The Lampsins were an aristocratic family in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, who attained notability in the trading and colonial worlds in the 17th century. The most notable members of the family were brothers

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

and Cornelius Lampsins, who were granted letters of patent by

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

and became the Barons of colonial

Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...

in 1662.Riddell (Author), Henri de Bourbon (comte de Chambord.), John. “The Patent of Baron to C Van Lampsins.” The Pedigree of the Duchess of Mantua, Montferrat and Ferrara, Oxford University, 1885, pp. 8–10. The Lampsins family owned a trading house in

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

, and Cornelius owned a fleet of over three hundred trading ships, in both the

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. The Lampsins merchant house was the first employer of the famed admiral

Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch States Navy officer. His achievements with the Dutch navy during the Anglo-Dutch Wars earned him the reputation as one of the most skilled naval commanders in ...

Famous scions

Adrian Lampsins Adrian Lampsins, sometimes called Adrien Lampsius, (1598-1673) was the Baron of colonial Tobago, alongside his brother, Cornelius Lampsins. Born to a wealthy merchant family in Vlissingen, in 1654 Adrian and Cornelius led a group of 50 colonist ...

(1598–1673), Baron of Tobago * Cornelius Lampsins (1600–1664), Baron of Tobago, Governor of the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

* Apollonius Lampsins (1674–1728), Governor of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

, mayor of

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

* Jan Cornelis Lampsins (1754–1834), Governor of the Dutch West India Company

References

External links

Dutch Wikipedia The Dutch Wikipedia () is the Dutch-language edition of the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. It was founded on 19 June 2001. As of , the Dutch Wikipedia is the -largest Wikipedia edition, with articles. It was the fourth Wikipedia ed ...

{{Authority control Dutch noble families Dutch barons Dutch-language surnames Surnames of Dutch origin