Beschreibung:

GENEALOGICAL ROLL OF BRABANTINE NOBILITY, in middle Dutch, decorated manuscript on vellum, [Brabant, second half of the 16th century] A splendid parade of members of the Brabantine nobility, richly adorned lords and ladies of Diest, Schoonhoven, van der Noot and van der Ee, following a line of descent to the family of Lambert van der Ee (d.1564), secretary to the Great Council of Mechelen. Approx. 729 x 35cm, 14 membranes in total, separated into four parts, calligraphic text, genealogical information occasionally left blank or added later, eight dimidiated armorial bearings marking marriages, 18 pennants bearing the arms of the lords of Diest, Rotselaar [apparently mistakenly supplied in the place of Aarschot-Schoonhoven], van der Noot and van der Ee (losses and tears at the edges of certain membranes, some apparently repaired onto backing paper, one piece of tape at the beginning of the roll, some surface staining, cockling and rubbing throughout). In four frames (44 x 218cm; 44 x 192cm; 44 x 190cm; 45 x 182cm). Provenance: The script points to a production date in the second half of the 16th century, consistent with the appearance at the end of the roll of individuals alive in the middle of that century. The final few figures are those of Lambert van der Ee (d.1564), a secretary to the Great Council of Mechelen, his wife, Marguerite van de Noot, and their children; the roll illustrates ends with ‘Cornelis vander Ee, Riddere heere van Sinte Stevens Woeluwe’, shown here as the first of four sons of the couple. The Cistercian abbot and geneaologist Christophe Butkens (1590-1650) gives only two van der Ee sons – Jan and Jacob – but this hitherto-unidentified Cornelis, or Corneille, van der Ee, descendant of Arnout van Diest, might be considered a candidate for the commissioner of the present roll, whose existence cannot have been widely known. Elsewhere, instances of omitted names or the apparently mistaken substitution of the Rotselaar arms for those of Aarschot-Schoonhoven – perhaps explained by the fact that Marie, sister of Elsa van Schoonhoven, married Jan van Rotselaar – confirm the sense that the present roll was not an official genealogy produced under the direction of a herald or a copy of such a document, but a more personal commission. The dress of both the male and female figures comprises a dazzling, exotic array of headwear, sleeves, jewellery, and weaponry in the 15th-century style, likely chosen for archaising effect in order to emphasise the antiquity of the lineage. The Diest heraldry is shown with a field or instead of argent, not reflecting the change that occurred in the 16th-century. Content: The genealogy proceeds chronologically with some repetition, beginning in the 13th century and ending in the 16th century. The figures grouped across the four individually framed parts, left to right, as follows: Part I: Arnout (‘Aerte’) V van Diest (d.1253) and his wife Isabelle, or Elisabeth, de Mortagne (d. c.1315), their arms dimidiated; followed by three of their six children – Geraard (‘Gheert’) van Diest (d. c.1333) and Jan (‘Johann’) van Diest (d.1340; bishop of Utrecht, 1322-1340); then – Geraard (‘Gheert’) van Diest (d. c.1333) reappears between his first wife, [Marie] van Loen, and the second, Johanna van Vlanderen, the women’s cloaks emblazoned with the arms of the Counts of Loon and those of Flanders respectively; followed by his brother – Thomas van Diest (d.1349) and his wife Marie de Ghistelles (1315-1381), their arms dimidiated; followed by two of their sons – Hendrick van Diest (1345-1385) and Arnout van Diest; followed by Arnout’s son, Hendrick van Diest (d.1474). The pennants and the tabards of the men are emblazoned with the arms of the lords of Diest. Part II: Hendrick van Diest (1345-1385) and his wife Elsa van Horne (m.1359), her cloak emblazoned with the arms of van Horne; followed by their five children – Thomas van Diest (d.1432); Jan van Diest; Willem van Diest (1394-1439, bishop of Strasbo