Betty
McGrath,
“The
Life and Times of John Brabyn of the New South Wales Corps and his extended
family”
1995,
ISBN No. 0 646 25116 3
The name BRABYN
is a variant spelling of BRABANT, the Flemish translation meaning 'a Native of
Brabant', (Flanders), alternating with the name of the Duchy[i].
The actual province of Brabant is in Central Belgium. It was formerly the southern
part of the old Duchy of Brabant. The central part became Antwerp province and
the Dutch province of North Brabant after Belgian Independence in 1830, when a
revolutionary era song called La
Brabaconne, written by the Frenchman Jenneval, became the Belgian
National Anthem[ii].
Symbols of the duchy are still visible in the flag
of Belgium which also uses the Brabacon colours, black, yellow and red.
The earliest
reference to Brabant, so far discovered is:‑
"...By the
tenth century the future duchy of Brabant, the counties of Hainaut, Flanders
and Namur and the princebishopric of Liege already existed in embryo as
quarrelsome factions destined to dominate Belgium's history for hundreds of
years[iii].
In the 15th century after the terrible reign of
Charles the Bold, who died in 1477 at Nancy, Philip the Good followed and became
overlord of eleven provinces, including Flanderswith‑Artois and Brabant. These
bilingual dukes were of French blood who encouraged the use of the Flemish
language to emphasize the separateness of the Low Countries from France.
Under the terms
of the 'Great Privilege' whereby:‑
"...all
ancient rights of the provinces, towns and guilds were fully restored...the
best charters themselves granted citizens a status long to remain rare in
Europe. Such a charter was the famous 'Joyous Entry of Brabant, which from 1356
onwards had guaranteed that all citizens of the province were equal before the
law, that justice should be open and impartial, that no taxation was valid
without consent, and that each man should be 4free to speak his mother tongue
in all his dealings..."[iv].
In the 16th
century under Charles V and his Holy Roman Emperor, 100,000 Protestants are
said to have been 'done in' by Imperial Catholic troops in the Spanish
Netherlands which at that time either overlapped part of Flanders or was co‑extensive
with it. The Brabyns were among the lucky migrants who made it in asylum to
England.
Flanders is still honoured in commemoration of
those Flemish Protestants of Brabant whom Catholic/Spanish persecution obliged
to flee for asylum at a time of the Reformation to Anglican England. There
seems to be a strong connection of the name Brabyn with York:‑
(a)
The Duke of York;
(b)
The City of York where to be a Brabyn/Brabant was a
title of honour, however modest ones circumstances might be; (c) possibly a fairly
recent migration of the Brabyns to Cornwall[v].
Brabyn is not a Cornish name, although the story of our John does begin there.
In this Colony he named two of his properties, York Place and York Lodge, thus
carrying on the name.
Flanders is today's northern Belgium. Dutch
influence in Belgium Flanders has existed for a long time. After the Spanish
persecutions of the counter reformation of the 17th century, many brilliant
Flemish artists and writers sought refuge in the United Provinces ‑ at that
time called the Calvinist Independent Netherlands ‑ (present day Holland), and
with them they brought all their wonderful culture.
Until the time of the French Revolution, the
country known today as Belgium did not exist. Britain and France had gone to
war at least once in each of the last seven centuries in a constant endeavour
to gain and keep control of the trade routes between London and northern
European countries. It was not until 1830 that the country emerged as an
independent entity. Geographically it included the present Netherlands and the
Artois of northern France; its only natural frontier being the coastline of the
North Sea. In the latter part of the 18th century it was known as the Low
Countries or Flanders, the frontiers changing continually depending who was
winning which war.
Yorkshire and
Cornwall became the two main areas in England where descendants of the original
Brabyn families came to settle from across the North Sea. In early times the
literate people, like Justices of the Peace and Priests, would write a person's
name in his official records the way he heard it. Some of these early records
show a person's name spelt three and four different ways in the same document.
It is no wonder the names Braban, Brabant, Brabin, Brabon, Brabyn, Brabben,
Brabbins, Brabham, Braybourne, and others, emanate from the same root word[vi].
From earliest times London was a port for wool.
Prior to 1350 this trade was shared among many other competing places. Export
of wool was taxed in 7275 by Edward I. To facilitate collection of this impost,
trade was restricted to just a few towns.
“ ..The first time this policy was followed in 1294, Edward designated Brabant, right across the narrow seas from London, as the market to which sellers should take their wool. Immediately London became the most important port from which to ship wool and its part in the trade increased dramatically.”
The King still had to suit his foreign creditors
so various schemes were also tried after the Brabant Staple was abandoned. Sometimes
the markets were at abroad and some times at home ...By the beginning of the
15th century it had become much more profitable to export woollen cloths as
wool could be bought at home by Clothmakers cheaper than their overseas rivals
were paying. For the first time England had a profitable significant export
that manufactured. The chief market was Germany. Bristol and Southhampton
declined but London prospered.
There were no
factories in the 16th Century, most or all of the work being done in the
homes..."[vii].
The Celts strongly influenced the language formerly spoken in Cornwall
but it became extinct in the 18th or early 19th century. English
Cornish was most closely related
to Breton, the Celtic language of Brittany, in northern France.
A Brabyn Coat of Arms of Bourke's listing shows
Argent (silver shield) with a Fesse (horizontal bar across the centre of the shield);
a Humettee variant (it does not go to the edge of the shield) with Gules (red)
additions; three Leopard's Faces or (gold) Heraldic Animals. The Helmet above
the Shield is of Stell (shiny) Mantleing of two colours of cloth, said to be
velvet and silk, of the Livery Colours.
The Crest depicts a Hawk Proper (normal
colours), Armed Azure, blue beak and claws/talons and Jessed and Belled Leather
Thongs around its lege with Hawkbells, or (gold). This is the arms of the
Grantees of 1629 and 1664. Some changes would have occurred since that time.
Note: none in your
branch of the Brabyn may be entitled to the Coat of Arms unless an ancestral
line has been proved.
Research carried out by Lyall of Clarencetown
Prepared by Bob
Dalrymple, PO Box 122, Dapto, NSW Australia 2350
eMail: bob@relativelyyours.com