The House of Flanders-Praet

Louis Friese van Vlaenderen (c.1350 – 28 Sep 1396) Directly Attested

FMG MedLands [864] summarises Vredius quoting a manuscript: 'messire Loys de Frise fils bastard de...Loys de Male conte de Flandre, lequel il eut dune fille de Monsieur de Borre.' His grant of Praet is recorded from Espinoy [865]: Louis de Male 'en avancement de son mariage avec Dame Marie de Guistelles, Dame de Zweueghem et de Rosebeke' granted 'les terres et Baronies de Praet et de la Woestine' to his illegitimate son 'Messire Louys de Flandres dit le Frizon' (no source cited). Vredius [866] records that Louis 'eut en partage [la Wostine] par acte du 25 de septembre 1373' and died at Nikopolis 28 Sep 1396.

Johan I van Vlaenderen (d. after 10 Sep 1439) Directly Attested

A charter dated 10 Sep 1439 [FMG 873] is directly issued by 'Ian van Vlaenderen Heere van Praet ande vander Woestine ende Burghemeesters ende Schepenen vanden selven Heerschepe van Praet.' This is Johan I's own charter — directly attested. His marriage to Johanna van Reygersvliet is recorded in Vredius manuscript [875]: 'Iean de Flandre Seign. de Praet et de la Woestine' married 'Ieanne de Reyghersvliet fille de Henry, fils de Gautier.' FMG notes: 'No primary source has been found which confirms her parentage and marriage' — the marriage itself is therefore strongly corroborated, her parentage probable. Espinoy [872] records the 1431 settlement of 'messire Louys son pere en son vivant Seigneur de Praet et de la Woestine' between Johan I and his mother.

Johan I’s Five Documented Children

(a) Lodewijk II — the heir; Aalter tomb attested [FMG 876]; (b) Ioanna (Jeanne) de Flandre — m. Jean, Lord of Pouques (1446); Gaillard and Van Hecke references [FMG 884, 885]; (c) Margareta (Marguerite) de Flandre — m. Louis de Bailleul; Grimarez and Van Hecke extracts [FMG 886] (attribution structurally inferential, see note below); (d) Lisbette (Isabelle) de Flandre — m. Waleran, Lord of Landas and Warlain; [FMG 887]; (e) Landrada de Flandre — Canoness at St. Waudru, Mons; never married; [FMG 888]. A March 1442 Ghent partition records the three minor children (Lodewijk II, Lisbette, and Landrada) under guardianship after Johan I’s death; Ioanna and Margareta were by then already married.

Correction noted. An earlier version of this dossier attributed seven children to Johan I, including Jean de Flandre (d. 1523, Heer van Onlede en Beveren, Grand Bailiff of Bruges) and Josse de Flandre (d. after 1526). Direct reading of Vredius in April 2026 resolves these two figures as sons of Lodewijk II, not of Johan I: the Beveren tomb inscription on Vredius p. 280 explicitly identifies Jean’s father as ‘Messire Loys de Flandres, Chevalier, Saigneur de Praet’ (i.e., Lodewijk II, d. 1488). Damhouder’s list of Lodewijk II’s six children by Louise de Bruges on Vredius p. 278 confirms both Jean and Josse as Lodewijk II’s sons. Margareta de Flandre’s attribution to Johan I is structurally inferential (from the ‘sorores Ludovici Patris’ heading on Vredius p. 278) rather than directly textual, and is treated here as probable. Buylaert 2011 (not yet consulted directly) is the definitive arbiter on these attributions.

Note on Josse de Flandre (cadet branch)

Josse de Flandre (d. after 1526) is a documented cadet branch of the Praet line, descending from Lodewijk II (not Johan I as earlier framed). He is distinct from Victor’s grandson Josse, son of Lodewyc by Jacqueline de Wilde, who died young at Oostburg (Oostborch). This Josse married Martina van Moerkerke and his line survived until at least 1592 per Buylaert. This is the most significant newly confirmed cadet branch.

Lodewijk II van Vlaenderen (d. 1488) Directly Attested

Two primary sources agree on the year (1488) but disagree on the day. The Aalter tomb inscription, quoted in Vredius p. 277, reads: ‘Voor den hooghen autaer light M’her LODEWYC van Vlaenderen/ Heere van Praet/ ende vanden lande van Woestine/ Bevere/ ende Ornlede/ fs. M’her Jans/ Rudder/ Heere van Praet… die starf 1488. op S. Baefs dach’ — St. Bavo’s day, 1 October 1488. De l’Espinoy, quoted by Vredius p. 278, reads: ‘lequel Messire Loys de Flandre, mourut en l’an 1488, le jour de S. Berthelemy’ — St. Bartholomew’s day, 24 August 1488. Both sources agree he married ‘vrau Loije van Brugghe fs mijns heeren Jans heere van Gruuthuuse’ — Louise de Bruges, daughter of Jan van de Aa dit de Bruges, Heer van Gruuthuse en Grimbergen. Pere Anselme confirms her parentage and marriage [FMG 877].

Lodewijk II’s Six Documented Children

Damhouder’s extract, quoted in Vredius p. 278, names six children by Louise de Bruges: ‘Loys, Iean, Iaques, Ioffe, Loyfe, & Iehenne de Flandre.’ (a) Lodewijk III (Loys) — the heir, see below; (b) Jean de Flandre (d. 6 September 1523), Heer van Onlede en Beveren bij Roeselare, Grand Bailiff of Bruges and the Brugse Vrije; Beveren tomb inscription [FMG 879]; (c) Jaques (Jacques) de Flandre — named only in Damhouder’s list; no further biographical detail in Vredius; (d) Josse (Ioffe) de Flandre (d. after 1526), inherited Onlede, Beveren, and Wijchuize after his brother Jean; married Martina van Moerkerke; cadet branch documented to at least 1592 per Buylaert [FMG 881, 882]; (e) Louise (Loyfe) de Flandre; (f) Iehenne (Jeanne) de Flandre. Note on possible name confusion: this Iehenne (daughter of Lodewijk II) is a different person from Johan I’s daughter Ioanna-m-Pouckes (see above); the two Jeannes are in adjacent generations and must not be conflated.

Lodewijk III van Vlaenderen (d. 1488/1490) Directly Attested

The Aalter tomb inscription quoted in Vredius p. 279 reads: ‘Op den Maendagh 1490 starf M’her LOYS van Vlaendren/ heere van Praet/ die ghetrauwt hadde Vrauwe ISABELLE van Bourgongnen; hy light alhier by zijnen Vader’ — a Monday in 1490, buried beside his father. Grimarez, also quoted on the same Vredius page, records his death as ‘1488. 1. Ianvier’ — 1 January 1488. The two sources disagree by roughly two years; the discrepancy may reflect the Easter-style year-change convention used in some Flemish chancery records. His marriage to Isabelle de Bourgogne, daughter of Jean bâtard de Bourgogne Heer van Elverdinghe en Vlamertinghe and Marie d’Halluin, is confirmed by the same tomb [FMG 890]. Isabelle died ‘12 Nov 1504’ and was buried ‘te Gent, te Galilee.’

Lodewijk IV van Vlaenderen / Louis of Praet (d. 1555) Directly Attested

The Aalter tomb inscription, quoted in Vredius p. 387, records his full titulature: ‘M’her LODEWYC van Vlaendren/ Rudder vander Ordre vanden Gulden Vliese/ Heere van Praet/ vanden lande vander Woestyne/ Elverdijnghe/ Vlamertijnghe/ Spiete/ ende vander Mersch/ Raed/ Upper-camerlinck/ Chief vande Financien van de K.M. Carolus den V. ende sijnen Hoogh-Bailliu van Brugghe/ ende van ’t Brughsche Vrije/ te sijnen overlijden Gouverneur ende Capitain van Vlaendren/ die starf 1555.’ Knight of the Golden Fleece (1531); Grand Bailiff of Ghent and Bruges; Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland (1544–46); Advisor to Emperor Charles V.

Married Jossine van Praet, daughter of Charles van Praet Heer van Moerkercke, heiress of the original Praet baronial family. The same Aalter tomb inscription records her death: ‘Ende Me-vrauwe IOSYNE van Praet/ Vrauwe van Moerkercke/ M’her Charles van Praet/ Heere van Moerkercke dochter was/ M’her LODEWYCX ghesselnede/ die starf 1546. den 10. December’ — died 10 December 1546, nine years before her husband, buried beside him at Aalter [FMG 893].

The 1517 Knesselare Charter — Research Significance

A charter [FMG 891] records Lodewijk IV holding six fiefs at Knesselare from the seigneurie of Wessegem in 1517. Knesselare is one of the parishes in the active research coverage, and it sits geographically between the Praet lordship (Oedelem/Beernem) and the core Van Vlaenderen cluster in the Meetjesland. This charter does not establish a family connection between the Praet van Vlaenderens and the commoner Van Vlaenderens who later appear in Knesselare parish records. But it confirms that the Praet branch had territorial interests in the precise geographic area where your ancestors lived — which is relevant to the branch-control problem identified in the research design.

Jan II van Vlaenderen (d. 10 Dec 1545) Directly Attested

The Aalter tomb inscription, quoted in Vredius p. 388, reads: ‘Inde selve tombe light Jo. IAN van Vlaendren/ Heere van Woestine/ Elverdinghe/ ende Vlamertinghe/ fil. mijns Heeren Lodewijc/ Heere van Praet/ ende van Vrauw’ Josijne voorseyt/ die starf 1545. den 10. December; hy hadde ghetrauwt Vrauw’ IAQVELINE van Bourgongnen/ fil. M’her Adolf/ Heere van Bevere/ starf sonder generatie.’ Grimarez on the same page adds that he ‘mourut, sans generation, avant son pere, en l’an 1545’ — he predeceased his father Lodewijk IV by exactly ten years, leaving the legitimate Praet male line extinct a decade before Lodewijk IV himself died in 1555. A separate epitaph at Veere [FMG 895] records that his widow Jacqueline de Bourgogne remarried Jan Heer van Cruijningen and died ‘van haer laetste kint’ at Beveren in 1556 — in childbirth with her last child by her second husband — and that she was childless by Jan van Vlaenderen.

Josse de Flandre (son of Lodewijk II, d. after 1526) Directly Attested

Documented by Buylaert [FMG 881,882]. Named as Lodewijk II’s son ‘Ioffe de Flandre’ in Damhouder’s list of the six children on Vredius p. 278. After the death in 1523 of his brother Jean de Flandre Heer van Onlede, Josse inherited ‘de heerlijkheden Onlede, Beveren en Wijchuize.’ He married Martina van Moerkerke and had ‘verschillende kinderen.’ The family survived until 1592. This is a directly attested cadet branch of the Praet line extending into the early parish-record period.

Francoise van Praet van Moerkerke (fl. c.1519) Strongly Corroborated

Documented in two independent published sources. Nederland's Adelsboek (1908) records Wessel van Boetzelaer married c.1519 'Francina van Praet.' The Lauwens genealogical study (2010) records 'Francoise van Praet van Moerkerken, vrouwe van Carnesse, huwde Wessel van den Boetzelaer, heer van Langerak en Asperen.' Her precise generation within the Praet-Moerkerke line requires further investigation.

Margareta van Vlaenderen (dau. of Lodewyc, Victor's son) Directly Attested

Charters dated 1478 and 1486 [FMG 850] record that 'Marguerite de Flandres' (daughter of Lodewyc van Vlaenderen, Victor's son) married firstly Lodewijk van Baenst Heer van Santvelde and secondly Adriaan van Schouteten Heer van Erpe. This is from Victor's line, not the Praet line — noted here to distinguish the two Margaretha van Vlaenderens documented in the 15th century.