Josse van Aertrycke

[1] According to Gaspar Frutuoso, Josse van Aertrycke received various favors and concessions from Joost De Hurtere for the establishment of his settlement in Faial.

[2] Some of the factors that led the Flemish to immigrate during the 15th century include a series of succession wars, the struggle for the centralization of power in the Burgundian Netherlands and the extreme poverty during the reign of Philip the Good, and that of his son, Charles the Bold.

In addition, many Flemish settlers immigrated to the Azores when Philip the Good married Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I and a sister of Prince Henry, the Navigator.

[2] In the section referring to the Azores, we find this passage from the Nuremberg Globe of Martin Behaim (1492): "the aforementioned islands were colonized in the year 1466, when, after much deliberation, the king of Portugal ceded them to his sister, Isabella, Duchess of Burgundy, Countess of Flanders.

"[9] As a matter of fact, Josse descended from William I, Count of Holland, from the House of Borselen, and the (currently) comital family, van Maldeghem, whose escutcheon was added to the shield of his collateral relative (Lodewijk) in 1391.

Tillegem Castle , the van Aertrycke family seat , in the first half of the 17th century - Image from Flandria Illustrata (1641)
The arms of Lodewijk (left) with the van Maldeghem inescutcheon , those of his brother, Philip I (middle), and the latter's grandson, Jacob (right), as registered for the great tournament of Bruges (1391-1393)
Fig. 2: van Aertrycke coat of arms.
View of Tillegem's moated castle