doubt that Philips Sceffeler was related to Dirck van Oest; possibly he was a son. For our purposes I think this entry serves to illustrate the fact that the archived entries only name a small fraction of the people that were actually living their lives and doing things, and even in “important” families the names of most members were never written down. Most wealthy families were in fact quite large and had many sons and daughters who had never done anything to get into the archived entries, which mostly involved political or military affairs.
It appears that Dirck van Oest must have died before October 27, 1423, since it is now Johan van Oest who's the lord of Swalmen. He's probably Dirck's oldest son. Also in July of 1423, after the death of Reinaud IV, Arnold van Egmond, son of John II van Egmond and Maria van Arkel, became the new Duke of Guelders.
In August 1425 Arnold, Duke of Guelders, gave some land in “Zwalmen” to “Johan van Oyst.” The reason for this isn't stated, but clearly Arnold has a favorable opinion of Johan van Oyst.
In March 1427 Johan van Oest's wife Wilhelma (Willem) Bellinghoven inherited a castle at Millingen, apparently Millingen aan de Rijn about ten miles upstream from Nijmegen.
On October 7, 1434, an entry provides some data regarding the family of a Margriete van Oest, who is married to Elbert van Eyle Elbertsoen. Their children are:
Elisabeth van Eyl, married 1452 to Gaert van Weijenhorst, son of Willem
Aleid van Eyl, married 1454 to Johan van Bellinghoven, son of Dirk
Elbert van Eyl
Tilman van Eyl
There's no information on how Margriete van Oest fits into the van Oest family, but it's likely she was one of Johan's sisters. Note also that Margriete's daugher Aleid married a Bellinghoven, just as Johan married a Bellinghoven.
In 1438 the ownership of a property was provided of the son of “Maes van Oist,” the youngest son of Johan van Oist. The entry is listed as Elst and refers to this property as being split off from the house in Millingen. The ownership, along with the beginning date of the ownership and renewal date if any, went:
Johan van Oist (1427?)
Maes van Oist, the youngest son of Johan van Oist, 1438, 1467
Johan van Oest Maeszoon, after the death of his father, June 23 1487
Elyzabeth van Oest, after the death of her brother Johan, and after postponement.
1514. Her husband was Wilhem Velle
Philips van Wyschell (Elyzabeth's brother-in-law, 10 July 1527
Anna van Poelen, wife of Philips van Wyschel, after the death of Elyzabeth van
Oest.
Johan van Holtmoelen on behalf of his brother-in-law Coenradt van Wyssell, after
the death of his mother Anna van Poelen, 18 March 1557.
Johan van Holtmoelen 1557.
On June 23, 1439, Johan van Oest and his wife Willem van Bellinchoven, with the consent of their sons Thomas and Derich, transferred property in Leeuwen to Willem van Vlodrop and his wife Felytze van Oest.
Johan van Oist must have died in 1440 because and entry of that year states that Derich van Oist took possession of the house Ouburgh in Swalmen (on behalf of his sister).
On October 10, 1457, “Arnolt, Duke of Guelders, gives in presence of the counsels Theodoricus van Oist, kitchen master, and Theodoricus Schyncke van Nydeggen, knape
regulations to prevent persons who are in the targeted of Roermond had to take an oath due to ignorance and lack of knowledge of the language fall into perjury.”
This is the first time we see that Dirck van Oist (Theodoricus, Dederick) mentioned in his capacity as an employee of Duke Arnold. Here he's mentioned as the kitchen master, but clearly he's more than that since he and Dirck Schenck van Nydeggen are charged with a task having nothing to do with cooking.
on January 1, 1460, “Dirck van Oest inherits the house in Hillenrade of his father Johan van Oest, and the house in Swalmen for the benefit of his sister Isabella.” So here we learn that Johan died in 1459, that Dirck was Johan's son, and that Dirck had a sister named Isabella.
On May 6, 1460, “Derick van Oest” was called Duke Arnold's “raad en keukenmeester” (“council and kitchen master.”). I won't provide an more examples, but in several later entries over the next several years Dirck van Oest is again called by those titles.A raad was apparently someone who gave advice, and Duke Arnold was no doubt counting on Dirck's knowlege of the local citizens and politics of Limburg, since Arnold himself was from Holland. Clearly Dirck van Oest was an important man under Duke Arnold. But was he really his kitchen master also, and what did this mean?
Kitchen Master Elbert van Eyl and Family
A kitchen master was possibly something like a head chef, and in this case it would probably mean that Dirck van Oest was responsible for providing the count and his retinue with food when they were in the area. However, this may have just been a formal title and Dirck had no real responsibility for such a thing; who knows?
But there may be more to this story than we can easily see. Going back to Duke Willem I, who was served by the first Dirck van Oist, here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia article: “The court of Guelders at the end of the 14th century and beginning of the 15th century was quite celebrated, including numerous physicians, barbers, falconers and cooks. Among his retinue, William kept head cooks Everardus Bolte, Crumken, and Elbertus van Eijll (who continued as master cook for William's successor, Reginald IV.) Ellbertus may have been the grandson of Everardus Bolte and a genealogy of Elbertus' granson in about 1440 claimed that Elbertus married a bastard daughter of Duke William named Margaret. In 1396, during a visit to the English king, the cooks entered a cooking contest against their English counterparts led by then head cook, Crumken.”
Now let's go back to the October 7, 1434 entry which states that Margaret van Oest was married to Elbertus van Eyle Elbertszoon. This Elbertus was probably the son of the Elbertus van Eijll who was the cook master for the dukes Willem I and Reinoud IV. The surnames van Eijll, van Eyle, van Eyll, van Eile, are all variations of the same name. The van Eyll family was originally from the vicinity of today's Kerken in Germany, a few miles northeast of Venlo, but were by this time prominent in Limburg. The first Dirck van Oest would of course have known Willem's cook Elbert van Eyll, and Margaret van Oest was married to Elbert's son Elbert van Eyll. Margaret van Oest's father was named Heinrich and we don't know who he was, but he might have been a younger son of the first Dirck van Oest, or otherwise probably a cousin. So the two families knew each other well and were intermarried.
Here's what we know of the genealogy of this part of the van Eyll family, although there were several other branches.
Gaert van Eyll, who died in the 1400's, probably early in the 1400's. His son:
Elbert van Eyl, who married Margareth the illegitimate daughter of Willem, Duke of Guelders. Their children:
Catharina van Eyl, married Goes Spede van Langenveld (or Goswin Spee, son of Godfrid Spee)
Elbert van Eyl, married Margarite van Oest (“According to Düsseldorfer Geschichstverein, Margarethawas a daughter of Heinrich”)
The children of Elbert van Eyl and Margarite van Oest were:
Heinrich van Eyl, 1442
Elbert van Eyl (bailiff of Guelders), married to Margaretha van Titz
Johan van Eyl (married Agnes van Dript in 1440 and was a landowner in Swalmen at least by 1474)
Aleid van Eyl, married to Johann van Bellinghoven (son of Dirck van Bellinghoven)
Further information was given in 1440 about the family of one of these children, Johan van Eijll and his wife Agnes van Dript (the daughter of Johan van Dript and Theodorica van Kessel). Their children were:
1.Bernard van Eijll, possibly overl. 1479.
2.Elisabeth of Eijll, religious at Hagenbusch 1486.
3.Agnes of Eijll, religious in Munster abbey, overl. 1524.
4.Theoderica of Eijll, moniale te Keizerbosch, overl. April 4 (warning before 1505).
5.Johanna van Eijll. Tr. before 1486 with Johan van den Horrich, receives court in Wijlre under Swalmen at estate separation 1486.
6.Eva van Eijll, moniale in Bedburg.
7.Mary of Eijll, religious in Mariënburg.
8.Johan van Eijll, receives Gastendonck at estate separation 1486.
Hypothesis
What I propose as a possibility is that Otto Gerrits van Oist married a daughter of Elbert van Eyll and Margarethe van Guelders (the illegitimate daughter of Willem I, duke of Guelders and Jülich).
If this had happened, then Gerrit Ottens and Willem Ottens would have been the great-grandsons of Willem I through their mother NN van Eyll, the daughter of Margarethe. Thus, they would indeed be “den hertog” or from the duke.
Furthermore, such a marraige would have given Gerrit and Willem Ottens and their descendants a connection to the city of Deventer, through their grandmother Margaretha's descent from her great-grandmother Eleanor of Woodstock. Eleanor of Woodstock was the wife of Reinoud II, duke of Guelders (1326-1334). Eleanor was a daughter of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France, which meant that Eleanor was literally a princess (and also means that Gerrit and Willem Ottens would have been 7th-generation descendants of the King of England and the 8th-gneration descendants of the King of France and King of Navarre (Philip IV)).
Seven generations back is a long time to have a family memory of an ancestor, but it's possible that Eleanor of Woodstock's story was romantically compelling enough that her descendants would find it worthy of naming themselves after her. The story went something like this. In 1332, at the age of about 15 or 16, Eleanor was married to Reinoud II of Guelders, who she probably found terrifying as a husband, since he was a widower with four daughters, was more than twice her age at about 37 years old, and had imprisoned his own father for several years so that he could run his dukedom. After Eleanor had lived with Reinoud II for about six years, he exiled her to Deventer on the false claim that she had leprosy. Eleanor remained in Deventer during her exile from the duke, and one story says that when the duke tried to annul their marriage, she went to a court in Nijmegen and stripped naked in front of the court to prove she didn't have leprosy, thus foiling the duke's plans for annulment. She did have a son by Reinoud II, who became duke of Guelders after him, but she died in Deventer at age 36 and was buried in the Franciscan church in Deventer.
Although much of this story might be exaggerated or simply fabricated it was at least the legend of Eleanor of Woodstock, and it may have captured the imagination of her descendants, who weren't bombarded with tens of thousands of streaming Netflix and Amazon Prime movies and didn't have access to millions of novels. To a great degree, before the invention of the printing press and cameras, legends, ballads, and plays were the stories that entertained people. So it's possible that the name Deventer could have been used by some of Willem Ottens descendants in memory of Eleanor.
It's even possible that the story could have been the origin of the surname van Megen, as Megenn appears to have been used sometimes as a short form of Nijmegen, and it was at Nijmegen that Eleanor showed her fighting spirit in defeating her husband's sinister plot to annul their marriage and tar her image by claiming she had a disfiguring disease.
This hypothesis could also explain what Otto Gerrits was doing in the Land of Arkel. Since Margarethe was the daughter of Willem I, duke of Guelders and Jülich, she was also related to the van Arkels. The sister of Willem I was Johanna van Jülich (1362-1415), who married Jan V van Arkel (1362-1428), and their legitimate daughter Maria (1389-1415) would have been alive when Gerrit van Oist was a child, if he was more than 21 years old at his death. Thus, Margarethe was Jan V van Arkel's niece and Maria van Arkel's first cousin. Her hypothetical son-in-law, Otto Gerrits van Oist, would thus be Maria van Arkel's first cousin once removed. If Otto Gerrits and his hypothetical wife NN van Eyll had decided to move from Limburg, it might have been arranged for them to possess some land in the Land of Arkel, and this may be the reason that Gerrit and Willem Ottens ended up living in the Land of Arkel.
Furthermore, this connection would have given them a connection to the city of Deventer. This connection is somewhat remote but might have had a romantic appeal that had caught the imagination of some of them. This connection was through Margaraeth van Guelder being the great-grandaughter of Eleanor of Woodstock, the wife of Reinoud II, duke of Guelders (1326-1334). Princess Eleanor was a daughter of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France (which would also have made Willem Ottens a 7th-generation descendant of the King of England). In 1332, at the age of about 14, Eleanor was married to Reinoud II of Guelders, who was a widower with four daughters, was about 37 years old, and had imprisoned his father for several years. She was probably terrified of her new husband, who, after she'd lived with him for about six years, sent her away in exhile to Deventer on the false claim that she had leprosy. She remained in Deventer during her exile from the duke, and one story says that she when the duke tried to annul their marriage she went to a court in Nijmegen and stripped naked to prove she didn't have leprosy, thus foiling the duke's plans for annulment. She did have a son by Reinoud II, who became duke of Guelders after him, but she died in Deventer at age 36 and was buried in the Franciscan church in Deventer.
Although much of this story might be exaggerated or simply untrue, that was the legend of Eleanor of Woodstock, and it's possibly the motivation for the surname Deventer than some of Willem Ottens' descendants used. It could also be the motivation for the surname van Megen, as the name Nijmegen was sometimes shortened to Megen, if the story of her defeating her rude husband in court inspired some of Willem Ottens' descendants.
That the surname Deventer or van Megen came from such a connection seems less likely than that the name den Hartog came from a connection to Margrite van Guilders. But of course this is all hypothetical in the first place, and is only meant to stimulated research in new directions.
But even if Otto Gerrits van Oist hadn't married a van Eyll daughter of Margarethe van Guelders, it's more certain that Margarite van Oest had married a son of Margarethe van Guelders. If this is the case, it could go far toward explaining Arnold van Egmond's trust in Dirck van Oest, making Dirck a raad. Although Dirck van Oist wasn't descended from Margarethe van Guelders, but he was related in some way to Margarite van Oist (perhaps as first cousins) who was married to Elbert van Eyll, who was a son of Margarethe van Guelders, and perhaps more importantly Elbert was the grandson of the Elbert van Eyll who had loyally served William I of Guelders.
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Is There any Proof of This Hypothesis?
No, there's no proof of this hypotheis whatsoever. It's just a possibility and provides a framework for further exploration. If some document can be found indicating that a van Eyll had lived in Nieuwland, Leerbroek, Middelkoop, or somewhere nearby in the 1440's, then it might gain some credibility.
However, this hypothesis does seem to be true for Margarite van Oest, who had some connection to Otto Gerrits van Oist, probably as a cousin (she couldn't have been his sister since her father was supposed to have been named Heinrich and Otto's father was obviously named Gerrit). Margaret van Oest had married Elbert van Eyll, who was bailiff of Guelders in the 1440's.
And recall that one of the daughters of Margarite van Oest and Elbert van Eyll, Aleid, had married a van Bellinghoven, just as Johan van Oest, son of the first Dirck van Oest, had married a van Bellinghoven; thus Johan van Oest may have been Aleid van Eyll's uncle, or at least his cousin.
Furthermore, there's an occupational connection between the van Oest and van Eyll families and the dukes of Guelders. The first Elbert van Eyll was the celebrated kitchen master for Willem I, duke of Guelders and Jülich, and then two generations later Dirk vay Oest, son of Johan, son of Dirck van Oest and Felicity d'Oupeye, was kitchen master for duke Arnold (van Egmond). Given the closeness of the van Oest and van Eyll families, this probably isn't as odd as it seems, if the title of kitchen master was a quasi-inheritable title that passed from one related family to the other.
Another thing to remember is that Duke Arnold, being an Egmond, would be a cousin to his kitchen master Dirk van Oest, through Willem I's kitchen master Elbert van Eyll, since Elbert's son Elbert married Willem I's daughter Margaretha, and Willem's daughter Johanna married Jan V van Arkel, whose daughter Maria was duke Arnold's mother. Which may be one reason Duke Arnold entrusted Dirck van Oest with being his advisor.
But even if Otto Gerrits van Oist hadn't married a van Eyll daughter of Margarethe van Guelders, it's more certain that Margrite van Oest had married a son of Margarethe van Guelders. If this is the case, it could go far toward explaining Arnold van Egmond's trust in Dirck van Oest, making Dirck a raad. Although Dirck van Oist wasn't descended from Margarethe van Guelders, but he was related in some way to Margarite van Oist (perhaps as first cousins) who was married to Elbert van Eyll, who was a son of Margarethe van Guelders, and perhaps more importantly Elbert was the grandson of the Elbert van Eyll who had loyally served William I of Guelders.
Evidence that Elbert van Eyll Married a Daughter of Duke William I
Of course, all of this hinges on the supposition that Elbert van Eyll had in fact married the illegitimate daughter of Duke Willem I. What evidence is there for this?
The Wikipedia entry “William I of Guelders and Jülich” says that Elbertus vay Eijll “married a bastard daughter of Duke William named Margaret.” William I of Guelders and Jülich - Wikipedia
A genealogy of the van Eijll family (Van Eijll - Genealogy Limburg Wiki (genwiki.nl) states that an authority stated that “Elbert, the father of the wife of Goessen Spede, married NN. bastard daughter of William, the Duke of Guelders.” Since Elbert's daughter Catharina married Goesen Spede von Langenveld, Elbert would be the one who'd married the “bastard daughter” of duke William. And Catharina's brother was Elbert van Eyll Elbertsen, who married Margaretha van Oeste.
The authority cited by both these sources is the well-known German genealogical authority Anton Fahne, specifically his Chroniken und urkundenbücher hervorragender geschlechter: stifter und klöster, Volumes 3–4. JM Herberle (H. Lempertz) 1874. According to the Wikipedia article “Anton Fahne,” Fahne “produced several genealogical and local historical writings. Fahne helped to found the Historischen Verein für den Niederrhein (Historical Society of the Lower Rhine) in 1854” (citing a 1904 work by Otto Schell).
Thus, it seems pretty certain that Elbert van Eyll did marry an illegitimate daughter of Duke Willem I, and this is consistent with the duke's obvious respect for van Eyll as a member of his retinue.
Van Eylls in the Land of Arkel
The van Os-Vroegh genealogy, which I discussed in the previous post, also has several van Eijlls in it, although all are from times much more recent than the 1300's and 1400's.
One of these is Ahazuerus van Eijl (1879- ), who married Neeltje den Hartog (1878- ). This den Hartog line goes back to a Cornelis den Hartog, born sometimes around 1670, no place of birth or death given. There's also a Cool line going back to Thonis Cool (1520 Schoonrewoerd). The Cool line also has another Cool line merging into it, this one going back to Gerijt Cool (1390 Culemborg). This Cool line also has a separate den Hartog line going back to Willem Ottens (1440-1503), and also his son Claes, married to Margriet van Aefferen. There's also another separate den Hartog line feeding into Neeltje den Hartog, this one also going back to Willem Ottens. It also has a Middagh line going back to Gherit Anthonisz Middagh (1450 Leerbroek). As well as another Cool line going back to Gerijt Cool and yet another den Hartog line going back to Willem Ottens. So Neeltje den Hartog was supercharged with den Hartog and Cool DNA.
The child of Ahazuerus van Eijll and Neelte den Hartog was Walig van Eijll (1909-2009) of Zoetermeer, and he married Aaltje Hougee (1906-1983). Aaltje Hougee herself has van Eijll ancestry going back to Evert van Eijl (~1700, no place provided), who married Cornelia Verweij. Their son was born in Vianen, so they probably lived there also, and this is just north of the Land of Arkel. Thus, some of the van Eijl family did live in the region at least by this time. There's also a Middelkoop line and a Bogard line that goes back to Theunis Gijsbertsz in den Bogaertman (1562 Hoog Middelkoop). There's also another Bogard line and a Cool line going back again to Gerijt Cool of 1390, and a second Cool line going back to Gerijt Cool, and a den Hartog line going back to Willem Ottens. There was a van Rossum line going back to Arie van Rossum (1672 Brakel).
Thus, a child of Walig van Eijl and Aaltje Houge would have 5 den Hartog lines in his ancestry and 6 Cool lines.
I have a DNA match with the surname Hougee, and it's no wonder given the multiple lines of den Hartog and Cool running through this Hougee line.
I want to re-emphazie that I'm not claiming that that Otto Gerrits van Oist had married a van Eijll, or even that Otto Gerrits van Oist was the father of Willem Ottens. I'm just presenting a what-if scenario. Personally I do believe that Otto Gerrits van Oist was the father of Willem Ottens, but I think there's not any real evidence at all that he was married to a van Eijll, other than that it gives a nice little explanation for the use of the name den Hartog and perhaps Deventer.
I'll wrap up this post with a little more information about the van Oist family and a brief discussion of a man named Swaen who lived at Hillenrade.
Van Eyls in Waardenburg and Est
Whether or no there were any members of the van Eyl family in the Land of Arkel in the 1300's and 1400's, there were definitely members of that family in Waardenburg and vicinity, including Est. Est is located about 4 miles northeast of Waardenburg and about 3 miles south of Geldermalsen/Buurmalsen.
Estate in Est
On page 547 of REGISTER OP DE LEENAKTEN BOEKEN VAN HET VORSTENDOM GELRE EN GRAAFSCHAP ZUTPHEN. HET KWARTIER VAN NYMEGEN (Sloet, 1824)(Register op de leenaktenboeken van het Vorstendom Gelre en Graafschap Zutphen / J.J.S. Sloet (kb.nl) ) we find entry 242g for “Dat goet tot Este in Tielreweerde” (“that estate at Est in the Tielerweerde”). Here's a translation into English:
Jacob van Mierlaer, anno 1377.
Goide van Eyle, wife of Johans van Brochusen, and her sister Griet van Eyle the wife of Wessels van Leembeke, knight, inherited from her father Dircks van Eyle, knight, received in the parish of Este with all appurtenances, as a Zutphenish loan, anno 1402.
Guedgen van Eyle, wife of Johans Vlecke van Kaldenbroicke, receives such property as she has at Est and elsewhere in the land of Gelre, anno 1422.
The same receives such property as she has in and around Est, anno 1424.
Jutta van Leembeck, wife of Johans van Alpen, by transfer from Johan Vleeck van Kaldenbroick...anno 1441
So the first recorded owner of this property was Jacob van Mierlaer in 1377, and the owner that we know of was Dirck van Eyle, who by 1422 had died and left it to his two daughters Goide van Eyle (wife of knight Johan van Broeckhuysen) and Goide's sister Griet van Eyle (wife of knight Wessels van Leembeke). So how did it pass to Dirck van Eyle from Jacob van Mirlaer?
To answer this, we have to know who was Jacob van Mirlaer (1345- ). He was the son of Jacob van Mirlaer, lord of Milllendonck (1313-1371) and Guda van Swalmen ( -1378). Guda van Swalmen was the daughter of the knight Seger vosken van Broeckhuysen van Swalmen (1294-1332) and Christina NN. She was a sister to the Robijn van Swalmen who sold the lordship of Swalmen, including Hillenraad castle and Oudborg, to his cousin or nephew Dirck van Oist.
(I've previously mentioned the marriage of Guda van Swalmen and Jacob van Mirler in my post “Clues from H. den Hertog's Genealogy of the Family Hartoch.” I'd noted that one of their descendants was Dirk Panthaleon van Eck, who was married in 1518 to Geertruid van Malsen.)
Thus, the Jacob van Mirlaer who owned this land in Est in 1402 was related, probably closely related, to the van Oist family. And this property ended up being owned sometime between 1377 and 1422 by Dirck van Eyle.
Jacob van Mirlaer married Johanna van Broeckhuysen, who would have been cousins to some degree. They had at least five children, including Guda van Mirlaer (1400-1457), who was no doubt named after her father's mother Guda van Swalmen. Guda van Mirlaer married a Carl Spede (1385-1457). Recall that Catharina vay Eyl (daughter of Elbert van Eyl and Margarethe van Guelders, and sister to Elbert van Eyl who had married Margarite van Oest) had married a Goes Spede. So there may be a connection here, too.
However, as of now I haven't found anything that connects Jacob van Mirlaer to Dirck van Eyl or anything about a Dirck van Eyl from this timeframe. There was a Dietrich vn Eil who made generous donations in Gueldes to Church entities, but that was mentioned in 1453, so it couldn't be the same Dirck, who had died before 1422. So as it now stands, the connection is unknown. It might be that Dirck van Eyl was the husband of a daughter whom Dirk survived, or Dirck may have purchased the property with or without any family relationship.
In the “About” section of the Geni.com entry for “Jacob van Mirlaer, VI,” it says (in Google translation) that Jacob did “'less well' than his predecessors and ended up in near poverty...in 1390, after the death of his father, her sold the inherited estate to Willem van Broekhuizen, Lord of Broekhuizen, Loo, Spraeland and Geijsteren. The last appearance of Jacob VI was in 1418 when he lent Hendric van Blitterswijk with half of the Heerlijkheid Horst, an old allodial possession of the Herren van Mierlaer.” Assuming this is true, then he may well have sold this property in Est as well, meaning that Dirck van Eyl had probably bought it rather than inherited it. This would mean that there wasn't necessarily a family relationship between the two men.
But in any case, Dirck van Eyl did obtain possession of the property and it passed on his death to his two daughters. “Goide” van Eyl was undoubtedly named after her grandmother Guda van Swalmen. It's unclear if the 1422/1424 “Guedgen” van Eyl was the same person as Goide van Eyl—if so, she had a new husband in the later entry. The 1424 entry was a reaffirmation of her right to the property by the new duke of Guelders, Arnold van Egmond, after the death of Reinoud IV in 1423.
With the 1441 entry the property appears to leave left ownership by van Eyle family; for this reason I didn't list the succeeding entries. However, as an aside, it's interesting to note that in 1541 the property ended up in the possession of “Marten van Rossem, marschalck,” a military leader who was and is notorious for his brutality and cruelty in battle.
150 Alden Franckrijksche Schilden
This property appears to be the right to be paid (yearly?) from the Lordship of Waardenburg, promised by “Johan heer te Weerdenborch” with Zutphenschen rights (particular rules of inheritance).
The first owner of this property right was “Thijs van Eyl” for his wife “Agnese van Broichusen” in 1465.
In 1468 Johan van Eyl inherited the rights from his father Thijs. The right was confirmed in 1473 (by Charles I “the Bold,” the duke of Burgundy and the new duke of Guelders on the death of Arnold, Duke of Guelders. Adolf, the son of Duke Arnold of Egmond, had sold Guelders to Charles the Bold, which was very unpopular with the people of Guelders and touched off decades of fighting).
In 1493 Johan's claim appears to be renewed, although I don't understand exactly what this entry means. But the year 1493 was the first full year that Guelders returned to ownership of the van Egmond family through Charles II, son of Adolf.
These entries tell us that Thijs van Eyl was married to Agnese van Broeckhuysen and that they had a son named Johan.
According to a Geni.com genealogy, Thijs van Eyl was the son of Sivert van Eyll (1375-1440), so his relationship to Dirck van Eyl and his daughter Guda of the previous Est entry is uncertain.
Thijs and Agnes had at least two children, Sybert van Eyl and Johan van Eyll. Johan married n. von Goor, and their son Sybert married a Johanna van Broekhuizen (whose son Johan supposedly married yet another Broekhuizen).
Sivert van Eyll also had a daughter Christina van Eyll (1410-1476) who married Johan van Loe (145-1476) and they had children.
Halve Goet tot Onden in Heteren
Heteren is located on the south side of the Nederrijn between Arnhem and Wageningen.
In 1475 Wolter van Eyl was listed as owner of this property. The previous owner was Johan Mynschart 1473, the Mynschart family having obtained it through the marriage of Aleyt Mynschart to Johan Gruter/s. The first entry is for Johan Gruter Gerritsoon, 1403. However, there's no indication how the property passed to Wolter van Eyll from Johan Mynschart.
In 1484 Dirck van Eyl inherited the property from his father Wolter.
In 1518 Wolter van Eyl inherited the property from his father Dirck.
In 1519 Thijs van Broeckhusan bought the property from Wolter and Dirck van Eyl, brothers.
In 1556 Bernt van Broeckhusen inherited the property from his father Thijs.
In 1564 Cristina van Broeckhusen, the wife of Henricks van Eck, obtained the property from her brother Bernt.
This series of transactions isn't particularly interesting, but it's here to complete the transaction from the Gelre Leenboek.
Genwiki.nl van Eijll “Still to be Placed” Section
Van Eijll - Genealogie Limburg Wiki (genwiki.nl)
I'm including this section from the genwiki site because it further clarifies relationships between the van Eyll, van Broeckhuysen, van Oest, van Kessel, and van Schenk van Nydeggen families. Other than van Eyll' these families are all from the northern part of Limburg on the Maas, and clearly intermarried through several generations. The original German can be found on the website. Below is the Google Translate version:
11 July 1516: Derick van Eyckell, Seger van Broichuysen gen. van Oeyen, Thys van Eyll, natural son of + Johan van Eyll, Mr. Thy's son etc., Kerstken van der Heiggen and Werner Poelman as relatives and arbitrators from both sides arrange a division of property between Ailbert van Eyll on the one hand and Elysabet van Goir, widow of Johan van Eyl, Herr zu Geister, and her children Johan, Zybert, Herr Thys, Willem, Gerit, Agnes, Lucia and Anna on the other.
Years ago, an inheritance division (maichgeit) was agreed between the brothers + Jan van Eyll, Mr Thys, Zybert and Alart van Eyll, in which Johan, as the eldest, received all heirs, goods, leases and pensions in the state, city and district of Kranenburg Has. Johan brought these goods into the marriage when he married Elysabet van Goir.
Now it is agreed between Alart van Eyll and Elysabet van Goir and their children that Elysabet and their children hand over all goods, pensions etc. in the state, city and district of Kranenburg to their uncle and brother-in-law, together with everything + Johan has bought. (The following is a detailed listing of the goods, rights and income.)
Elysabet and her children are entitled to a right of redemption with 2,000 Rhenish guilders. If Alart sells something, it can be redeemed by the children. Should Alart not have real children, his estates will inherit the children of Elysabet van Goir and + Johan van Eyll. Elysabet and her children receive all goods, heirs, pensions etc. that Aellert inherited from his aunt (moyen) in the office and country Kessel in the parish of Venrath (Venran), as these goods + knight Johan van Buedberge owned because of Allertz aunt.
That should end all arguments. Allert van Eyll and Johan van Eyll seal for his mother Elysabet, who has no seal. Sybert, Herr Thys, Willem and Geryt continue to seal. Johan van Eyll also seals for his sisters Agnes, Lucia and Anna, who have no seals. Furthermore, Derick van Eyckell, Zeger van Broichuysen called van Oeyen, Thys van Eyll as relatives and arbitrators as well as Kerstken van der Heggen and Werner Poelman as arbitrators and jurymen of Kranenburg, before whom the distribution of the inheritance was made, sealed.
So this was a dispute over property at the death of Johan van Eyl, his younger brothers and sisters claiming a share.
Some fo this bit of genealogy can also be found on Geni.com as someone has entered it there, with further connections. However, not all of it seems to agree, but in any case we're not greatly concerned with the exact relationships here.
The Geni tree shows that Jan van Eyll married Elisabeth van Ghoor, and shows only one child named Willem van Eyll. Willem's wife is unknown, and only one daughter, Agnes van Eyll, who married Emond van Kriekenbeek.
Elisabeth van Goor's parents were Alard van Goor tot Kaldenbroeck and Bela van Kessel (daughter of Matthijs van Kessel and Merte van Brempt).
Elisabeth's sister Aleid van Goor married Otto Schenck van Nydeggen. Otto Schenck van Nydeggen was the brother of Arnold Schenck van Nydeggen who married Isabelle van Oest (here she's called Isabelle van Oye Hillenrath. Isabelle's father was Dirck van Oest (kitchen master for Duke Arnold), son of Johan van Oest, son of the Dirck van Oest who bought the lordship of Swalmen from Robijn van Swalmen in 1381-2).
The Geni trees shows that Elisabeth van Goor also had a sister with an unknown given name who married Johan van Eyll. However, this is probably wrong since both van Goor sisters would then have married a man named Johan/Jan. I think that in fact Elisabeth's suposed sister is Elisabeth herself, and her husband is the same Johan Eyll. This makes a difference because there's a family tree for the husband of the supposed sister, whereas there isn't for the husband of Elisabeth.
Elisabeth van Goor's husband Johan van Eyll's father was named Thijs van Eyll ( -1468). He was married to Agnes van Broekhuizen, whose father was Alard van Broeckhuizen. Alard van Broeckhuysen's father was Willem van Broeckhuysen (1363-1415), married to Agnes de Cock van Weerdenburg. One of Willem van Broeckhuysen's sons (and thus Agnes' brother) was Jan van Broeckhuysen married to Adriana van Brakel (1386-1441), whose son Gerrit van Broeckhuysen was married to Walravina van Brederode (1418-1460)(daughter of Walraven van Brederode, lord of Brederode).
Thijs van Eyll also had a sister Christina van Eyll (1410-1476), married to Johann van Loe (1405-1476).
This should sound familiar, because it is this part of the family that inherited the 150 Alde franckrijksche Schilden from the Gelre leenaktenboek.
Now back to Johan van Eyll and his wife Agnes van Goor. Their children were:
Agnes
Lucia
Willem (married to Christina van den Sande)
Sybert (married to Johanna van Broekhuizen)
Jan van Eyll, Heer van Geysteren (married to Maria van Domburg)
This doesn't align with my reading of the Genwiki genealalogy, but I'm not going to spend the tme to work it all out, as my intent is only to show the general web of relationships between these families.
It appears that many of the family may have remained in Limburg or in Germany, particularly the slice of Germany between the Maas and the Rhine. However, the van Eyll's who who married van Broeckhuysens were edging very close to the Land of Arkel, since Waardenburg is located only 14 miles from Arkel.
We also see that the van Eyll family definitely married into the van Oist family more than once.
Back to the van Oist Family
Dirck van Oist, son of Johan, was lord of Swalmen and Asselt and lived in Hillenraad Castle. In 1463 he married Aleid van Tüschenbroich Eggeraede, the daughter of Peter an Eggerade. Dirk had at least five children:
Johan van Oest, pastor of Swamen and Asselt
Willem, who had at some point gone to Rome and might never have returned
Dirk, a bastard son from an unknown mother, who might have had a son named Johand van Oest
Alverade (see below)
Isabella (see below)
Alverade was married twice, first to Arnold van Belong to Aldenhoor, second to Werner van Pallandt, drost of Wassenberg.
Isabella in 1486 married Arnold Schenck van Nydeggen, son of Johan Schenck van Nydeggen and Irmgard von Schönau. In 1487 Arnold Schenck van Nydeggen was bequeathed Hillenraad and the lordship of Swalmen. Thus, at this time the lordship of Swalmen passed from the surname van Oist to that of Schenck van Nydeggen, although of course through the female line the descendants were still van Oists as well.
If the reader is interested in Hillenraad and its owners later than this, Loe Giessen's website is a good resource: Chronicle for Beesel, Belfeld and Swalmen (loegiesen.nl. This website is also a good resource for the Roermond archives, with commentary apparently by Loe Giessen.
A Swan in Swalmen
However, there's one more matter to clear up, which is from an entry in the year 1680. The owner of Hillenraad is now Arnold Schenck, now called a baron. An entry from before December 3, 1680, says that a Joannes Swaen, a gardener at Hillenraad, married Englberta, and that they had a child nanmed Anna Margaret Swaen. They were apparently married at Hillenraad.
So here's a man named Swaen living in Swalmen, and so now we're thrown back into the old debate about the origin of the surname. But I think it's pretty likely that it's just a coincidence that this name showed up at this time in Swalmen, and I don't think the name has anything to do with Sweym, Zweym, Swaim, or Swalmen. Although the word for the waterfowl swan today in standard Dutch is Zwaan, it's clear that Swaen was a common variant spelling of the name of the bird. The name was and is still commonly used as the name of restaurants, bars, clubs and so on, which can be seen by searching for “de swaen” on Google Maps. In the archive entries that Loe Giessen provides on his website, he adds his own commentary, and at least twice, regarding entries from Tegelen. he says that these entries are referring to the “later Gelderse kluppelleen De Swaen” (“later Guelders club The Swan”). Thus, I think we can dismiss this entry from Hillenraad without further investigation.
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