1 - Belgium

Oostburg-Knesselare * Kortrijk-Oudenaarde-Tournai * Hainault * Namur

 

The oldest traces of the family name are found in the territories related to the counties of Flanders and Hainault which were united between 1191 and 1279 through the marriage of Margaretha I of Flanders and Baldwin V of Hainault (VIII of Flanders). Their sons were active as crusaders and obtained the  title of Emperor of Constantinople. The woman and daughters of the oldest son Baldwin of Constantinople stayed in the low countries and ruled this territories. After the death of his second daughter the countess Margaretha II of Constantinople in 1279 the territories were again separated. It's after this date that we will find the first mentioning of Pincemaille and Pincemaelge in this regions

John d'Avesnes grandchild from the first marriage (divorced) of Margaretha II of Constantinople with Bouchard d'Avesnes obtained the county of  Hainault and heired Holland (Holland and Zeeland) in 1296 through his mother Alida of Holland. We will find the family name only in Hainault

Guy of Dampierre the son from the second marriage of Margaretha II of Constantinople with William of Dampierre obtained Flanders and had bought the county of Namur in 1263. We will find the Pincemaille  surnames in the county of Namur (in 1304 to his sun John of Namur) and in Flanders  (in 1304 to his son Robrecht of Bethune).

In Medieval Flanders see especially the subregions Oostburg- Knesselare   and Kortrijk-Oudenaarde-Tournai

We will find these families following the Scheldt (Escaut: F, Schelde: N) from Oudenaarde down to the sideriver Espierre (Spiere: N) of the Scheldt just before Tournai.

  • Oostburg-Knesselare. Oostburg is now a part of the Netherlands but was then belonging to the Eastern Flanders with Ghent as the most important city. Oostburg to Knesselare is a region above the road Bruges-Ghent
    • Oostburg-Ambacht: Hugo Pincemaelge, 1281. He is named in the book "Liber inventorius " of the Saint Peter Abbey of Ghent.  
      • Knesselare. Judocus Spinsemalge, 1606. This branch ended around 1700.
  • Kortrijk -Oudenaarde -Tournai.  These 3 mediaval cities are situated on the Lys (Kortrijk) and the Scheldt (Schelde-Nl, Escaut-î) ( Tournai and Oudenaarde). They controlled the access to the city of Ghent where the Lys meets the Scheldt. They ware famous for linen, tapestry and mediaval church music. 

      - Kortrijk  and Oudenaarde. We will see that in history when battles took place French troops took position in Kortrijk and the opponents in Oudenaarde, Zwevegem lying between. 

      -Tournai: was one of the trade cities in Medieval Flanders and was part of the county of Flanders, dominated by the cities, while the county of Hainault was dominated by the nobles. The diocese of Tournai reached till Bruges. France occupied this city in 1313 and it was only 200 years later in 1525  that Charles-Quint  the Emperor of the Dynasty of the Hapsburgs and born in 1500 in Ghent could reconquer  Tournai. It became then a city with a special statute and in 1792 after the French revolution part of Hainault.

    • Oudenaarde. Gheerard Pincemaelge, 1394. He was living in Odeke (near Oudenaarde) and payed that year to become a  citizen of Oudenaarde. Also his descendants were citizens. We found 3 generations till about 1500.
      • Zwevegem: Gerardus Pincemalge: a verger (koster-Nl, Bégot-î) and a farmer around 1610. The name changed to Spinsemaille around 1660 ("S"pincemaille  meaning "of" Pincemaille). But in the local dialect in Zwevegem it stayed Pincemalge or Spincemalge (see Noêl Spincemaille #00197) and Spincemaille should n't be understood. Descendants till today, surname Spincemaille. One of them Achiel Spincemaille emigrated in 1903 to Chicago, Illinois Usa and died in 1952 in îesno, California. His descendants live today in Belgium.
    • St-Denis: In the orphanage registers of the city of Kortrijk we will find from 1430 till 1573 members of the family mostly from St-Denis, with names as Pintsemailge, Pincemalge and Pinsemaille.
      • Spiere-Helkijn: from 1588 we will find them but following a gap in the parish register of Spiere and no Index of the parish registers of Evregnies it was impossible to make a genealogy between 1600 and 1800. Names were Pinsemael, Peinchemaille and Pinsmaillie (Evregnies).
      • Mouscron (around 1970-> Hainault), surname today Pinchemail. Research has yet to be done.
  • Hainault  (John d'Avesnes).  We found in 1342 Mariien Pinchemaille, but living in Tournai,  in the cartularia of the counts of Hainault.  We found also a wood named "Bois de Pincemaille" 4 km South of the city of Binche. But a family who gived eventually his name to this Place is unknown. A lot of research has yet to be done in Hainault.
    • Mons: 1295 Alars Pinc(h)emaille, in a study about the oldest accounts of the city of Mons.
      • Charleroi: In the 20th century we find the surname Pinsmaye in Charleroi but it is unclear if this are families coming from elsewhere or not because in the 19th and 20th century the coalmine industry has attracked a lot of people from elsewhere.
  • Namur (Guy of Dampierre). John of Namur son of Guy of Dampierre heired Namur in 1304..  
    • Dinant:  We find around 1600 a lot of this families, citizens of Dinant  We only have information of the families with the start of the parish register. But they were present in aboundance. Based only on births around 1600 we even find descendants of three different Jean Pincemaille. So certainly they were many years ago present in Dinant. Descendants till today, surname Pinsmaille.
      • Braux: In the 17th/18th century they moved probably from Dinant to Braux ( above Charleville- Mézières) in France. We find descendants of Lambert Pinsemail in Braux, North of Charlesville- Mézières. They were boatman (batteliers-î) and fisherman, but after a few generations we find them also in the local mine and iron industry. Descendants till today, surnames Pincemaille and Pinsmaille.
    • Namur
      • Namur: We found yet a Marie Spincemaille in 1548 bourgeois of Namur. Because the S coming before the name we should look for a link with the region of Kortrijk. .The name changed with time to the local variant Pinsmaille. But this people were also boatman navigating on the Meuse to Liège were the local variant was Painsmay(e).  For this reason we will find in the main time in Namur the adapted variant: Spinsmaye and after 1800 Pinsmaye.
      • Sclayn: We find in 1662 Pinsmaye, coming from elsewhere (we believe Namur) ; but in 1673 the surname changed to Spinsmaille and became again Pinsmaye till 1800.  But as in Namur the local variant became Pinsmaille.
      • Liège: We find the family name also in the 18th  century in Liège; they made a local variant of the name Painsmay(e). They ware boatman and fisherman travelling on the Meuse from Namur/Dinant, Belgium to Roermond, Holland above Liège. Probably they came from Namur (ev. Dinant). Known in local history is the "young Painsmaye" who died in 1789 as a result of the troubles of a French revolution in Liège. But we found also other local variants between Liège and Roermond: Piesmaye in Lixhe, Liège B ca 1730 and Painsmay(e) written as Painsmaij(e) in Roermond, Lim, Netherlands. ca 1742
  • --> Brabant
    •  Brussels: We find in Brussels Pincemail, Painsmaye, Pinsmaille and Pinsmaye around 1999. We suppose based on the way the patronyme is written that their origin will be the province of Namur (but also from other provinces)  and that they arrived there in the 19th and 20th century. As "petite histoire" we found a portrait of the poet Artur Rimbaud (see Genealogies, Brussels), wounded after drink by his close îiend Paul Verlaine  in 1872, lying in bed at Mrs Pincemaille's home, tobacconist's shopkeeper, rue des  bouchers in Brussels.
    • Hoegaarden: we find some Pinsmel between 1635 and 1785, but we do n't know their origin, maybe they came from Wallony. After 1785 we will find in the same family also Prinsmel and in 2007 only Prinsmel.

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