| Buyer Notes | The identification of the buyer is exceptionally difficult. Two principal candidates are Eduard Pels I and II. Eduard Pels I was a merchant and cloth dealer, born in Antwerp, who fled his native city about 1585 and then spent some time in Cologne before settling in Amsterdam (Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse kooplieden, p. 310), Before leaving Antwerp, he had already received a permit to travel to Frankfort and Leipzig in 1584 (De Navorscher 53(1903), p.466). Eduard Pels I was cited in connection with a protested bill of exchange, issued in Danzig, on 12 December 1596 (Winkelman, Bronnen voor de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Oostzeehandel R.G.P., 178(1981), p. 179.) He is known to have been a successful merchant in Hanau (see below), married to Johanna de Raedt, the daughter of Aert de Raedt. She is likely to have been the sister of Elias de Raedt of R 28395 (De Navorscher 56(1906), p. 657). Adriaen van Hoochstraten invested 900 f. in the first subscription for V.O.C. shares of 1602 for Aernout Pels, son of Eduart Pels (I) (Van Dillen, Het oudste aandeelhoudersregister, p. 172). It was probably his son Eduardus Pels (II), born in Antwerp, who was said to be 38 years old, living in the Warmoesstraet, when he was betrothed on 4 February 1606 with Johanna Baudeson, born in Antwerp, 28 (ibid.) It was perhaps also who became a citizen of Amsterdam on 2 June 1606 (Gelderblom, Prosopographic Data Base). It may be this same Eduard Pels (II), cloth merchant, who was said to be 40 years old in a document of 1 August 1614 (he may have made himself a few years younger) (NA 377, fol. 301). Eduard Pels III was the son of Carel Pels and of Janneken Bencken, who married in 1600, and the brother of Adriaen Pels (Van Dillen, op. cit. p. xxx; WK 5073/513, 2 January 1610, fol. 135; and WK 5073/513, fol.139vo.) Eduard Pels III was too young to have assisted Hans aux Brebis (II) at his betrothal on 6 May 1608 (R 25592) and thus cannot be Edewaert Pels de jonge, who was probably identical with Eduardus Pels (II) cited above. Eduard Pels III is likely to be identical with the Notary Eduard Pels who was born in 1607 (see the NOTES to R 36384) and worked as a clerk in 1635, but then he would only have been about 14 years old at the time of the present sale, which makes it somewhat unlikely. On 23 August 1632, Johanna de Raedt, widow of the late Eduard Pels (I), living in Utrecht, drew up her testament in the house of the widow of Elias de Raedt (probably of R 28395) (NA 371, fol. 112). On or about 10 May 1635, there appeared before the schout and burgomasters of the city of Hanau, sitting in full assembly, the well-born Esdras Landes as guardian over Susanna and Maria Pels, together with the achtbaere Jacobus Pels, who declared that their respective father and grandfather, the late Eduart Pels (I), who had been citizen of Hanau, had left a share in the V.O.C. with a value of 450 Flemish pounds (2700 f.). Instead of being distributed among the heirs (of Eduard Pels), the share had been given to the late Arnolt Pels (known to have been the son of Eduard Pels I). The witnesses named Nicolaes van Uijttenhove in Utrecht to collect money from the V.O.C. and Dirck Grijp, solliciteur (of R 25116), as a substitute (NA 948, film 1171, Not. Benedict Baddel). The next day, May 11, Thomas Fontaine, merchant (of INVNO 247), as guardian of the children procreated by Hanne Resteau, daughter of Christoffer Resteau and of the late Anna Pels, daughter of Eduard Pels, issued a procuration naming Madelen Heldewier, the widow of Consalvo Romiti (NA 948, film 1171, Not. Benedict Baddel). On Consalvo Romiti, see the NOTES of R 27451. Portraits of Christoffel Resteau and Anne Pels are recorded in Thomas Fontaine's inventory (R 5866). For the inventory of Magdalena Heldewier, widow of Consalvo Romiti, dated 31 May 1650, see INVNO 302. The Fontaine, Pels and Heldewier families, which had all spent some time in Cologne were related by marriage (Nederlandsche Leeuw 41(1923), col. 354 and foll.) On 29 April 1635, Dirck Grijp (probably II, of R 25116) brought 1259 f. 12 st. to the Orphan Chamber for the children of Eduard Pels (II), whose late mother was Janneken Goudissen (same as Baudeson, cited above?) (WK 5073/789). The most likely candidate, given the date, is Eduard Pels de jonge (Eduard Pels II), who attended the betrothal of Hans aux Brebis and was married to Janneken Goudissen (or Baudeson). |
