Genealogical-Historical Information of the Family of the Barons von Pelden named Cloudt
According to the documents still preserved and collected in the family archives and extracted by J. Fr. R. v. P. g. C. [Jost Friedrich Reinhard von Pelden named Cloudt] together with a volume of the copies of the most important documents 1823.
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The family of the barons von Pelden named Cloudt belongs incontestably to one of the eldest families of the Lower Rhine region, part of which has now died away and part of which still exists. The name of Cloudt appears in the old documents written in very different manners as is frequently, and often even gnerally, the case with the names of old families. Alternately appear the following manners of writing: Clautht, Cloet, Kloute, Clout, Clute, Cluyte, Cluyt, Cloudt. Furhter below under the cahpter on Successive Generations, will be mentioned which way the family members in question signed the documents of their respective period. The different manner of writing of this name, however, prevents raising any doubt whatsoever as the name von Pelden, which this family bears at the same time, is added in all the documents. They bear the name Pelden probably taken from an estate "to Pelden", which, at that time, doublessly was an important one, and of which there are existing at present, only unimportant remains in the Principality of Moers. With that estate, a certain Claes, son of Claes van Pelden, was invested or enfeoffed in 1401 by a certain Arnt van Egher, Canonic at Sinte Jans van Ludicke, according to No. 1 of the documents. Said van Egher was, as may be concluded form his title, Cononick at Sinte Jans, perhaps a knight of Saint John, later on of Malta. Under this assumption, this estate at Pelden would have been a fief of the said order which everwhere had extended estates. The name of Ludicke is not known to me. At Luttich there was a St. Johans Monastery founded by Bishop Notger at Luttich in 987. I do not know, however, whether Luttich appears under the name Ludicke in old documents. The names of places and families differ regarding their denoimination in old documents from that in later times so much that it is often difficult to recognize them.
Coat of Arms
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The von Pelden named Cloudt have in their coat of arms a silver beam running diagonally from right to left in a red field. On the crowned helmet are two buffalo horns, the right one red and the left one silver. The covering of the helmet is in red and silver.
Origin of the Family
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From where this family was descended is still in the dark, and indeed, the oldest information does not throw light upon this, not in the least. This much, however, may be taken from all information with rather good certainty: that the family did not come from abroad, but belonged to the Teutonic nation, and must be reckoned as among the oldest noble families in the nation.
Estates and Properties
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Since 1300 this family has prospered in the Lower Rhine region. They had not unimportant estates and properties on the eastern and western side of the Rhine in the districts of Cleve, Julich, Berg, Cologne, and gueldria (or Guelderland). Whether there are also members of this family in other provinces inside and outside Germany, nothing reliable can be found. There are some in England who bear this name among the higher and lower classes, both rich and poor people. It is not known, however, whether they are descended from Germany. It should be determined whether or not the English have the same coat of arms as the German families. To clear up the matter, one would have to get information from one of those who bear this name in England, or to ask the English Herald's Office for the coat of arms. That, perhaps, would entail not unimportant expenses. Such an attempt, however, may remain without any success. Considering the English character, such letters and questions would probably remain unanswered. Certainly so much could be verified: that if there should be the same names and coat of arms in foreign countries, their ancestors must have emigrated there about the year 1300 or earlier, since, after that period, a complete succession of generations, in main and side lines, can be taken from the archive documents. No one in these generations has founded a side line outside Germany. However, Mr. Moritz Godried von Cloudt repeatedly told that one fine day at The Hague, two young gentlemen of the same name, who were serving in a Scottish regiment, had dismounted at one of his brother's homes. He had forgotten whether at Wilhelm's or at Carl's, both of whom were serving in the Dutch services. They had been willing to kiss his had and had called him uncle. He did not elaborate further on the subject. In 1823 an alphabetical list of noble families of the Kingdom of Sweden was published by a Hamburg correspondent. The reason of which was a proclamation for a call to family claims, if any; therein under C appears the name of Clout also.
When the Baron Friedrich von and zu Brencken, in 1811, studied at Gottingen, there was a student of that name coming from the Cape of Good Hope. I believe however, that that gentleman was a descendant of the family of the known revolutionist Anarcharsis Kloets.* As already stated above, only an equal coat of arms can decide on the same ancestry. TThat there are also illegitimate children of this name becomes evident from a purchase deed whereby, in 1575, the community of Schaephuysen in the District of Guelderia sells some acres of community land in Gueldrian Vluyn to Henrich von Hunnepel named von der Impel, hereditary Bailiff of the District of Gueldria. Therein appear three persons of the name Cluyt: Johan, Hinrich, and Jacob, and a certain Jacob Kloudt is mentioned in a purchase deed of 1609 on the purchase of the uncultivated Niep to Asverus v. H. named v. der Impel.
Age of the Family
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One first comes across the name of van Pelden named Cludt in an old book of tournaments, which formerly was in the family archives. It was removed, however, after the year 1682. According to tradition, it had been stolen from the archives along with a Bible written on parchment. both of these certainly rare and highly regarded pieces had come to the Jesuit's library at cologne. This may be a warning never to permit access to the archives to anyone. Fortunately,the widowed Baroness von Clout, a certain Hunnepel von der Impel by birth, had a certified excerpt made and certified by the main court of Moers in 1682. According to this attestation of the main court, it was an old original tournament book consisting of 138 pages; wherein, under page number 21, the coat of arms appears in colors, helmet and escutcheon, with the signatures van Pelden named Clouth. On the same page were some more colored coats of arms of other families also mentioned in this excerpt, who all had been present at that tournament held about 938 at Magdeburg by King Henrich called The Birdcatcher. We can take all this and further particulars from Enclosure No. 2. The expressed comment of the main court in said attestation: that the coats of arms were helmet and escutcheon, really painted in the tournament book in their colors, gives rise to the idea that this tournament book, only consisting of 138 pages, was a manuscript. This manuscript later had been made up as a souvenir for the family, possibly not long after the tournament. All the more, it must be regretted that the original one has been lost, and the quesiton as to whether King Henrich was the inventor of those tournaments, which from time to time is called into quesiton, perhaps could have been decided upon.
*In the manuscript of Jost Friedrich Rheinhard, the name is not very legible. We believe it is Kloets.
Pontanus in his book "Historia Gelriae, Lib. VI", pages 182 and 183, mentions Henricus de Kloute and his son Adam, who, together with other noblemen, confirmed by oath the charter of the town of Arnheim in 1213. Both aforsaid also had confirmed by oath the privileges granted to the town of Zutphen by Reinhold, Count of Gueldria or Guelderland. See Schlichtenhorst, Geldersche Geschiedenisse, 6 Boeck, Fol. 112.
Also in the "Spiegel der Ehren des Houses Oestreich, 3 Buch, XI Kap".* there is a statement about the battle given by Archduke Leopold von Oestreich on July 9, 1386, to the Swiss at Sempach, making the following comment: "There at the side of the Archduke perished a lot of great persons; 180 dead knights and noblemen were fetched away from there. Among those names entered in the register of honored dead were also two knights of the name of Cleten." I am not familiar with that Mirror of Honors. However, I find in the archives, an extract of the above note to which is added the coat of arms badly drawn by a quill pen; namely, a silver fess in a red field running from right to left. At the top in the right corner of the escutcheon, the fess ends in the head of an animal, which is likely to be a buffalo head, and to be relating to the two buffalo horns as ornaments of the helmet. Therefore, it can hardly be doubted that both these Cloeten knights belong to this family.
*Mirror of Honors of the Families of Austria, Vol. 3, Chapter 11.
Rank of the Family
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As to the rank and title of the family, also no patent of nobility can be found, which, in general, are sought for in vain in very old families. It can't be doubted that the family, since the oldest times, may have ranked among the higher nobility. According to the above-mentioned passage in Pontanus, Henricus de Kloute and his son, Adam, confirmed by oath the charter of the town of Arnheim, together with other noblemen. Among others were Henricus de Kuick, Giselbertus de Bronckhorst, and Florentinus de Baetenburg. After them in rank, those of the lower nobility called the "Ministeriales et Homines," were listed. This proves distinctly that said Kloutes were nobles and of equal birth with the aforementioned Cuyck, Bronckhorst, and Baetenburg, three families incontestably and well known as belonging to the higher rank of nobility. Moreover, the crowned helmet which the von Cloudt bears in its coat of arms also is found on all seals of the oldest documents; this, at the time, was allowed to be borne only by families who belonged to the higher nobility. However, this is disregarded in the present times.
Confession of the Family
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The family professed to the Evangelical Reformed Church. The year of their conversion to this confession can't be asserted definitely. However, it is likely to have happened about 1560. In that year the County of Moers was reformed under Count Herman von Neuenaar and Moers. The last Catholic pastor at the parish church, dedicated to Boniface, was Gerhard Sevenius or Swijns, who went over to the Evangelical doctrine in 1560; and, in the same year, Henricus Bommelius, a Protestant, was installed as a pastor at Vrijmersheim.
Knightly Birth
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As both the oldest and the more recent documents irrefutably exhibit, the old nobility of this family has been acknowledged, not only by other families of equal birth but, also, by kings and sovereigns in their rescripts. All these documents also give evidence that all members of this family, since the oldest times, from father to son, have always married equally in birth and have chosen their wives only [from] among the families of first knightly descent of the country. Only in 1742 the shocking and, up to that time, first misalliance took place when Wilhelm Baron von Cloudt married a certain Johanna Macalester of Scotland. That was an event which caused a great sensation in the family.
It will be most appropriate to make some remarks herein on the disadvantageous consequences of unequal marriages. Regarding the marriage in question see under page 89.
It is a pity that the principle of the badly understood liberty and equality, first spread by the French Revolution, has run out, now and then, among the nobility also. The history of the Revolution itself shows us two persons of princely houses who were stung by that tarantula. The abominable Duke of Orleans, renouncing his rank and his high birth, took or assumed the mad name of Tollheit. He acted not only from madness, but from a well considered ambition whereby he hoped to ascend the French throne. He even voted for the death of the King, his near cousin. He brought himself into contempt and hatred among the Jacobins and even among the most extreme revolutionists. Nemesis, coming sooner or later but never failing to come, whereby people are sentenced according to their deeds, also fell upon him. He was subjected to her and instead of succeeding the king to the throne, he followed him under the guillotine.
...book continues for several pages 6-12 discussing nobility...
The rule is: hold with your equals. It is valid to every class. The commoner who marries a noble person engages in as great a risk as the nobleman who marries a girl of the middle class.
I wish that every member of the von Cloudt family, now and for the future, would respect these remarks written down here and particularized as a wrning in their interests, to convince themselves of their truth, and to proceed accordingly. More than ever, circumstances require the avoidance of all unequal marriages and, on the contray, to contract marriages only with those of old noble families. Only thereby can this family get back its former splendor and rise again.
Wealth of the Family
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In former times and since 1300, this family ws esteemed and rich. Their wives came from ancient stocks, collateral lines, and inheritances of families who have died out. Little by little, they increase their own not unimportant patrimonial property; and, moreover, they had the good luck to marry, in four subsequent generations, daughters who were to come into a fortune by natural transmission from their ancestors. Besides, there were only a few children in each generation, and, in the course of nearly three hundred years, the mainline was founded on one person only. The daughters, whose numbers were also small, and [they] were excluded from succession, according to the traditional observance in this family, as will be demonstrated in detail in the history of this family written down below.
Decline of the Family
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In 1612 the first partition took place. The ancestor, Friedr. Hermann, had died without leaving descendants behind. His brother, Jost Wyrich, died leaving three children not of age: one son and two daughters. On that account, his children were placed under care of a guardian. Jost Wyrich had six sisters who all had been married. These, utilizing the minority of the firstborn male, enforced a division in equal parts, which the guardians did not resist emphatically enough. They surely could have done so, and it was their duty to do so. This partition was so disastrous for the family and weakened it. It, however, did not really cause the ruin of the family, because there had been a considerable fortune. Many of the sisters died without leaving children behind, whereby a great part of the fortune reverted. Moreover, the daughters of the subsequent generations were paid off in conformity with the rule, and the old splendor of the family was preserved thereby.
A more disadvantageous effect occurred at the partition in 1740, by which the great fortune was dissolved. It is true that the two duaghters were paid off out of the feudal estates, but they shared the freehold estates in equal parts with their four brothers. The four brothers, a number of whom never had been at home, shared the feudal esttes, since there was no last will and testament of the father. Then, under Mauritz Godried, unhappy circumstances came to pass. In addition, after his death in 1793, not only the decline but also the total ruin of his family became inevitable. Such will be specified and given proof of in the historical report below.
Claims of the Family
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It is better to mention these legal claims here with only some words and to put details and the appertaining genealogies in the enclosures.*
*This sentence was a marginal note made by Jost Friedrich Reinhard von Pelden named Cloudt.
These claims run from pg 14-19.
Succession of Generations
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A descent and succession of generations reliably following from documents begins only at the first half of the 14th century.
First Generation Claes von Pelden
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Document No. 1 of 1401, proves that Claes von Pelden, whose wife is unknown, had two sons: namely, Claes and Goswijn or Johan. In all probability Henricus de Kloute and his son Adam, who, in 1213, had confirmed by oath the liberty charter of the town of Arnheim, together with other noblemen, were ancestors of that Claes and of the two Cloet Knights, who, in 1386, took part in the Battle of Sempach; and those who, in their escutcheon, also bear the silver fess in the red field, can possibly be considered members of that generation. This, however, is only an assumption which can't be strictly proved, although the probability argues in favor of it. Besides, nothing else is known of said Claes, son of Claes, and there is also no trace showing whether he had been married and had left heirs or not. Probably, he had left no heirs behind; at least not after several generations, because the bill of enfeoffment, according to which this Claes had been invested with the Estate van Pelden, is in these family archives. See Enclosure No. 1. This is a proof that the line of this Claes, if any, must however, have already died out very early; and their estates must have come to the children of his brother, Johan. That this Claes was enfeoffed with the estate van Pelden with which, after all, his brother, Johan, who evidently had three children, had been invested, and that to Johan's wife, Fijen, the usufruct* had been reserved, can be explained thus. For, with a fief, someone had been invested up till then; and this also was true at that time under the requirement of military service, which could not be done by minor children. Johan, who had been enfeoffed before, had left sons who were, however, minors and, therefore, still incapable of military service. After the death of this Johan, therefore, his brother had been invested with the fief "to Pelden" probably for these reasons. Moreover, there are neither further notes of enfeoffment nor other information regarding said estate of pelden; and one does not know how and at which time the family failed to keep possession of it.
*The legal right of using and enjoying the profits of something belonging to another.
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Many castles are mentioned in history of the Cloudt family. Below is the current status of some of these castles as of 1981.
Many of the castles referred to in the 1823 document are still standing. In the 1823 document it is stated that the von der Leyen family purchased the Castle Bloemersheim. This castle has remained with that family to the present day and Baron von der Leyen is the current occupant.
The cast Lauersfort has had several owners and the present owner is Herr Josef Block. He along with his wife have been very hard at work during the past few years are restoring it with great attention the original detail. It is being furnished with furniture from the mid 1700's with each piece of furniture having a certificate of authenticity.
Sollbruggen is in excellent condition and is possessed by the city of Kreyfeld. It is on the present day Uerdingerstrasse and is used as a music school. Recently a large sum of money was spent to erase the accumulation of time on the hand painted walls of the music room.
Haus Tervoort was bombed during World War II and Haus Impel was also destroyed by fire bombs in that war. The Castle Conradsheim is still standing and in excellent condition.
The Castle Lynn is in excellent condition and is used as a museum. Many of the portraits of the von Pelden anmed Cloudt family and related families are hanging in this castle.
The Castle Crackow is not standing any more. A street Crackowstrasse in Kreyfeld marks the former site. It would appear that a few sections of the original wall may still be seen there.
The Castle Stein in the Netherlands is now only partly standing. 116 122 272 273
5374. Von Claes PELDEN .116
Birth Notes: Bef 1355
Claes married.
5375 M i. Von Pelden G. Goswijn Or Johan CLOUDT .116
Goswijn married Feyen SCHENCK.116
5376 M ii. Von Claes PELDEN .116 274
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