V. Lieven de Cleerck (>1505 - 1557/'59) x Lievyne van Houcke
Son of Gillis de Cleerc and Barbara de Knibbere
Lieven de Cleerck, born after 1505, † between 4 Nov. 1557 and 8 April 1559, x Lievijne van Houcke, † shortly before 11 Oct. 1604, dr. of Jan (Johannes)
Unlike his ancestors and two of his brothers, Lieven de Cleercq did not become a textile dyer. Instead, he became a 'meersenier', a retailer, trading in textiles.
When his father Gillis died in 1530, he and a younger brother were staying abroad. Quite possibly they were sent there, to a business relation, to learn the trade and foreign languages. Once back in Ghent Lieven joined the meerseniers guild and bought a shop in one of the most expensive streets: the Lange Munt. The house was called 'St. Nicolaes' (now number 29), named after the patron of the meerseniers guild.
- Gent_-_inschrijving_meerseniers-l.jpg
Entry of Lieven de Clerck fs Gillis as member of the meerseniers guild, 1534 (click to enlarge)
Apparently Lieven was quite succesful; he was a wealthy man, owning several houses in some of the most aristocratic streets of Ghent, as well as land outside the city. Also, his widow Lievijne is mentioned on a list of about 500 of the wealthiest inhabitants of Gent, who were taxed in 1578.
Entry in a tax register for 'The widow and heirs of Lieven de Cleerck, of their house called St. Nicolaes, and their cellar below the street'
Lievijne came from an intellectual family. Her uncle Eligius van Houcke (1488-1544) had first studied philosophy in Paris, got his degree in 1504 and then started a private school in Ghent, for boys from wealthy families from all over Flanders. Eligius also held close relations with the court of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558). Lievijne’s brother Gielis van Houcke (*1505) was a mathematician; his book ‘Sonderlinghe boeck in dye edel Arithmetica’, published in 1537, was actually the first Dutch book to use the signs + and -.
The youngest of the seven children of Lieven and Lievyne was Jacques de Cleercq.
