Kranenburgia

The Kranenburg Clan is quite large. Globally speaking in 2012 there must be about 4000 people living with the name Kranenburg or varying spellings, such as Cranenburg, Cranenburgh, Kranenburgh, Cranenborg, Kranenborg, Kranenbarg, Kranenberg, Cranby, Cranbury, Cranborough, Cranenbourg, Cranenbourgh, etc. Most of them live in Holland and more specifically in the province of South Holland, where they in fact originate from.

It all started on Bevere Manor near Worcester in England, where Arnulf de Bevere was born in 905 AD. About 939 he migrated to Flanders, where he became Viscount of Diksmuide. The lineage than goes roughly along the following male line: De Bevere > Van Beveren > Van Leiden > Van Wassenaar > Van Cranenburch Bleyswyck. In 1106 Viscount Halewijn II van Leiden built Castle Cranenburg at Bleiswijk, a village 4 Km North East of Rotterdam. In the 13th century this castle came into hands of the noble family Van Wassenaar. They lived there for about two centuries. After them, the castle was sold and resold to different families. Finally, in 1570, the castle was destroyed in the early years of the Eighty Years War of Independence against Spain.

The Van Wassenaars, living at Cranenburg Castle in Bleiswijk, called themselves Van Wassenaar tot Cranenburg. The first to do so was Bartholomeus II Van Wassenaar (born 1225). He is granted the castle in 1276 by his father Dirc I van Wassenaar. Later the offspring of Bartholomeus II and their descendents called themself just Van Cranenburg. Gradually, in the following centuries, this name evolved into many spelling forms. Finally merging into the nowadays most frequent forms of Kranenburg, Cranenburg, Cranenburgh etc., as noted here above.

All those Kranenburgs spread throughout this country and abroad during past six centuries. They kept hardly any record since then, though there were some areas with high concentrations of Kranenburgs~. Such as Rotterdam, The Hague, Nieuwkoop, Leiden, and in the provinces of Gelderland, Groningen and North Brabant. Beltrum, Vorden and Ruurlo are villages in the the eastern part of Gelderland, called the Achterhoek (Back Corner). It is quite certain that the Kranenburgs~ from this area have their roots in Bleiswijk. However, all those different branches of the Kranenburgs~ throughout the world were hardly to distinguish.

The Kranenburgs~ abroad migrated in different periods from Holland. It started with Hugh Craan (Crane), who settled around 1354 in Winchester, England. His real name is Hughe Hughesz van Cranenburg (b 1330), son of Hughe Enghebrechtsz van Cranenburg (b 1288) in Eikenduinen near The Hague. The names Cranenburg~ and Craan~ (Crane~) were often interchanged in early ages. It is quite certain that Hugh's descendants call themselves Cranbury. The Cranenburghs in England are most likely descendants from John Cranenburgh, who got naturalization in 1660 in the United Kingdom. He lived in London where he was a merchant. His father possibly is Willem Jansz Cranenburgh (born 1598) in Warmond near Leiden. Other Cranenburghs later on migrate to India and Australia. Most likely from Holland as servants of the VOC, the Dutch East Indies Company. The Kranenburgs in the USA migrated from Holland during the 19th century. Many of them come from Nieuwkoop in South Holland and from the province of Groningen. The Kranenburgs~ in Canada arrived there mostly in the 20th century. Some of them have their roots in the Achterhoek. The Kranenburgs in England, using the modern spelling, must have migrated from different parts in The Netherlands during the 18th, 19th and 20th century, since the modernization of the spelling of the family name only started on large scale halfway the 18th century.

An estimated 15% of all those bearing the name Kranenburg or alike, might descent from Kranenburg Zwolle, Kranenburg Kleef, Kranenburg Stade or Kranenberg Herne Sodingen. Kranenburg Zwolle used to be a castle in Berkum near Zwolle. This branch is assumed to have its roots in Bleiswijk, but that has to be proven still more convincingly. Kranenburg Horne is a branch descending from Jan van Cranenborch (born 1348), son of Derck of Horne, who was Lord of Kranenburg Kleef. Horne is a village near Roermond in Limburg, The Netherlands. Kranenburg Kleef is a town in Germany, close to Nijmegen. Kranenburg Stade is a hamlet between Bremen and Hamburg in Lower Saxony. Kranenberg Herne Sodingen is a branch from Haus Kranenberg in Herne Sodingen near Essen in Westfalia, first mentioned in 1542. All these family branches are being discribed on page LEXICON.

The name Kranenburg~ appears in many aspects. It is a family name as well as a company name, but also a name for towns, localities, farms or stately homes. In the city of Groningen is located at Peizerweg 160 a very old farmhouse with the name Kranenburg. A few years ago a nearby suburb was named after this farm. Near Zwolle was once the stately home Kranenburg. Today it is the name of the cemetery which is located on the grounds which surrounded this home. In Bleiswijk was long ago the manor Cranenburg, while in Eikenduinen near The Hague a manor existed with the name Cranenburg, build in 1330 by Willem van Cranenburg from Bleiswijk. In Bergen is located the Museum Kranenburgh and near Vorden in Gelderland one finds a neighbourhood named Kranenburg, thanks to a farmhouse there with that name. In Germany, just across the border and close to Nijmegen is the town Kranenburg (region Kleef) which was named after the long gone castle Kranenburg. And to close of this list, in Germany between Bremen and Hamburg (Lower Saxony) is a village named Kranenburg, nestled on the river Oste. Remarkable is that almost all the mentioned locations are abutting peat areas and the name might indicate "the sanctuary (burcht) of the crane birds". Good examples of this are castle Cranenburg at Bleiswijk (1106), castle Kranenburg near Kleef (1227), castle Kranenburg at Zwolle (1300) and borough Kranenburg in Stade (1334).

The oldest spelling forms of the family name are Van Cranenburch and Van Cranenborch. Gradually, in the following centuries, this name evolved into many different spelling forms. That resulted ultimately in the Dutch language area into 1260 variations, including prefixes like Van, Op de, Te, etc. However, most forms are left very rare. Nowadays the most common forms are Kranenburg, Kranenborg, Cranenburg and Cranenburgh. Some families still use the prefix Van, as it was all common in the early centuries.

In july 2003 this website Lexicon was started in order to get some grip on the whole Kranenburg~ story. Gathering all details, trying to find relations between the single items and discribing all these aspects. The results are presented in this website. However, the process is still growing and must be growing. Too many facts are still unknown. Too many questions are still to be answered. This site invites everybody to join and contribute in this effort. Use page FORUM or CONTACT for this sake. The use of English is welcomed.

Kranenburgia provides an assortment of information about people with the name Kranenburg~ from past and present. Also mentioned are names of places, locations and organisations with the name Kranenburg. In addition and where possible information is provided about farms, stately homes and manors with this name. Not only is the spelling Kranenburg included, but also the many variations thereof. Such as Kranenburgh, Cranenburg, Kranenborg, Kranenberg, Kranenbarg, Cranbury, Cranborough, and so on.

All aspects concerning the great Kranenburg~ Clan will get appropriate attention in Kranenburgia. This website is written in Dutch, since Holland is the original homeland of the whole Kranenburg Clan and so does the audience. Some text however, is summarized into English. Each available summary is noted with the symbol && under the Dutch text and can be found on page SUMMARIES under the indicated title. Everyone may communicate in English on page FORUM via CONTACT, since most people of the world master the English language one way or the other.

Kranenburgia is in principle restricted to four categories of items:

• Persons who were born before the introduction of the Naamwet (Family Name Act) of 1811. Genealogical searches of forebears born before 1811 is very difficult due to the lack of reliable sources. With the proclamation of the Family Name Act of 1811 the Burgerlijke Stand (Registry Office) was established. Anyone born in or after 1811 can easily be traced through the Registry Office and the Archives of the municipalities.
• Persons born in or after 1811 whose details are available and are of sufficient significance to be mentioned. In this category are the Kranenburgs~ who are or were well known.
• Important items concerning the history of the Kranenburg Clan and of which there is enough data available to generate on this website. For instance locations, castles, manors, homesteads, farmhouses, houses and other buildings bearing the name Kranenburg~. But other items as well, like wars, plagues, institutions, customs, terms, concepts, rules, great events, etc.
• Interesting relevant items of which there is enough data available that is easy to generate on this website in order to please as many Kranenburgs~ as possible.

This website will be regularly updated. Every contribution will be appreciated.

However, remarks, corrections or additional informations can only be placed on page FORUM via page CONTACT, parts of this website.

Kranenburgia
September 2004
May 2008
July 2012
January 2014