Where is Huisdon?

Question

On 22 January 1624 Leutenant (sic) George Windham (a son of Sir John) made his will at Huisdon. It sounds vaguely Dutch, but I haven't been able to find a candidate. Anyone have any ideas?

Comments

The 'huis' part means home or house in Dutch, but the total word does not ring a bell.

If you would like to see if it is logical in the context:

place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huissen

"at home" https://www.vandale.nl/gratis-woordenboek/nederlands/betekenis/huisden

(edit: grammar)

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One of the reasons I though Dutch was that the English did have some involvement in the Thirty Years War about this time, but I haven't found much detail on that.

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What is your source for this will? Perhaps the context will help us narrow down candidates.

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A closer examination shows that his original will was made in December 1622, and the 1624 element is a fairly hastily-written codicil. It seems to suggest that he was preparing for (or was wounded in) a military action. He refers to one recipient as being "of the Company", and is bequeathing swords and boots.

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National Archives PROB 11/151/421. I'll post a snippet on my profile. It's a little curious, in some places the letter h (both upper and lower case) are as we might form them, but in others they are in secretary hand.

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Thanks. For those with access to ancestry.com (which has all the Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills online), it can be seen here.

Answer 1

The codicil is dated Huisdon 22 January 1624. This is old-style dating, so would correspond to 1625 in a calendar in which years start on 1 January.

The main military engagement of the English at that time appears to have been an involvement in the defense of Dutch-held Breda in northern Brabant against the Spanish. From Wikipedia: "In February 1625, a second relief force, consisting of 7,000 English troops under the leadership of Horace Vere and Ernst von Mansfeld, was also driven off by Spinola." This force appears to have sailed from Dover to the Netherlands in January 1625 (from the Wikipedia article on Ernst von Mansfeld).

So Huisdon might have been an assembly point, either for travel to Dover for the cross-Channel passage, or for regrouping in the Netherlands on the way to Breda.

Comments

Per this map of the Siege of Breda, the (Dutch commander's) Prince of Nassau's camp was at Dongen (16 in the legend), and Ernst von Mansfeld's headquarters was just north at 's Gravenmoer (17 in the legend) - see present-day map. So might "Huisdon" be a corruption of "Huis Dongen" (i.e., the manor house in Dongen)?

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Good work! I found a clear image of the memorial for George and his brother, it mentions Huisdoni (in Latin). My Latin is rudimentary, but I'm trying to translate it.

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Looks like he was in the Navy (or Marines?), went from Orchard (in Somerset) to beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Gibralter). It mentions Belgium, perhaps they sailed into Antwerp (assuming the names mean what they do today). I think it says he died of a fever.

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My Latin is also rudimentary, but from what I can make out, after their military training Henry and George went "beyond the columns of Hercules" (that is, into the Mediterranean), from whence they returned; then "Belgium called" (that is, they entered the services of the Dutch army fighting for independence against the Spanish). "Hvisdoni" is capitalized here and certainly a proper noun, and is also the place where "fiery death seized" George [might this refer to a fever?] - no clearer where it is, though definitely connected with the Dutch cause.

The main thing that bothers me about the memorial is that it puts George's death on 3 June 1624 - which would be before he wrote his codicil in January 1625 (and also before the siege of Breda began in August 1624). Note that 3 June 1625 is the day after the surrender of Breda.

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Note that back then "Belgica" was the Latin term used for the Low Countries as a whole; see the following from Wikipedia: "The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces (Belgica Foederata in Latin, the "Federated Netherlands") and the Southern Netherlands (Belgica Regia, the "Royal Netherlands"). The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish (Spanish Netherlands) and the Austrian Habsburgs (Austrian Netherlands) and comprised most of modern Belgium."

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It's an interesting diversion!

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Someone has already done a translation, it's on his father's profile.

Answer 2

How sure are you that it is Huisden?  It could be one of the Huishes in Somerset, or Hunston in Norfolk, perhaps.

Comments

It could well be. The document is very clear on the spelling but there's no saying that it was correctly transcribed by the clerk.