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THE BAILLEULS OF FLANDERS
and
THE BAYLEYS OF WILLOW HALL

written in 1881
by Francis Bayley
   
 

This volume contains a narrative, addressed to the family of Bayley, formerly of Willow Hall; and memorials of the family of Bailleul, of Bailleul in Flanders, Doulieu, and Eecke. This narrative concerns the Bayley family alone. The memorials are intended for a wider circle. There are many persons in Belgium, to whom any light thrown upon the genealogy of one of their oldest families will be acceptable; and there are others to whom the memorials may, perhaps, afford some amusement or information; showing, as they do, what treasures for genealogical purposes are contained in the archives in Belgium and at Lille; by means of which it has been found possible to trace a family of no great importance during a period of more than five hundred years, from the eleventh to the the beginning of the seventeenth century.
   

v

Sir John Bayley entered his pedigree at the College of Arms in 1834; and as he declined to give evidence in support of it, it was carried no further back than his grandfather, Isaac Bayley; but, Sir Ralph Bigland, Garter, had in his possession a pedigree showing that Isaac was second son of Daniel and Esther, and that Daniel was son of Philip; that Daniel lived at Willow Hall near Peterborough, and was buried at Thorney Abbey.

The tradition in the family was, that they were descended from a Protestant refugee, who came from France, and settled in the neighbourhood of Thorney because land there was cheap. My father believed that the refugee came over on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; and all he could tell me in addition to this was, "that NONE OF THE FAMILY WERE EVER ENGAGED IN ANY KIND OF TRADE." I knew moreover that they always lived as gentlemen, and associated with the best families in the neighbourhood.

Isaac Bayley, a younger son, married a Bigland; and his younger son, John married the grand-

There were some points connected with the family for which I could not account: 1. If none of them were ever engaged in trade, where did their money come from? 2. If the refugee came over so lately as 1685, how is that all tradition as to the place from which they came had been lost? I resolved, therefore, to go to Thorney and make enquiry there. Accordingly on June 1, 1866, I drove over from Peterborough to Willow Hall, to look at the old house, and from thence to Thorney Abbey.

The incumbent, Mr. Cautley, had wintered abroad, and was not yet returned; but Mr. Macdougall, who had charge of the parish in his absence, gave me all the assistance in his power. I found a French register of baptisms, containing numerous entries in the names de Bailleu and de Bailleul, and in one instance Bayly; and it was evident that these entries applied to our family. I subsequently paid two or three visits to Thorney, and eventually was enabled to copy the whole register. But, it contained baptisms only; the marriages and burials of the Grench congregation had been registered separately from those of the English; the French register of marriages

This register enabled me to construct a pedigree of the family for two generations, from Philippe to Isaac; but it three no light on the questions, Who was Philippe de Bailleul? and where did he come from?

There were two sources from which one might hope to obtain this information, viz., a French register of marriage of Philippe de Bailleul, and an act of naturalisation.

A French register of marriages usually states the parentage and birthplace of the parties. Philippe de Bailleul was married four times; and although the French register of marriages at Thorney is lost, it seemed probable that one or more of these marriages might have taken place elsewhere. Esther Clerbau, his second wife, was daughter of André Clerbau of Hatfield, and was probably married at Sandtoft. The Sandtoft register was in existence in 1828, when Hunter wrote his history of the deanery of Doncaster. Enquiry was made for it; and it was believed to be

I searched at the Parliament Office, but could not find any act of naturalisation, in which any one of the name of de Bailleul was included; nor could I find any letter of denization at the Record Office.

Through the kind assistance of Major Graham, the Registrar-General, I obtained permission from the Home Office to make a search among the registers at Somerset house, where all the registers of foreign Protestant refugees, which were known to exist in 1836, with the exception of Thorney, are deposited. But, after an exhaustive search, no trace of the family could be found there: from which it may be concluded that Jacques, Philippe, Jean and Abraham de Bailleul went at once to Thorney and settled there.

It was necessary, therefore, to search for information abroad. The first object was to discover direct evidence of the parentage of Philippe de Bailleul, to be looked for in the registers of foreign Protestant communities; and failing that, to ascertain what families were in existence to which he could have belonged.

Before proceeding further it is necessary to say something of the name itself.

The Thorney register records the baptisms of seventy-five members of the family. In this register, which extends from 1655 to 1727, the name is spelt

At the commencement and during the whole time of Monsieur Daunois, the first minister of the French Church, with the exception of one or two years before his death, that is, up to 1672, he name is written by the same hand, and is invariably de Bailleu. During the last thirty-seven years the name is almost invariably written Bailleul, the de being omitted—to be more precise, the names are written thus: 19 de Bailleu, from 1655 to 1672; 11 de Bailleux, 1672 to 1705; 2 de Balieux, 1681; 7 Balieux, 1681 to 1692; 3 Bailleux, 1684 to 1687; 30 Bailleul, 1690 to 1723; 2 Balieux, 1720 to 1727; 1 Bayly, 1710.

The names Bailleu and Bailleul were in fact identical; wherever I went in France I was assured of this.

Monsieur Jules de Bailleul, a brewer, of Marc-en-Barœul near Lille, showed me an old book, containing signatures of various members of his family during a period of more than a hundred years; and the name was written indifferently de Bailleu, de Bailleux, and de Bailleul. At Flers the greffier referred me to La Veuve de Bailleul, and to another de Bailleul, cultivateurs in the parish; and in the "Annuaire de Lille" their names are spelt de Bailleux. Monsieur Bailleul, avocat at Caen, to whom I was introduced by the pasteur, Monsieur Mélon, having stated that there was a place named Bailleul near

This name is of great antiquity, and has been borne by numerous families, of whom the greater part were settled in Normandy. Aubert de la Chénée des Bois, in his "Dictionnaire de la Noblesse," says "The house of Bailleul was established in Lower Normandy from 1269. There are many families of this name in Normandy and different parts of France, and even in England and Scotland;" and he mentions several families, two of whom, one de Bailleu, he other de Bailleul, bore the same arms. I Aubert de la Chénée des Bois, p. 650.

"La maison de Bailleul," says Blanchard in his "Éloges des Présidents du Parlement de Paris," "est une des plus anciennes et des plus nobles de ce royaume, n’y ayant personne si peu versé en l’histoire que ne sache qu’elle est originaire de Normandie, et qu’entre les plus grands seigneurs de cette province, que autrefois se sont signalés ès voyages de la Terre sainte et conquête d’Angleterre, ceux de ce nom n’ont pas êtê oubliés par les auteurs contemporains que en ont écrit," (p. 399).

"France," says Monsieur de Belleval, "contains at present no less than thirteen villages of the name of Bailleul; namely, two in the department of the

At the commencement of my enquiry my friend Mr. Caillard, who is of French parentage, caused search to be made in Normandy for a family of de Bailleu to which we might belong. The result was a paper, drawn up by M. de la Sicotière, an avocat at Alençon, of which the substance is as follows:

Chévillard in his "Nobiliarie de Normandie gives four different arms of Bailleul:

1. Bailleu, Seigneur de la Régellerie, Généralité d’Alençon, élection de Domfront: maintenu dans sa nobilité 28 mai 1668. Arms, or three excocheons gules.
2. Bailleul, Généralité de Rouen, élection de Montevilliers: maintenu 3 mars 1667. Argent, a fess gules between three ermine spots.

Bailleul, Chevalier, Seigneur de Bellengreville, Cessenville, des ventes, généralité d’Alençon, élection d’Argenton: maintenu

1. 30 avril 1666. Per pale ermine and gules.
2. Bailleul, Seigneur de Canteleu, généralité d’Alençon, élection de Lisieux: maintenu 16 avril. Ermine, a cross gules.

"It sufficiently appears from a comparison of these coats, that the Bailleuls of Upper and Lower Normandy had a common origin: that of Bailleu is quite different; whilst the orthography of the name is not the same in appearance: in reality, however, these names are identical."

"The Bailleus inhabited the parish of Saint-Mars d’Égrenne, near Comfront, as appears from the recherche of de Marle; who mentions also in the same parish René de Bailleul, ancien noble, sieur de la Régellerie. De Marle made the recherche in 1666. If there were Bailleus and Bailleuls at Saint-Mars d’Égrenne, they belonged to the same family."

He then gives a sketch of the pedigree of Bailleu from an early date down to 1732, when the male line failed, and La Régellerie became the proprty of Françoise-Louise de Bailleu, wife of Jacques-Louis Achard des Hautes-Noes; in which family it remained for several generations. "It is beyond doubt," he continues, "that the Bailleuls of La Régellerie and those of Saint-Mars d’Égrenne are one and the same family. Of persecutions undergone by them on account of religion I find no trace whatever.

It will be seen by any one conversant with heraldry, that the Bailleus, Sieurs de la Régellerie, were Bailleuls, their arms being only differenced from those of Jean de Bailleul, John balliol, King of Scotland. The Siers de la Régellerie are called Bailleu by Chévillard, and Bailleul by de marle; and it seems that de Marle used the two names indifferently.

The Rev. Mr. Burgess, ;founder of the Foreign Aid Society, gave me a letter to M. Monnier, pasteur of S. Quentin, who, Mr. Burgess said, would give me recommendations to the pasteurs of Cambrai, Valenciennes and Wallincourt; it being Mr. Burgess’ opinion that Philippe de Bailleul probably came from Cambresis.

On June 25, 1867, I went to S. Quentin, and saw M. :Monnier. He said he had no records sufficiently early; nor should I find any at Cambrai, Valenciennes, or Wallincourt. He did not recognise the name, and believed it was not to be found in that part of the country. I therefore went to Lille.

At Lille M. Ollier, the pasteur, could give me no information, having no records of a sufficiently early date. I was referred to M. Longaye, secretary to the Maire of Lille, who sent me to the Tribunal de Première Instance; where, I believe, are kept transcripts of the ecclesiastical registers; but they

In October 1867 I went to Alençon. The pasteur there could give no information; but I had a long interview with M. de la Sicotière, the result of which was that search was hopeless without some clue. The wills are kept by the notary before whom they were executed; and there are 40,000 notaries in France, but, possibly the emigratoin of a family

Mr. Wykeham Martin, of Leeds Castle, had given me an introduction to M. de caumont, the distringuished archæologist, whom I saw at his château, Vieus Fumèe near Caen. He gave me a letter to M. Lèopold de Lisle, Membre de l’Institut, at the Bibliothèque Impériale Paris. He also gave me his "Statistique Monumentale de Lisieux," containing a view of the Château of Crossanville, which belonged to a family of de Bailleul, Marquis de Crossanville, no extinct. The château has been pulled down.

In May 1868, I went to Paris, having previously forwarded my letter to M. de Lisle, and having at the same time informed him of the object of my enquiry. He merely said he could not assist me; but he referred me to a manuscript volume in the Bibliothèque Impériale, "Le Nobiliaire de Normandie, Cabinet des Titres, 753," and advised me to enquire at the Archives de l’Empire. I accordingly went there, made my application in writing to the chief of the establishment, stating exactly the object of my search, and was told to call again in three days, when I should learn the result. I called on the appointed day, and was informed that search had been made, but nothing had been found.
 

I had given up all hope of this; because Blanchard professes to give a compelte accounty of all the branches of the family down to 1647, and not one of the names of the refugees at Torney occurs in his pedigree. However, I commissioned him to prosecute the enquiry; and for many months he was very diligent in his efforts to procure information. Amongst other persons he communicated with M.

From Havre I went again to Caen, where M. Mélon, the pasteur, gave me all the assistance in his power. The Protestant registers, which had been discovered at Caen, as stated in the Memoirs of de Bostaquet, relate only to the congregation at Caen and its immediate vicinity; and the name of Bailleul does not occur in any of them. M. Mélon took me to the archiviste at Caen, who seemed anxious to assist me; but he could not find anything. At the library I found a manuscript nobiliaire of Normandy; it related, however, only to the généralité of Caen. The name of Bailleul does not occur in it; except that it is stated that in 1578, Jean Grandin was ennobled, and permitted to take the name of Bailleul. This Jean had a son, Julien du Bailleul, whose son, Julien du Bailleul, was in 1635 Sieur des Bailleuls de la Paroisse de S. Cir.

From Caen I went to Bayeux, where I found in the library the "Nobiliare de Normandie, Généralité de Caen, sur la Recherche faite par le Sieru Chamillard 1666;" and the "Nobiliaire de Normandie" by Chévillard, which includes all the

I returned to Rouen, where I saw M. de Beaurepaire. The archives contain nothing relating to de Bailleul, except in relation to a family of that name, who emigrated during the Great Revolution. M. de Beaurepaire, however, showed me a copy of the "Recherche sur la Noblesse de la Généralité de Rouen" in 1666, by de la Galissonnière, together with the pièces justificatives, or evidence produced in support of each claim of nobility. I copied all that related to the de Bailleuls of Montivilliers. The manuscript recherche of de la Galissonnière in the library at Rouen does not contain the pièces justificataives. M. de Beaurepaire siad that the de Bailleuls of Montvilliers were decidely Catholic, and belonged to the Ligue.

On my return from Rouen I visited the monument of Jean de Bailleul, at Bailleul-sure-Eaune, near Neufchâtel, which has been erroneously attributed to John Balliol, King of Scotland; and went thence to Amiens and Boulogne.

In the library at Amiens there is a "Nobiliaire of Picardy," with the pièces justsificatives or evidence produced in support of each claim at the recherche sur la noblesse de Picardie in 1708. This volume gives a better ideas of the proceedings taken at a recherche than anything I ever found elsewhere. The librarian at Amiens told me, there had been no Bailleuls in Picardy since the family of John Balliol.
 

All my endeavours to find a trace of the family in Normandy having proved unsuccessful, I came to the conclusion that they must be looked for elsewhere.

I subsequently went to Brussels, and at the Royal Library there I found "Bruges et le Franc," by J. Gailliard of Bruges, which contains pedigrees of three families of Bailleul, of which two seemed worth investigating: one of the Bailleuls of Doulieu, near Bailleul in Flanders; the other, of Bailleul-aux-Cornailles, in Artois.

There was a strong probability that the refugees came from the north-west of France; that is, from the Flemish border. In the course of my examinations of registers at Somerset House I had taken care to ascertain, as far as possible, the localities from which the other settlers at Thorney came; and with very few exceptions they could be traced to Flanders, Artois, or the Pays Conquis: nearly all the names appeared in the "Annuaire de Lille," as those of families settled at Lille or in its vicinity in 1867. But, until I met with "Bruges et le Franc" I could not find any family of the name in existence at the time required, except in Normandy.

On June 25, 1871, I went from Brussels to Bruges, to see M. Gailliard, son of the author of "Bruges et le Franc," who had offered to assist me in my researches. M. Gailliard introduced me to an English gentleman, Mr. Weale, who had resided

In August 1871 I went to Arras. Here I found at the archives the "Cahiers de Centièmes" in 1569, containing a report of all houses, buildings, gardens, arable land, and other immovable property in each parish, made by order of the King, for the purpose of levying the hundredth part of the yearly income. According to this, Bailleul-aux-Cornailles was in 1569 in the hands of the King by confiscation: "laquelle terre et seigneurie est présentement en la main de sa Majesté par confiscation." The only trace of the family, which I could find in any of the localitites with which this family was connected, was at Mouchy-les-Berton: "Jenne de Bailleul tient de Angeline de Quetier une cambre avec un petit jardin de 4 à 5 verghines."

From Arras I went to Douai, where I found the pedigree mentioned by Mr. Weale, which I copied; but nothing sufficiently recent. Motley in his "Rise of the Dutch Republic," vol. i. P. 479, states, that when the discontented nobles presented their famous "Requête to the Regent on April 5, 1566, on which occasion de Berlaymont called them "Gueux;´the

There being no further trace of the Bailleuls of Bailleull-aux-Cornailles, there remains only the family of Bailleul-Doulieu; or more properly of Bailleul-Eecke; for, the male line of Bailleul-Doulieu failed in 1519 by the death of Charles de Bailleul, leaving two daughters. And after full consideration of all the circumstances, I became convinced that we belonged to the family of Bailleul-Eecke. I inferred that Philippe de Bailleul, our ancestor, was grandson of a son of Hector de Bailleul, Seigneur of Eecke; because there was no other family to which we could have belonged. I thought it, however, extremely improbable that this would ever be established by proof.

In the summer of 1877 I was informed that there was at Liège a fine collection of genealogical manuscripts; and being determined to leave no source of information unexplored, I went to Liège in September 1877, for the purpose of examining them. The MSS. in question are those of Le Fort, who was

M. Diegerick, the archiviste at Ypres, introduced me to M. Jules Cordonnier, an amateur genealogist, who knew a good deal about the Bailleuls; but had lent his papers, and could not refer to them.  He, however, promised to assist me, if he could.

I went thence to Bruges, and saw M. Gailliard, who gave me some useful hints, of which I had no time to avail myself then.

M. Cordonnier amply fulfilled his promise of assistance.   He was indefatigable in his researches, at Ypres, Lille, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and other places; and communicated to me from time to time a mass of information, which confirmed in a remarkable manner the conclusion at which I had arrived, and left no room to doubt that it was correct.

Gailliard traces the Bailleuls of Eecke down to 1622, when Catherine, the daughter and heiress of Antoine de Bailleul, became a nun, and the estates

Hector de Bailleul, Seigneur of Eecke and Steenvoorde, died some time before March 1592; leaving several sons, of whom Jacques was the eldest and Antoine the second.  In March 1592 Steenvoorde was sold.  Jacques made over Eecke to his brother Antoine in or before 1596, and disappeared.  In February 1597 Antoine charged Eecke with an annuity in favour of Don Pedro de Valencia, who had married Marie de Bailleul, Antoine's aunt.  In 1604 Eecke was sold for the benefit of creditors; and Don Pedro de Valencia became the purchaser.  At this time Antoine de Bailleul was not to be found.  Nothing further is known of him; neither is there any further mention of Jacques.

In 1566, when the  troubles began in the Low Countries, Hector de Bailleul was Seigneur of Eecke and Steenvoorde.  His brother, Robert, was Seigneur of Schoonewalle; and their first cousins, Agnes and Philipotte de Bailleul, were married, the one to Ruth de Boitselaare, Seigneur of Carnetz; the other to Philippe de Marnix, Seigneur de Mon Sainte Aldegonde, the celebrated Saint Aldegonde, author of the famous "Compromis."  In that year Robert de Bailleul took part in the disturbances caused by the Calvinists at Ypres; and he and the Seigneurs of Carnetz and Saint Aldegonde were banished with confiscation.  Although Hector did not join the

It is evident that he withdrew quietly; for, Gailliard disposes of him as being "innocent," which is disproved by the fact that he ceded Eecke to his brother.   Antoine did not disappear until after June 1602.

Eecke is now in France; but, at that time it was in Flanders and subject to Philip II., King of Spain.  If Jacques were in danger in Flanders, he had only to cross the frontier; less than an hour's

It has already been stated, that Philippe de Bailleul, or his son Daniel, purchased a small estate at Willow Hall, where he built a house, in which the head of the family resided for two or three generations.  This house is a gentleman's house, of the size of an ordinary parsonage of the last century; the only peculiarity in it being a passe-plat or window, opening into the dining-room from the passage leading to the kitchen: a common contrivance in foreign houses for passing dishes, etc., into the room without opening the door.  But in addition to the house were built stables and granaries, which are remarkable for their height, size, and construction.  When I first went to Thorney and mentioned having seen the house at Willow Hall, I was at once asked by several persons whether I had seen the stables, which, it is said, were of quite an unusual character; and as I had not seen them, I went again for that purpose.

The stables and granaries are contained in one

I account for their size, not by property having been originally larger; but by the fact that the land was used for grazing purposes; no occupation or profit connected with the cultivation of one's own land being considered a trade, or as effecting a dèrogeance from the condition of nobility.

Arthur Young, a great agricultural authority of the last century, writes thus in his "Travels;" "Flanders: Valenciennes to Orchies: cattle; their cows, of which they are very proud, are Dutch; not large; though bigger than the Norman breed.  They are fed in the house all the year round; but, kept clean with the greatest attention.  To Lille: all the cattle tied up in houses all the year round, as they assured me.  I enquired into their motives for this; and they asserted, that no practice is so waste-

Then among other observations from the preceding notes, he says, "The practice in Flanders, and in some degree in Quercy, of keeping cows, oxen, and all sorts of cattle, confined in stables the whole year through: this I take to be one of the most correct, and probably one of the most profitable, methods that can be pursued; since by means of it there is a constant accumulation of dung; and the food is made to go much further."  P. 52.

The buildings at Willow Hall confirm the belief that this system was adopted there; and if so, Flanders is indicated as the country from which the de Bailleuls came.

Assuming that Jacques de Bailleul took refuge in France with part of the proceeds of the sale of Steenvoorde, and something derived from Eecke under an arrangement with his brother, Antoine, what did he do with the money?  He must have employed it in some way, so as to make it reproductive; otherwise, the capital would soon have been exhausted.  If he purchased land, it might be possible to find some trace of him; but it is more probable that he did not.  Another extract from Arthur Young's "Travels" may through some light on this question.
 

It is probable that Jacques de Bailleul employed his capital in France in the manner indicated by the passage just cited from Arthur Young, and would thus be enabled again to emigrate, should cirumstances make it desirable for him to do so.

The French colony at Thorney owed its origin to the draining of the Bedford level.  It was desirable to find small farmers and labourers to bring the newly-drained land into cultivation; and special inducements must have been held out to persons of that class in the north-west of France to tempt them to come over.   The religious freedom, enjoyed at that time in England, formed an additional inducement to those of the Reformed religion; and the establishment of a French Protestant colony with a church at Thorney, in the neighbourhood of which land was cheap, tempted the de Bailleuls, who had been living in the modst of these emigrants, to follow

The tradition in the family is, that the de Bailleuls of Willow Hall settled in the neighbourhood of Thorney, because land there was cheap.  They were noted sportsmen, and always kept hounds.

The fact that the Bailleuls of Eecke cannot be traced further than the end of the sixteenth century appears at first to present a difficulty.   We find two young men, bearing a name distinguished among the noblesse of France and Flanders, coming to this country as Protestant refugees in 1655 or 1656, not destitute, as was generally the case with the Huguenot refugees; but with means to support their social position: they must have belonged to a family of some note in the country of their origin; and yet no family of the name can be discovered in existence in the north of France, or Flanders, or elsewhere, except in Normandy, within fifty years prior to the time of their first appearance in England.

But, when the facts which have been discovered in reference to the Bailleuls of Eecke are considered, the difficulty ceases.  on these facts the questions arise--

1. Why was all the family property sold?
2. Why did Jacques de Bailleul disappear?
3. Where did he go?

Thesequestions are easily answered, if we

The questions on the other hand being--

1. To what family did Philippe and Jean de Bailleul belong?
2. Where did they come from?
3. Where did they get their money?

The answers are--

1. There was only one family to which they could have belonged, that of Eecke.
2. They came from the French side of the Flemish border.
3. They got their money from the sale of Eecke and Steenvoorde.

If these conclusions are well founded, they justify the belief in the family that the refugees came from France; and account in a great measure for the absence of further tradition respecting their origin.  They were refugees from Flanders before they were refugees from France: refugees not merely from 1655; but from an earlier date by sixty years.

Philippe and Jean de Bailleul were young men in 1655.   Philippe lived until 1706.  In a subsidy roll of 16 Charles II., 1664, Philip Bayley is returned for two hearths in Whittlesey "of which Bayly, his mother, has one."  She was probably widow of Jacques, the son of Jacques, the elder brother of Antoine.

This Isaac Bayley, the son, who died in 1786, took from the College of Arms a grant of arms, quarterly, gules and errminois, on a fess azure three martlets or; between, in the first and fourth questers, a lion rampart argent.

The arms of Bailleul-aux-Cornailles were, gules, on a chief ermine three martlets sable; or according to others, argent, a fess guiles, in chief three martlets sable.

The arms of the town of Bailleul were, gules, a cross vair; on a quarter argent a lion rampant sable.  [see illustrations preceeding page]

Whoever devised the arms granted to Isaac Bayley seems to have had in his mind the arms of Bailleul-aux-Cornailles and those of the town of

My theory is, that when the arms were granted, the Bayleys were known to be descended from a noble family, which had escaped from the rule of Philip II. in Flanders or Artois; but which could not then be identified.  It was either Bailleul-aux-Cornailles or Bailleul-Eecke; but which of the two was uncertain.

Every effort has been made, without success, to discover some trace of the de Bailleuls in the interval between their disappearance from Flanders and their appearance at Thorney.  M. le Chanoine Dehaisnes, Archiviste du Nord, in a letter to M. Cordonnier, July 27, 1878, after describing the search he had caused to be made for the deed of salw of the seigneurie of Steenvoorde in 1592, writes: "Je regrette de n'avoir pas été plus heureux pour la seconde demand; rien touchant la colonie de Protestants de la Flandre, qui s'établit en Angleterre de 1599 à 1654.   C'est en vain que j'ai consulté le répertoire et compulsé les documents."

The Greffier of the First Instance at Amiens in a letter to M. Cordonnier, Jan. 28, 1878, writes: "On trouve dans les archives du Greffe l'état civil des Protestants de 1602 à 1698.  Quoiqu'il n'existe pas de tables, j'ai pu faire la recherche des actes qui

During the regligious troubles in the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries all persons, who had recourse to a Protestant minister for marriage or baptism, were treated as criminals.  The records of that time contain numerous instances of this.  In West Flanders some were so married or had their children baptised, at Ypres; some at Menin; but many corssed the French border and were married, or had their children baptised, at Alembon near Guines.  It is most probable that, if the de Bailleuls took refuge in France, they resorted to Alembon for the office of religion.  Every effort has been made to discover the register of the Protestant congregation at Alembon; but without success.  Inquiries have also been made in all directions for Protestant congregations in the north of France; but no indication of the existence of any such congregation hs been discovered to the north of Amiens.  The mayor of Alembon writes, May 24, 1879: "Les plus anciens registres que nous ayons remontent à l'année 1674; il n'y est pas question de pasteur protestant."

M. Jarnier, archiviste de la Côte d'Or, writing from Dijon, May 27, 1880, says: "Rien n'établit qu'une famille protestante du nom de Bailleul se soit établie en Bourgogne à l'époque indiquée.  Ce nom est inconnu dans nos pays.  Au surplus, il est difficile que des personnes, qui fuyaient la persécu-

Inquiry had been made at Dijon, because Jacques de Bailleul, when he left his home at Bruges in 1566, at the commencement of the troubles, had gone to Burgundy.

M. le Chevalier de Ternas of Douai, a friend of M. Cordonnier, undertook to search in Artois for the family of Bailleul, and for any documents relating to Protestants or their emigration.  He did so with the assistance of the archiviste of the Pas-de-Calais at Arras; but he failed to make any discovery.

It may be asked, how were the de Bailleuls enabled to maintain their position on so small an estate as that at Willow Hall must have been?   The answer is that the land was chiefly pasture; and that they turned it to the best account by improved methods of dealing with such land, which they had brought with them; of which the system of stall-feeding, as evidenced by their buildings, was an instance.  There was much pasture at Eecke.  If they crossed into France, they would find much pasture and herds of cattle; and when they settled near Thorney they sought for and obtained grass land.

Mr. Kirk, in his "History of Charles the Bold," shows, that it is a mistake to suppose, that previously to the close of the sixteenth century the rural districts of Belgium were better cultivated or more productive than almost any other part of Europe.

Both Eecke and Steenvoorde are situate in that portion of Flanders in which, as stated by Mr. Kirk, the wealth of the inhabitants, three centuries ago, consisted chiefly in herds of cattle, raised on extensive natural pastures.

                  F. BAYLEY.

 

   
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Appendices
Illustrations
Pedigrees