Les Van Den Ghein Fondeurs De Cloches, Canons, Sonnettes Et Mortiers, À Malines Dr. G. Van Doorslaer

Les van den Ghein fondeurs de cloches, canons, sonnettes et mortiers, à Malines by Dr. G. Van Doorslaer (English Translation) File-01 – Pages 1 to 99 This document is provided for you by The Whiting Society of Ringers visit www.whitingsociety.org.uk for the full range of publications and articles about bells and change ringing Dr. G. VAN DOORSLAER FULL MEMBER THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCHEOLOGY OF BELGIUM The van den Ghein founders of bells, cannons, handbells and mortars in Mechelen. Extract from the annals of the Royal Academy of Archaeology of Belgium ANTWERP 1910 ENGLISH TRANSLATION John Martin 2019 2 NOTES ABOUT THIS TRANSLATION The page numbers and formatting of the original printed book have been preserved, starting at Page 3, so that citations remain correct. Van Doorslaer used French versions of proper names (e.g. he used Jean rather than Jan, Pierre rather than Peter, and Malines rather than Mechelen.) This translation has reverted to the original Flemish names in the body text. These are the names that appear on the bells. However, the Annexes are left untranslated, following van Doorslaer’s example, so these maintain the French versions of proper names where Doorslaer himself writes, and the original Flemish names when source documents are quoted verbatim. Illustrations are scanned from the original printed book. Any text in brown (like this) is not part of the original book, but added by the translator. I am grateful to my friends Penny Granger and David McClean for their help with Dutch and Latin, and to the Whiting Society for kindly hosting this work on their website. No infringement of the copyright of the original author or publisher is intended; this edition is intended simply to make the work accessible to an English-speaking readership. John Martin Cambridge IAER ONS HEEREN MMXIX 3 The van den Ghein founders of bells, cannons, handbells and mortars in Mechelen ----------- The family The founders of the name van den Ghein who, for about two centuries, maintained the high reputation of the industry of metal smelting in Mechelen, all come from Willem van den Ghein, from Goorle, a Dutch municipality in the neighbourhood of des Hertogen bosch [“Den Bosch”]. He came, at the beginning of the 16th century, to take up residence in Mechelen. Prior to that time, however, the name was not unknown in the Mechelen archives. Already in 1386, the scabinal registers mention Swane van den Gheyne, concerning a sum of money paid to him by Anton Bloc1 About twenty years later, in 1407, Andreas van 1 Scabinal Register no 8, f° 210, r°. 1386. Anthonius Bloc gave Swane van den Gheyne 35 mott. solvendos and 2 raott. in the place where St. Bavo is [Ghent]. 4 den Gheynen, whose late father bore the same name, enrolled himself in the bourgeoisie of Mechelen.1 Without descendants, if not without properties, these homonyms have left other traces in the archives.2 On the other hand, the descendants of Willem van den Ghein are numerous in Mechelen, where their presence continued to 1745 3. Founders of bells, from father to son, the last who practised this profession in this city, died there in 1697. 1 Scabinal register No 18, folio 196 verso. 17 August 1407. Andreas, son of Andree vanden Gheyen, burgher, for whom Judocus de Halen and Gubolinus Heckelin acted as witnesses and guarantors. Officers Gabriel and Arnoldus Bau. 2 In the sixteenth century, however, it was impossible to establish filiations: on July 30, 1519, Jan van Gheine of the Parish of St. Jan, married Elisabeth Vernaven of Waerloos. In the obituary of the same parish, we note the deaths as of July 23rd 1565 of Marie van den Gheine and as of November 11th, 1572, of Merck van den Ghyne. 3 In Antwerp too there were van den Ghyne, which could be connected with this family, given the their profession was as copper beaters, and the similarity of their names Jan and Anton which occur frequently in the descendants of Willem. The document that revealed their presence in Antwerp, is quite interesting when analyzed. It is extracted from the registers of the aldermen Asseliers and Martini and is dated October 5th, 1574. Jan and Anton van den Ghyne, two brothers who left the country in 1562, to go to work as beaters in Gosselaer in the country of Brunswick, request a declaration from the Antwerp magistrate that they were born of the legitimate marriage of Jan van den Ghyne and Jeanne Koeschot, their parents; that they have not been banished from their country of origin, but they left it freely to go abroad to earn their living by the exercise of their trade as copper beaters or boilermakers, professions that their father and their ancestors had also exercised honestly and always. The aldermen received the statements by Hendrick Janssens, 61, Thierry Thielens, 53, François Heyens, 40, 5 If, after two centuries of activity, the furnaces of van den Ghein are extinct in Mechelen, their industry had not yet discontinued, but was transported elsewhere by Andreas van den Ghein, brother of the last representative of the family in Mechelen. The presence of Andreas's descendants was noted successively in Sint-Truiden, Tienen and Leuven. Despite the efforts of some historians, the genealogy of the family remained obscure, with many more gaps1. For the period corresponding to their activity in the city of Mechelen, we are convinced that we have succeeded, after multiple searches, to establish accurately the family tree. For lack of sufficient time, we could not pursue the line of founders outside Mechelen. Someone, better placed, can do it all the more easily, by consulting the parish registers of the places of residence of the founders.2 Corneille Coeschoit, 40, Peter van Coeschot, 45, Gerard Coeschat, 31 years old, all boilermakers and bourgeois of Antwerp. Among them Peter van Coeschot is designated as uncle of the brothers van den Ghyne. Another uncle whose name is crossed out in the text, probably because of his absence at the moment of the act, was called Anton van den Ghyne. 1 Among those who researched this family, there is reason to report especially: Xav. Van Elewyck. Mathias van den Gheyn and the famous founders of bells of this name. Leuven, Ch. Peeters. 1862 F. Steurs. Some notes touched on the Mechelen bell-founders. Mechelen, A. Dierickx-Beke & Sons. 1877 2 In the collection of the late Mr Willem, in Mechelen, is a receipt issued to the congregation of the Brothers of Our Lady in Aalst, by Peter van den Gheyn, religious brother and bell-founder in Leuven, following payment for the bell which he had cast for them in 1732: <in Flemish> “Received from the Rev. Father Procurator of the 6 Even though the van den Ghein founders moved away from Mechelen towards the end of the seventeenth century, there was, however, on their part, an attempt to return home. In 1740, the widow of Gabriel van den Gheyn, his son and his brother-in-law, all bell founders, addressed to the magistrate of the city of Mechelen, on the 5th of December, a collective motion to obtain, by moving to this city, the exemption of the fees collected for entry into the bourgeoisie, and the exemption from having to provide lodging for the Town Guard. All this was granted to them, on the sole condition of not to practise any other profession than that of founders.1 Brothers of Our Lady in Leuven, the sum of 23 guilders and 9 stuyvers to the full payment of the bell cast for their Reverences, Fathers and Dear Brothers of Aelst, also 4 guilders and 4 stuyvers for making the clapper. Total: 27 guilders and 13 styvers. Received with thanks, 6th September 1732. Signed: Brother Peeter van den Gheyn.” This religious founder is in all probability the same Peter van den Gayn, who in 1740 was a Brother in Leuven and bought from the city of Mechelen, the old iron bell used to ring the time in Saint Rombout’s tower. (See account number 1740, f° 14). 1 The Masters reported the request of the widow of Gabriel van de Gheyn, his son and brother-in-law, bell founders, wishing to re- establish themselves in the town, to be exempted from the admission tax, the duty to provide board and lodging to soldiers and of past burial tax; it was resolved to grant the petitioners exemption from the Gate Tax, the duty to provide board and lodging to soldiers (except in case of need) but not from future burial tax. 7 Despite the favourable response to their request, the family seems not to have followed up on this project. Their presence is not noted in Mechelen after this date and we do not know who Gabriel the founder was, or his residence1. The spelling of the surname of the family is sometimes with a y, and sometimes with an i. We have adhered to the version with an i because the Mechelen founders spelt it this way in their signatures which we know to be authentic. The i-form is found, moreover, on their tombstone and also, with very rare exceptions, on the innumerable bells and mortars coming out of their hands. The difficulty of placing the letter Y in some spaces, as on most mortars, may not be the reason for its replacement by the letter I. The founder, in this case, would have placed a second I next to the first, to mark his intention of a Y, as did other founders of the sixteenth century.

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