Tuyll

Tuyll is the name of a Dutch family of very ancient nobility, with familial and historical links to England, whose full name is van Tuyll van Serooskerken. Over its more than thousand years of documented history, several well known knights, members of various courts, literary figures, generals, ambassadors, statesmen and explorers carried the family name.

History

Xth century

The family dominated the region surrounding the castle of Tuyll (also written Thule and Tuil) in 970 (according to a letter from the first Holy Roman Emperor Otto I). Tuyll is one of the oldest places of the Betuwe, called Insula Batavorum by Tacitus. The Batavians are thought to be the ancestors of the Dutch.

Tuyll was the seat of the court of the region of Teisterbant, of which today's Betuwe was a part.

XIIth century

In 1125, Hugo lord of Tuyll is cited as a famous knight.

XIVth century

In 1371 Gozewijn and Jan van Tuyll take part in the battle of Basweiler, the decisive battle of the wars of Brabant.

XVth century

In 1483, Pieter van Tuyll, lord of Welland, was ambassador of Charles of Burgundy to Edward IV of England. The lordship of Serooskerke (in Schouwen) came from Philip I of Spain.

From 1483 to 1600 Pieter and his descendants had themselves called van Serooskerke, and van Tuyll van Serooskerken from then on.

XVIth century

In the XVIth century, there were seven castles around Tuyll, of which Bulkestein, owned by Willem van Tuyll who was said to have made a pact with the devil, which gave him powers above those of ordinary mortals, like the ability to fly, and invincibility for the armies he commanded. He is considered by some academics to have been one of the possible sources for the German Historia von D. Iohan Fausten in 1587, which inspired Christopher Marlowe's play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.

Hieronymus van Tuyll (1510-1571) [1], burgrave (viscount) of Zeeland, married Elisabeth Micault [2], daughter of John, knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. His tomb is in the Church of Stavenisse [3].

His eldest son, Philibert (died 1579) inherited his father's titles, was made lord of a second Serooskerke (in Walcheren), hence the final n in Serooskerken, and was governor of Bergen-op-Zoom since 1572. The lordship of Serooskerke in Walcheren was granted by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.

Hendrik van Tuyll (1574-1627) was ambassador to the court of England and member of the highest council, the Raad van State (founded in 1531). His son Hendrik Jacob [4] was also member of the council from 1690.

XVIIth century

In 1623, King James I of England gives Philibert van Tuyll (died 1661) the right to carry a rose extracted from the royal coat of arms and bearing the crown of England on the family coat of arms.

In 1641, Gerard van Honthorst painted the young Hieronymus and Frederik van Tuyll. [5]

XVIIIth century

Jan van Tuyll (1710-1762), baron of Heeze and Leende, lord of Vleuten, married Ursulina, daughter of Frederik, Earl of Athlone and Henriette, countess of Nassau, daughter of the Earl of Rochford, and descendant of William I of Orange.

Isabelle van Tuyll (1740-1805) [6], an XVIIIth century author, also known as Belle van Zuylen and Isabelle de Charrière was the daughter of Diederik van Tuyll (1707-1776) [7], born in the castle of Zuylen. Her mother Helena de Vicq was the daughter of Rene de Vicq, mayor of Amsterdam and administrator of the Dutch West India Company. Her work displays fine psychological analysis and a portrait of manners anticipating early 19th-century emancipated ideas, though she was opposed to revolutionary radicalism. The highest skyscraper planned in the Netherlands is to be called Belle van Zuylen.

Frederik van Tuyll (1742-1805) was colonel of the cavalry regiment van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1777-1793): [8].

From 1768-83 Baroness Marie Katharina van Tuyll van Serooskerken of Knyphausen (Germany), after the death of her husband, Count Christian Frederik Bentinck (1734-1768) (son of Charlotte-Sophie von Aldenburg und Knyphausen and Willem Bentinck, Count Bentinck from 1732), was Regent Dowager for their son, Wilhelm II Gustav van Bentinck (1762-35), who reigned 1768-1810, 1813 and 1818-35. The territory was annexed to the Netherlands in 1810 and occupied by Russia 1813-18. Marie Katharina lived 1743-98.

Jan Maximiliaan van Tuyll (1771-1843) was the governor of Utrecht and then the first governor of North Holland.

XIXth century

In 1822, The High Council of Nobility, declared members of the family were competent since early times to carry the oldest title of nobility, baron. They are "noblesse immemoriale", without ennoblement, predating 1351, from when on nobles of non knightly origin were created in Italy.

The "baron de Tuyll" (Diederik Jacob, 1772-1826) , Major General in the Russian army was Russian envoy at the court of the King of Portugal and Brazil, and from 1815 Russian plenipotentiary to the Holy See, had colloquies in regard to the union of the two Churches, and from 1822 to 1827, Russian minister to the United States and resident of Stephen Decatur House. He represented the Holy Alliance in the United States. As a consequence of his stay, a part of the silver collection of the White House carries the family coat of arms.

Another "baron Tuyll" was from 1827 to 1834, secretary to the Viceroy of Ireland, the Marquess of Anglesey and founded the town of Bayfield, Ontario.

From 1846 to 1864, General Sir William Tuyll, Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, was Colonel, commander of the 7th Queen's Own Hussars, the senior light cavalry regiment of the British Army, where he fought in the Indian Mutiny.

In 1851, Vincent van Tuyll (1812-1860), in partnership with Prince Henry of Orange, discovered the biggest tin deposit until today on the island of Billiton and founded what is now the world's largest diversified resources company, Billiton.

His son Reginald van Tuyll (1845-1903) may have inspired the eponymous character in Pelham Grenville Wodehouse's book Indiscretions of Archie, 1921. He married the countess Anna Mathilda van Limburg Stirum after the death of the Crown Prince Willem of the Netherlands, who had been refused permission to marry her, probably as she was the illegitimate child of William III of the Netherlands.

A Few Family Castles And Lordships

• Tuyll
• Bakerbosch
• Ringelenstein
• Vogelenburg
• Palmesteyn [9]
• Bulkestein
• Schorestein
• Rijnestein
• Vleuten [10]
• Coelhorst [11]
• Zuylen [12]
• Moermond [13]
• Stavenisse [14]
• Geldrop [15]
• Wulven [16]
• Rijnhuizen [17]
• Mijdrecht [18]
• Heeze [19]
• Nederhorst [20]
• Ter Meer [21]
• Vollenhoven [22]
• Groenewoude [23]
• Vreeland [24]
• Welland, near Noordwelle in Schouwen-Duiveland
• Castle in Enspijk
• Oudenburch

Historic houses without lordship

• City-Palace van Huguetan / van Tuyll [25]
• Clingendael House
• Rijgersbergen House
• Little Sodbury Manor
• Fritwell Manor (Oxfordshire) [26]

A Few Other Lordships

Serooskerke (Schouwen), Serooskerke (Walcheren), St. Annaland, Zoelekerke, Popkensburg, Tienhoven, Maelstede, Cappelle, Bieslinge, Schore, Vlake, Westbroek, Ijzendoorn, Leende, Zesgehuchten, Rhenoy

Diplomas

• 970: lords of Tuyll (Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor)
• 1483: lordship of Serooskerke in Schouwen from Philip I of Spain.
• August 23, 1556: new coat of arms and lordship of Serooskerke in Walcheren granted by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain
• February 1, 1623: English rose added to the coat of arms by James I King of England, Scots and Ireland
• March 24, 1640: admitted to the ridderschap of Utrecht
• 1822: recognition that members of the family were competent since early times to carry the oldest title of nobility, baron, by William I of the Netherlands, king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (including Belgium) and duke of Luxembourg

Coat of arms

Shield: three talbot hounds, crest: talbot, marquess coronet above the helmet, various helmets depending on the source, mantling, with the earliest form of supporters, two wildmen. In 1623, King James I of England gives Philibert van Tuyll the right to carry a rose extracted from the royal coat of arms and bearing the crown of England on the family coat of arms.

War Cry / Motto

Virtus vim vincit (virtue defeats vice).

A Few Allied Noble Families

Married van Tuyll van Serooskerken men: van Bergen, van Maelstede, Micault, van Hogelande, Oem van Wijngaerden, van Reede, Hoeufft de Fontaine-Peureuse, de Vick, de Geer, Probentow von Wilmsdorff, de Ginkell, Orange-Nassau, van Randwijck, Collot d'Escury, Deutz van Assendelft, van Heeckeren, van Hardenbroek, van Weede, van Westreenen, Verspyck, Taets van Amerongen, Mansfield, Walpole, Willink, van Pallandt, Faas Elias, Ortt van Nijenrode, Pichot l'Espinasse, van Limburg Stirum, Harford, Utenhove, Boreel, Schimmelpenninck, Calkoen, Waldor de Heusch, Hoare, de Smeth, van de Poll, van Lynden, Quarles van Ufford, Pauw van Wieldrecht, van Tets, Prisse, von Luttichau, de Beaufort, Creutz, Halewyck de Heusch, de Savornin Lohman, Loudon, Roell, Barnaart, van Rijkevorsel, Apap, Dessewffy

Married van Tuyll van Serooskerken women: de Charriere de Penthaz, van der Capellen, van Bylandt, van Rhemen, von Motz, van den Rogaerde van Terbrugge, Morlhon-Lavalette, de Turpin de Jouhe, de la Motte Ango, van Zuylen van Nievelt, van Utenhove, de Carteret, van Brienen, Yorke, Needham Earl of Kilmorey, von Lutzow, van Limburg Stirum, van Pallandt, Sheffield, des Tombe, van Maasdijk, Beelaerts van Blokland, van Vredenburch, Loudon, Alewijn, Boreel, van der Does, van Holthe, de Braune, Reuss, van Riemsdijk

References

• Les plus anciennes familles du monde, J. H. de Randeck, Editions Slatkine, 1984.
• Nederland's Adelsboek, Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, 1906
• History of Tuil and Teisterbant (in Dutch) http://www.ertussenuit.com/plaatsen/5312.htm
• Robbie Dell’Aira & Feico Hoekstra, Faustius. Een geschiedenis van Faust in Nederland, Zaltbommel, 2002
• Belle van Zuylen skyscraper http://www.bellevanzuijlen.nl/
• White House History http://www.whitehousehistory.org/08/subs/images_subs/whh_index.pdf
• Baron de Tuyll, Russian ambassador http://www.decaturhouse.org/people/detuyll.htm
• General Sir William Tuyll http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishcavalry/7thhussarscolonels.htm

See also

• Edgar van Tuyll