Louis Friese van Vlaenderen
Bastard son of Louis II de Male, Count of Flanders; lord of Praet and Woestine; founder of the Praet branch of the van Vlaenderen surname.
Archival Dossier
This dossier follows the same evidentiary framework as the Victor van Vlaenderen dossier. Directly attested statements rest on quoted charter language or an explicit documentary summary in a published authority.
Note on primary sources: the two principal authorities for this lineage are Philippe de l’Espinoy, Recherche des antiquitez et noblesse de Flandres (Douai, 1631), and Olivarius Vredius (Olivier de Wree), Genealogia Comitum Flandriae, Pars secunda: continens probationes XII posteriorum tabularum (Bruges, 1643). Both are published antiquarian works of recognised scholarly standing. Vredius has been accessed directly at 300 DPI and the relevant sections read in April 2026; Espinoy is cited through Vredius’s verbatim extracts and through FMG MedLands summaries. Vredius’s coverage of the Praet line spans Tabula XVI pp. 275–289 (Louis Friese, Johan I, Lodewijk II, Lodewijk III) and Tabula XIX pp. 387–388 (Lodewijk IV, Jossine van Praet, Jan II). Note: Vredius also published an earlier Sigilla Comitum Flandriae (Bruges, 1639) — a study of the counts’ seals — which is a separate work. The genealogical proofs for bastard lines are in the 1643 Genealogia, not the 1639 Sigilla.
Identity and Parentage Directly Attested
Louis Friese van Vlaenderen — also styled Lodewijk de Fries, Louis le Frison, and Louis le Friese de Flandre — was an illegitimate son of Louis II de Male, Count of Flanders (1330-1384). Wikipedia's article on Louis of Praet confirms that Lodewijk IV van Vlaenderen (Louis of Praet) was descended through his father from a bastard son of Louis of Male, count of Flanders, establishing the comital-bastard ancestry of the entire Praet branch.[2]
FMG MedLands, summarising Vredius (1643), preserves the following verbatim extract: messire Loys de Frise fils bastard de Loys de Male conte de Flandre, lequel il eut d une fille de Monsieur de Borre. This passage directly attests Louis Friese's name, his bastard status, his father Louis de Male, and his maternal descent from the family of Monsieur de Borre.[1][3]
FMG MedLands, summarising Espinoy (1631), preserves a record that in 1420 the lands and baronies of Praet and La Woestine were conveyed to the illegitimate son of Louis de Male, styled Messire Louys de Flandres dit le Frizon. This passage directly attests his territorial grant and the variant surname le Frizon.[1][4]
Pattou's Batards de Flandres (2014) further identifies him as Louis le Friese, bastard of Flanders, lord of Praet and La Woestine, born approximately 1350, confirming the above.[5]
Battle of Nicopolis and Death Directly Attested
Louis Friese's death is directly attested in multiple independent sources. Wikipedia's article on Louis II, Count of Flanders records that Louis the Frisian, lord of Woestyne, was killed at the Battle of Nicopolis on 28 September 1396. This date is corroborated by Pattou's compilation. His death at Nicopolis alongside his brothers Louis le Haeze and Jean Sans Terre makes 28 September 1396 one of the most firmly anchored dates in the Praet lineage.[2][5]
Territorial Holdings: Praet and Woestine Strongly Corroborated
The Heerlijkheid Praet is documented as having ancient roots in Oedelem (now Beernem, West Flanders), held by the original van Praet baronial family from at least the twelfth century. A published genealogical study of the van Praet family (Lauwens, 2010) records that in 1373 the leengoed of Praet in Oedelem was sold to Louis de Male, after which it passed as a grant to Louis Friese.[6]
The Woestine lordship (Woesten, West Flanders) accompanied Praet. Louis Friese's second wife, Maria van Ghistelles, held the lordships of Zweveghem and Rosebeke in her own right, strengthening the Praet branch's position in western Flanders.[5]
Marriage and Descent Strongly Corroborated
Two marriages are attested. The first wife is connected to La Woestine but is unnamed in the accessible sources. The second wife, Maria van Ghistelles, is documented in Pattou's compilation as married after 25 September 1373. From these marriages Louis Friese left at least one son, Johan I van Vlaenderen (lord of Praet), whose marriage in 1420 to Johanna van Reygersvliet is recorded in the GenealogieOnline West-Europese Adel database.[5][7]
The Surname van Vlaenderen Strongly Corroborated
The consistent use of van Vlaenderen by Louis Friese and his descendants is the central genealogical point for this project. Like his half-brother Victor, Louis Friese bore the surname in a period when it functioned not as a geographic descriptor but as a marker of comital illegitimate descent — crystallising as a hereditary identifier at the precise moment the Dampierre line's hold on Flanders ended with Louis de Male's death in 1384. Pattou's compilation documents van Vlaenderen styling through at least five further generations of the Praet line.[2][5]