The 'baron' van Wessel enigma ...

by Cornelis van Wessel, B.Sc. (Edin.), BA (Hons., Open) | Updated: 5 October, 2022 | 3rd Draft

Ever since Albert Veldhuis gave me a copy of the article from the 'Hervormde Kerkbode' (a parish newspaper) published in Harderwijk (NL; 23 Augustus, 1973), in which reference was made to a baron van Wessel. We (those carrying the surname van Wessel), have wondered who this baron was and what the source was of this information. Perhaps it is time to try to debunk that story.

The article refers to a baron van Wessel (13/14th century), a 'jagermeester' who may have given his name to the hamlet of Wessel near Barneveld. It reads:

"Het dorp Garderen is veel ouder dan Barneveld. Dus eigenlijk zijn wij de hoofdplaats en is Barneveld een onderdeel van Garderen. In 1275 wordt in de boeken het dorp Garderen vermeld. De inwoners moesten in dat jaar 1/10 van hun inkomsten geven voor een kruistocht. De buurt van Wessel heeft zijn naam te danken aan een baron van Wessel, een jargermeester."

This translates to: "The village of Garderen is much older than Barneveld. So we are in fact the principle town and Barneveld is a part of Garderen. In 1275 the village Garderen is mentioned in the books. The inhabitants were in that year required to give 1/10 (tithe) of their income towards a Crusade. The hamlet of Wessel owes its name to a baron van Wessel, a 'jagermeester'."

The source of the information about Wessel, used in the article, was almost certainly, the book 'Een oud hoekje der Veluwe' (litt. 'A small corner of the Veluwe') by Mr. C. A. Nairac (1906). Nairac was the burgomaster of Barneveld and he dedicated the book to the memory of Jasper Hendrik, baron van Zuylen van Nievelt van de Schaffelaer. Chapter 2 concerns the hamlet of Wessel and the information in this chapter is consistent with the content of the article.

Nairac writes:

"Er is iets geheimzinnigs in den eigendom van die buurt van Wessel; de naam schijnt die van een zeer oud geslacht, dat de vroegere eigenaar zou zijn geweest. Een dertigtal jaren geleden ontvingen wij het schrijven van een Parijs' advokaat, die inlichtingen vroeg naar een zekeren baron van Wessel, en tevens of de aanzienlijke vaste goederen van dien naam nog aanwezig en onbeheerd waren. Wij hebben te vergeefs getracht iets van die zaak te weten te komen, maar de Parijsche advokaat bewaarde op onze vragen een voorzichtig stilzwijgen."

This translates to "There is something mysterious in the ownership of the hamlet of Wessel; the name appears to have been from an old family, the possible earlier owners. Some 30 years ago [probably around 1878 when the first edition was published] we [the local town council] received a letter from a Paris lawyer, asking for information about a certain baron van Wessel, and also whether the considerable real estate assets of that name still excised and were unclaimed. We have tried in vain to find out something about the case, but as to our questions the Paris lawyer kept a careful silence."

The suggestion that a baron van Wessel may have excised came, as far as we know, from that French request in the 19th century. The archivists in Barneveld have been quite thorough over the years, and it is unlikely they would have missed any documentation clarifying the matter. Who that Paris lawyer was and where his enquiry was based on is not known. In order to get this item of the list we can safely assume there was no such baron, but that is not the end of the story, in fact it is a good starting point to have a closer look at what we do know about Wessel and the early van Wessels.

Note: It is not clear to what crusade the article refers. The Ninth Crusade, let by the furture King Edward I of England, took place between 1271 and 1272 and it was the last crusade to reach the Holy Land. It is unlikely that in 1275 the curch collected a tithe just for this reason.

See also the Barons of Boetselaar, many of which had Wessel as their first name. Names like Baron Wessel van Boetselaar may also have caused some some confusion.