April 12 1400

Sweder III van Abcoude - of Dutch extraction - lord of Gaasbeek, Putten en Strijen, died in Radda, Tuscany, Italy on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He was a descendant (20 generations or thereabouts) of Charlemagne.

He was a heavyweight in regional history. Legend has it that he was a ferocious land robber and the instigator of the murder, in 1388, of the Brussels folk hero, Everaert tSerclaes, whose momument on the Grand'Place is world famous (millions of tourists have polished his brass arm).

According to other sources, Sweder was not the bully depicted in many a story, but a devout and just man. Be that as it may, the Brussels militia burnt his castle at Gaasbeek (yes, that's the one) to the ground in vengeance for the murder of Everaert.

Sweder had a bastard daughter Clementia van Gaesbeke, who was born ca 1365. Clementia died young but lived to see the fifteenth century.

She married Jan van de Voorde, born ca 1365, and their daughter Margriete (ca 1385 - ca 1444) married Joannes Pipenpoy (ca 1385 - Brussel ca 1467).

Four generations later (one Willem and three Jan Pipenpoy's) Maria Pipenpoy was born . She married Zeger Van Cutsem (Sint Martens Lennik ca 1620 - 1681).

From there on, the story has been written before (see various posts including : "January 20 1552").

I shall write more extensively about the (in)famous Sweder in a later post. A lot of material can be found in regional history books and on the net.

I shall also go into more detail into the Pipenpoy family at a later date.