Noble Families Without A Title
Nobles without a title can call themselves Écuyer (French for shield bearer or squire) or Jonkheer (Dutch, literally meaning 'Young Lord'). The female equivalent of Jonkheer is Jonkvrouw. Écuyer however has no female equivalent. The titles Jonkheer and Jonkvrouw are roughly equivalent in meaning to "Sir" or "Dame", but not a common translation. Écuyer is equivalent to "esquire" except that the latter may be used for any Englishman.
There are thousands of untitled noble families in Belgium. These noble families lack an official Belgian family title for various reasons. The most common reason is that they were Écuyer, as described above, and were therefore noble only through their close link with the titled aristocracy. Another common reason is that some titles could only be taken over by a certain number of family members (e.g. the eldest), so that the rest of the family became untitled, though essentially still made part of the Belgian nobility. A third reason is that some aristocrats voluntarily relinquished their title in order to perform commercial activities, as described above.
Below is a non-exhaustive list of untitled noble families in Belgium:
- Agie de Selsaeten
- Anciaux Henry de Faveaux
- Anne de Molina
- Annez de Taboada
- André-Dumont
- Arrazola de Oñate
- Bauchau
- Beaucarne d'Eenaeme
- Beeckmans de West-Meerbeeck
- du Bois de Vroylande
- Cardon de Lichtbuer
- Carton de Tournay
- Claeys Boüüaert (Claeys Boùùaert)
- Coart
- Cogels
- Coget
- Coomans de Brachène
- de Cock
- de Coninck
- d'Andrimont
- de Barsy
- de Bauer
- van Dievoet
- de Fraipont
- de Francquen
- de la Croix d'Ogimont
- de La Hamayde & de La Hamaide
- de Mahieu ( for the rest of the family )
- de Meester (de Meester de Ravestein, de Meester de Betzenbroeck, de Meester de Heyndonck)
- de Prelle de la Nieppe
- de Roye van Wichen ( de Roye de Wichen)
- de Smet de Baeyer
- de Waiter
- de Wasseige
- Demeure de Lespaul
- Duquesne Watelet de la Vinelle
- van der Essen
- Ernst de la Graete
- Geelhand de Merxem
- Gilliot
- Guyot de Mishaegen
- Hermanns
- Hendrickx van den Bosch
- Janssen
- t'Kint de Roodebeke
- Lantonnois van Rode
- Leman
- Matthieu de Wynendale, sinds 1957
- Maus de Rolley
- Mertens de Wilmars
- Monnoyer de Galland de Carnières
- Moretus Plantin de Bouchout
- Nolf
- Peltzer
- Plissart de Brandignies
- Serné
- Spruyt
- Terlinden
- Thibaut de Maisières
- Uyttenhove
- van Ackere
- Vandive
- van den Hecke de Lembeke
- Vander Elst
- Van der Meersch
- van Neste
- van Wassenhove
- Wittouck
- Woronoff
Read more about this topic: Belgian Nobility
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