Bonin family

Bonin - patrician family from Bruges

'Bonin' (Bovin) or 'Boonem' (de Bonin / van Boonen) was a patrician family in Bruges that was mainly established in Bruges and there from the twelfth to the end of the fifteenth century played a political and social role.

Spelling

The name written as "Bonin" is the Latin spelling of what today means as much as "Van Boonen". In the Old Dutch conjugation it was written as "Boonem" and written in French as "De Bonin". Until the late half of the 19th century and the increase in the importance of exact quotations, not much attention was paid to spelling before and so the family also appears in historical writings as "Bonyn" where the "i" a greek "y " is becoming. With or without dots "ÿ - ij". And replace the "n" with the "v" resulting in "Bovin" or "Bovyn" and "Bovijn".

To explain the differences in spelling for one and the same name, it is important to know that although modern Dutch does not conjugate proper names. In Latin and other, even contemporary, languages such as Czech and, to a lesser extent, German this is still used.

In the book by J. Gaillard, Bruges et le Franc or Leur magistrature et leur noblesse, avec des données historiques and general genealogical sur chaque famille , volume 6 p. 298-299 states that "Bonin" was also written as "Bovin."

In Jacques de Meyer's (Meyerus) book "Annales sive historiae rerum Belgicarum" from 1580, it can be found that Bovin's "v" was also written as "u". In that book was written about a peace between the Bovin and Gruuthuyse families. In 1377 initiated by Margaret of Bavaria, mother of Philip the Good of Burgundy.

History

One of the first Bonins on which a document exists is Egidius Bonin, who in 1286 became dean of the Deanery of St. Donatien (Dutch: Proosdij van Sint-Donaas in Brugge or Capitel van Sint Donaas) . This means that the family had already come to prosperity and influence earlier.

The wealthy family built one of the most important stone buildings in the early fourteenth century, the house with the Seven Towers in Hoogstraat (Highstreet in english).

During the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the family was very present in the city council. Some became councilors or treasurer. Numerous times a Bonin belonged to the ship's college: Jan Bonin (1257), Pierre Bonin (1276), Jan Bonin (1291), Gauthier Bonin (1312), Lambert Bonin (13 ..), Pierre Bonin (1329), Geldolf Bonin ( 1331), Jan Bonin (1366 and 1379), Jacob Bonin (1384, 1385 and 1403), Thomas Bonin (1405, 1427 and 1430), Jacob Bonin (1431, 1433), Tideman Bonin (1435) and Jacob Bonin (1446, 1455 and 1457). Lambert Bonyn (Bovyn) as leader of the east vrye, participated in the battle battle of Cassel in 1328.

Some climbed higher and became mayor of the council members. In 1367, 1369, 1371, 1375, 1377 and 1378 the position was held by one or perhaps two consecutive Jan Bonins and again in 1417 and 1420 by Thomas Bonin.

Finally, there were also Bonins who reached the top as mayor of the aldermen. It concerned two or perhaps even three Jan Bonins in 1364, 1368, 1370, 1372 and 1392.

Genealogy

The only attempt at genealogy for the Bonin family was made by Corneille Gailliard and Jonkheer Theophile Augustin Casetta in the seventeenth century (1689). This genealogy was not published, and people only have partial knowledge of it because others have quoted from it.

The most extensive genealogy is the rather confused work (c. 1860) by Jean-Jacques Gailliard, who could quote from the manuscript that was in the possession of Baron de Peelaert-van-Hoonacker from Bruges in the late 19th century.