Leiden,
city of refugees
(nov 2019) Terug naar Mijn Stambomen
Leiden is famous for its many refugees.
In 1574 Leiden was occupied by the
Catholic Spaniards. When they gave up and left, the town was in a very bad
condition. There was no industry left; the famous drapery industry was totally
on its back.
Also, the population of residents had
dropped from 14.000 to 10.000.
Jan van Hout,
town clerk of Leiden, went to England to recruit labourers.
He came back with several French speaking refugees from France, who had also
suffered under the Catholics.
There were so many new people that
monasteries were pulled down so that there was space for an entirely new
district: de Marewijk. And because most people were
French, a Walloon church was established in 1584!
Industry flourished.
After 1680, a whole new flood of refugees
came to Leiden-- de Huguenots who fled from the north of France. They settled
in Delft, Amsterdam and Leiden.
After a while, most people assimilated.
They left the Walloon church and started baptizing in
the Dutch ones.
A lot of them even changed their names and
translated them in Dutch.
For instance Graincourt
became Korenhof (Corn-court) and Chevalier became De
Ridder (the Knight)
Of course there were also the Pilgrim
fathers.
They came to tolerant Leiden in 1609 (from
Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire). They bought a piece of land near
the Pieterskerk (Pieter Church) and built 21 houses.
One can still be visited!
Although they were poor, they saved up
money to buy a boat, because they wanted to go to America.
But after ten years that they stayed in
Leiden, some did not want to leave anymore.
They stayed and had children.
A lot of (famous) Americans are descended
from these Pilgrims, e.g. Bush and Obama (from Thomas Blossom)
In Leiden the liberation of the town (from
the Spaniard) was (and still is) a big celebration every year on 3 October.
When the Pilgrim fathers went to America,
they kept this celebration. The first one was in the autumn of 1621 in in
Massachusetts. During the years it was held later and later, eventually on the
fourth of November.
In 1863 it became a National celebration
in America.
The Dutch invented the ‘marriage for
citizens’ in the town hall to give the Catholics an opportunity to marry.
Before that it was only possible to marry in the State church.
The Pilgrim fathers took that also with
them over the ocean.
Family reconstructions:
Leidenaars from St Amand
Leidenaars from Amiens A-G H-W More about Amiens
Leidenaars from from Artois (area near Rijsel en Arras)
Leidenaars from Bondues
Leidenaars from Hontschoten
(Hondschoote) 303 pers.
Leidenaars from Ieper (Ipere, Ypres) 155 pers.
Leidenaars from Lille (Rijsel) 499 pers.
Leidenaars from Mouvaux 172 pers.
Leidenaars from Norwich 140 pers. (and baptisms in Norwich en marriages in Norwich
Leidenaars from the area of Picardie (103 pers)
Leidenaars from Tourcoing 350 pers.
Leidenaars from Valenciennes
315 pers.
Visit Leiden!