Flying in the 17th century

Question

I found a court case of Thomas Walraven van Arkel. It s written in Dutch (Nederlands). I do understand Dutch verry well, but I don t understand this.

"Thomas Walraven van Arckel/eiser contra Anthony de Huybert/gedaagde, 1676-1679 Onderwerp: Eigendom van de jacht- en vliegrechten van de heerlijkheid van Kruiningen en oppositie tegen de eigendom van een huis 9003 Dossier I A 2 (1) 9004 Dossier I A 2 (2) 12601 Charters"

Part of the dispute is about the rights in hunting and flying van de "heerlijkheid van Kruiningen".

Did they travel by giant birds there, or perhaps it got something to do with flyng hunting birds, or is it "old Dutch" and does it mean someting else?

greetings Richard

Answer 1

Heerlijkheid is an area where a Heer (not a count but a bit lower level) has certain rights, for example the right of flying pigeons. Kruiningen in Zeeland was a very old Heerlijkheid, and later it became a municipality (gemeente)

Comments

Thanks Klaas

Many of my family came from Zeeland, my aunt Truus Enzlin is still living there. I like the old history. Nice hypothese about the pigeons, its verry posible in Kruiningen I saw on the internet. Kruiningen, a village with many pigeon clubs nowadays.

Greetings Richard

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Thanks Susan. I am very honoured.

Answer 2

Maybe it's to do with flying hunting-birds, like falcons?

Comments

I don't understand Dutch at all well but I think Ros is on the right track. Is heerlijkheid van Kruiningen a place?

Perhaps some sort of hunting preserve, perhaps part of an estate?

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Simplest translation of "Heerlijkheid" is "estate".

I agree that flying in the 17th century wood probably refer to flying with hunting birds

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Thanks Ros

I think it can be falcons used for hunting, but the pigeons, like Klaas Jansen said, is also verry posible there. There are still many pigeon clubs in Kruiningen.

Greetings Richard

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Hi M.Ross

In English they called "Heerlijkheid", a Dutchy. Here is some English info about Kruiningen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruiningen

Greetings Richard

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Hoi cousin Kees

I don t know. I think it s both posible in Kruiningen.

Greetings Richard

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Considering the context: "jacht- en vliegrechten" (hunting and flying rights) I think it is more likely to be flying with birds of prey.

Also, in the 17th century, pigeons would mostly have been kept as a handy food supply, not for "flying" (most present day pigeon clubs practice the 'sport' of pigeon racing). There is of course the use of pigeons to carry messages, but I think you would not need the 'rights' to do so within an estate; is the Heerlijkheid van Kruiningen so large that pigeons would have been used to carry messages?