# Leyniers family

The Leyniers family (/lɛnɪjɛ/) is a bourgeois family that appeared in Brussels in the 15th century and produced many high-level tapestry makers and dyers, experts in the art of dyeing in subtle shades the woolen threads destined for this trade.
Many members of this family also participated in the management of the city of Brussels and were part of the magistracy either in the Guilds or in the Seven Noble Houses.

## History

The members of the Leyniers family exercised their art of tapestry making until the last quarter of the eighteenth century and many museums in Europe and the rest of the world have tapestries from their workshops in their collections.
Several members were part of the Drapery Court of Brussels.
Daniel Leyniers was the last of this family to have exercised in this industry but despite all his efforts he was forced during the winter of 1767-1768 to definitively close his workshops. He then devoted himself to the manufacture of lace.
The Leyniers family who participated with honor in the Resistance paid a heavy tribute to the defense of the fatherland during the Second World War and was decimated by the German occupation, murdered in the concentration camps or by firing squads.

## Members

* Antoine Leyniers, tapestrymaker, was the nephew by marriage of Bernard van Orley, he had married Josine, the daughter of his half-brother Gommaire. His mark is a monogram consisting of the letters A and L. We find this mark on "The History of Romulus" which adorns the large hall of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels.
* Charles-Marie-Joseph Leyniers (1756-1822) wine merchant, living on St. Catherine Street, is one of the volunteers who joined the five Serments of the city in 1787, who, following Henri van der Noot, armed themselves against the Imperials during the Brabant Revolution : he was a volunteer of the Fencers, aggregated with the Serment of Saint-Michel. He was a Freemason, a member of the Lodge of True Friends of the Union, in Brussels, he married in the collegiate church Saints-Michel-et-Gudule on 6 November 1780, Marie-Elisabeth van Dievoet (1752-1828).
* Daniel Leyniers, admitted in 1769 to the Caudenbergh lineage of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels.
* Daniel Alphonse Charles Raymond Leyniers, born in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean on 15 March 1881, died in Brussels on 26 February 1957, Belgian politician, member of the Catholic Party, minister and bibliophile. He was owner of Fanson Castle in Xhoris, Ferrières, Liège Province. He had married one of the daughters of Minister Devolder, vice-governor of the Societe Generale de Belgique.
* Pierre Joseph Célestin François (1759-1851), painter, husband of Marie-Françoise Leyniers.
* Marc Leyniers, engineer at Sofina then printer in Brussels, born on 25 April 1887, resistant, died in deportation for the Fatherland in Lübeck (Germany). He is the direct descendant of the painter Seger Jacobus van Helmont whose daughter Anne Catherine Jeanne van Helmont had married Henri Francois Joseph Leyniers. And his two sons:
* Evrard Jacques Adolphe Leyniers, born on 11 June 1905 in Forest, resistant, died at the Bergen-Belsen camp, died for Belgium.
* Jean Auguste Daniel Leyniers, born on 21 June 1909, resistant, shot by the Germans in the Tir national of Brussels, died for Belgium on 17 February 1944.

## Heraldry

Coat of arms of the Leyniers family :
* NotesThese arms are those of the Leyniers branch that was ennobled by King Leopold II on 20 December 1906 and were modified from the original family arms that were used as early as 1713.
* Adopted1906
* CrestThe same goat issant.
* TorseArgent and azure.
* HelmArgent, grilled, collared and edged or, doubled and stringed gules.
* EscutcheonAzure, a goat rampant argent atop a rock proper.
* MottoDEO ET ARTE (Latin for God and Art)
* Other elementsLambrequins argent and azure
* Previous versions

## Allied families

* de Bay
* vanden Cautere
* Delsarte
* De Maeyere
* Devolder
* van Dievoet
* François
* van Helmont
* L'Olivier
* de Maeyere
* van der Meulen
* van Orley
* van Overloop
* Platteborse
* van Schoonendonck
* Tharin
* t'Kindt