Van Aemstel family
Encyclopedia
- "Van Amstel" redirects here. You may be looking for Louis van AmstelLouis van AmstelLouis Van Amstel is a Dutch-born ballroom dance champion, professional dancer, choreographer, and a dancesport coach who appears on the U.S. reality television series Dancing with the Stars.-Early life:...
, from "Dancing With The Stars".
The van Aemstel or van Amstel dynasty was a major lordly dynasty in medieval Holland, which held the heerlijkheid
Heerlijkheid
A heerlijkheid was the basic administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in Dutch-speaking lands before 1800. It originated in the feudal subdivision of government authority in the Middle Ages. The closest English equivalents of the word are "seigniory" and "manor"...
of Amstelland
Amstelland
Amstelland is the area along the river Amstel, a river running north towards Amsterdam in southern North Holland.- Location and composition :"Amstelland" today refers generally to the area along the river Amstel just south of the city of Amsterdam...
(the area around the Amstel
Amstel
The Amstel is a river in the Netherlands which runs through the city of Amsterdam. The river's name is derived from Aeme stelle, old Dutch for "area abounding with water"....
), which it governed in the name of the bishop of Utrecht
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht
The Archdiocese of Utrecht is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The archdiocese is the metropolitan for 6 suffragans, the dioceses of Breda, Groningen-Leeuwarden, Haarlem-Amsterdam, Roermond, Rotterdam, and 's-Hertogenbosch....
and the count of Holland
Count of Holland
The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...
.
In 1994, the foundations of a castle were discovered in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, possibly built by this family, though historians differ on this.
Dutch writer and playwright Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel was a Dutch writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most frequently performed, and his epic Joannes de Boetgezant , on the life of John the Baptist, has...
based his play Gijsbrecht van Aemstel
Gijsbrecht van Aemstel (play)
Gijsbrecht van Aemstel was a 17th century history play by Joost van den Vondel, written to inaugurate Amsterdam's first city theatre. The first production was planned to take place on 26 December 1637, but was postponed until 3 January 1638...
on the history of Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel
Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel
Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel or Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel was a powerful lord in medieval Holland. His territory was the Heren van Amstel, and his son was Jan I.-Life:...
and his son Jan I of Amstel. Gijsbrecht has a bust on the facade of the Beurs van Berlage
Beurs van Berlage
The Beurs van Berlage is a building on the Damrak, in the center of Amsterdam. It was designed as a commodity exchange by architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage and constructed between 1896 and 1903. It influenced many modernist architects, in particular functionalists and the Amsterdam School...
in Amsterdam, and also has a park in the city named after him. Cafes in Amsterdam, Breskens
Breskens
Breskens is a harbour town on the Westerschelde in the municipality of Sluis in the province of Zeeland, in the south-western Netherlands. Its population is 4,280 ....
, Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, and Majorca have been named Heren van Amstel after the dynasty.
Wolfger and Egbert
Wolfger (or Wolfegrus) van Amestelle is named in 1105 as a scultetus (bailiff) of Amestelle (Amstelland). His son Egbert built a small castle or keep (actually more just a fortified manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
) in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel
Ouderkerk aan de Amstel
Ouderkerk aan de Amstel is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is largely a part of the municipality of Ouder-Amstel, and lies about 9 km south of Amsterdam. A small part of the town lies in the municipality of Amstelveen....
, probably on the spot where the Sefardi cemetery Beth Haim was later sited. In 1204, this building was destroyed by the invading Kennemers.
Gijsbrecht II of Amstel
Gijsbrecht II was named the first dominusDominus (title)
Dominus is the Latin word for master or owner. As a title of sovereignty the term under the Roman Republic had all the associations of the Greek Tyrannos; refused during the early principate, it finally became an official title of the Roman Emperors under Diocletian...
(lord) of Amestelle in 1226, but came into conflict with the bishop of Utrecht and was led captive into the city of Utrecht behind a horse in 1252.
Gijsbrecht III of Amstel and Arnoud
Arnoud of Amstel, a son of Gijsbrecht III, built the castle at IJsselsteinIJsselstein
IJsselstein is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. IJsselstein received city rights in 1331. IJsselstein owes its name to the river Hollandse IJssel which flows through the city....
in c.1279. His son, Gijsbert van IJsselstein, then founded the city of IJsselstein and the St. Nicolaaskerk church, where he is buried in an ornate tomb.
Gijsbrecht IV of AmstelGijsbrecht IV of AmstelGijsbrecht IV of Amstel or Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel was a powerful lord in medieval Holland. His territory was the Heren van Amstel, and his son was Jan I.-Life:...
Gijsbrecht IV (1235-1303) became a vassalVassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
of Count Floris V of Holland
Floris V, Count of Holland
Count Floris V of Holland and Zeeland , "der Keerlen God" , is one of the most important figures of the first, native dynasty of Holland . His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke, his chronicler...
. Gijsbrecht subsequently became one of most powerful men of Holland and finally decided that he wanted to be his own master. Together with other nobles, he kidnapped and unwantedly killed the count in 1296. The killing caused great outrage, the coup failed and Gijsbrecht lost his possessions and was banished.
After his banishment Gijsbrecht IV probably established himself in Oss
Oss
Oss is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands, in the province of Noord Brabant.- Population centres :-Transportation:* Railway stations: Oss, Oss West, Ravenstein- The city of Oss :...
in the Duchy of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
. Dutch professor Pim de Boer has found indications - though no conclusive proof - that Gijsbrecht was later involved in the foundation of Prussian Holland.
Jan I of Amstel
Gijsbrecht III's son Jan I (1270-1345) succeeded in occupying Amsterdam for a while in 1304, but the city was besieged and Jan finally had to flee from the city. Amsterdam temporarily lost its newly acquired town privilegesTown privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
and had to make massive reparations to the count of Holland.
Jan II of Holland
Amstelland was confiscated by Jan IIJohn II, Count of Holland
John II of Avesnes was the oldest son of John I of Avesnes and Adelaide of Holland.-History:John II was Count of Hainaut from 1280 to his death, succeeding his grandmother, Margaret II...
, count of Holland
Count of Holland
The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...
, who loaned it in 1300 to his brother Guy of Avesnes
Guy of Avesnes
Guy van Avennes was Bishop of Utrecht from 1301 to 1317.-Family:He was descended from an important Hainaut family, the House of Avesnes...
, bishop of Utrecht. He was also given the Heren's possessions at IJsselstein, that he had been loaned in 1308 by Gijsbrecht van IJsselstein. Guy's daughter Maria van Henegouwen married Gijsbrecht's son Arnoud van IJsselstein.
Further reading
- Th.A.A.M. van Amstel: De heren van Amstel 1105-1378: Hun opkomst in het Nedersticht van Utrecht in de twaalfde en dertiende eeuw en hun vestigen in het Hertogdom Brabant na 1296 (Hilversum, 1999) (The Heren van Amstel 1105-1378: Their rise in the Nedersticht of Utrecht in the twelfth and thirteenth century and their establishment in the Duchy of Brabant after 1296)