Not much can be said with certainty about the ancestors of Willem de Vlamingh. It is true a person with the exact same name already was alive on the isle of Vlieland in the sixteenth century. This man sailed with cargo on the Baltic Sea and was listed in the toll books of the Sound Channel from 1582 onwards with the name Wellum de Flammingh van Flilandt (and other spelling variants that appeal to the imagination). Although it might seem obvious, this Willem Gerritszoon de Vlamingh is by no means the ancestor of our Willem de Vlamingh. It is even entirely questionable whether there was any family relationship between the two of them at all. In fact, in the years our Willem Hesselszoon de Vlamingh van Vlieland was alive, there was - very confusingly - also a Willem Gerritszoon de Vlamingh van Vlieland walking around on the island and in Amsterdam! So anyone interested in doing further research about our hero should keep this well in mind.

Ships sail across the Sound to Kronborg Castle in Helsingør

Back to the question of how it is even possible that several families with the same surname "De Vlamingh" can be living together on such a small island and yet not be related to each other... Willem is of course quite a common name and the nickname “De Vlaming” was in that period of time probably mainly used for people who originally came from Flanders. During the Dutch Revolt (1568 to 1621), the Spanish king forced all the inhabitants of Flanders to profess the Catholic faith. Those of other faiths fled to the north. Cities such as Haarlem and Leiden were overflowing with religieus refugees. Amsterdam became big and rich, because of all the southern protestant traders and craftsmen who settled there. For the sake of convenience, skippers fled to safe northern ports, such as Medemblik, Hoorn or Enkhuizen, and some apparently also to Vlieland.

Since Willem's father, Hessel Dircksz, was an Anabaptist, it is likely that one of their ancestors had fled from Flanders during the war because of his religious beliefs. Anabaptists lives were threatened in the Catholic south. Willem's father was probably born on Vlieland and perhaps even his grandfather was so too, but we don't know anything about that. The only indication we have for this is the fact that someone called Hessel Dircksz van Vlieland sailed through the Sound Channel between Vlieland and the Baltic Sea from March 1591 to October 1600, and later a man with the name Dirk Hesselsz van Vlieland sailed through the Sound several times a year from 1618 to 1657.

Willem's birth on Vlieland

The Mennonite Hessel Dircks was married to the Reformed Trijntje Cornelis. They lived on Vlieland in a house on the high side in the Groote Straat, near the current house number 176, on the eastern corner of the Waterglop. Willem de Vlamingh was born on that spot in November 1640.

It moved us to see his name in the island's baptism record! On 28 November Willem's baptism was added to the Reformed congregation. The text reads (in Dutch):

Willem son of Hessel Dircksz and Trijn Cornelis, witnessed by Martjen Cornelis the godmother (=moeij)

Doopboek Hervormde gemeente Oost-Vlieland, archiefnummer 28, collectie Tresoar, inventarisnummer 0741, aktenummer 306

Willem's father, Hessel, is mentioned, but he was not present at the time of birth not baptism. If you take a look at the Soundtol registers, you will see Hessell Direcksen van Flilandt left for the third time that year via the Sound Channel to Danzig on November 2, 1640, and was on his way back to Vlieland with a ship full of wheat, rye and buckwheat during the birth and baptism of his son. For Hessel did not arrive home until Christmas. Trijntje had to do everything all by herself!

Date            Name skipper      Homeland        Departed from          Cargo (among other things):

13-06-1640  Hessell Direcksen  (van Vlieland)   Flilandt (Vlieland)       French wine

06-07-1640  Hessell Direcksen  (van Vlieland)   Dantsich (Dantzig)      Rye and glas

16-08-1640  Hessell Dirichsen   (van Vlieland)   Flielandt (Vlieland)     Ballast

02-09-1640  Hesell Dirichsen     (van Vlieland)   Dantsig (Dantzig)       Rye en wheat

02-11-1640  Hessell Direcksen  (van Vlieland)   Flilandt (Vlieland)       Pepper, indigo, clothes

11-12-1640  Hessell Dirichsen   (van Vlieland)   Danschen (Dantzig)   Wheat, rye and buckwheat

Derived from the Soundtoll registers, which can all be consulted online!

As a witness to the baptism, someone called Martjen Cornelis acted as Willem's godmother. We wonder who this Martjen could be. Her surname suggests she might be related to Willem's mother Trijntje Cornelis. Unfortunately, there were many women on Vlieland with the name Martje Cornelissen, or variants thereof (1).

So who was Willem's godmother? The most obvious explanation would be she was just a sister of Trijntje. Or - if Trijntje had no living sisters - then this Martjen could also have been her mother. In that case "godmother Martjen" was either Willem's aunt or his grandmother.

Four years after his son's baptism, father Hessel Dircks confessed in the Reformed Church on Vlieland and was also baptized that same day - 13 July 1644. In doing so, he passed on to his wife's faith.

We have not encountered any other children of this couple, so perhaps Willem was an only child.

Evidence of the confession of Willem's father, Hessel Dircks, in the Baptism Book of Vlieland.

It says: "baptized on the confession of his faith"