page_title: Vilain XIIII
section_title: Vilain XIIII (the Aalst branch)
hierarchical_section_title: Vilain XIIII / Vilain XIIII (the Aalst branch)
context_page_description: Vilain and Vilain XIIII is a Belgian noble family. Their coat of arms is basically "sable, au chef d'argent", a colour scheme that is present from the earliest Vilains in the 15th century, and is also seen in the Vilain XIIII arms, which have the "XIIII" added to it.
  They were descendants of the important medieval family of Vilain in Ghent; the name "Vilain XIIII" probably comes from the coat of arms of Philippe de Liedekercke, chamberlain of emperor Charles V, who had 16 quarters in his coat, the fourteenth of which was the coat of Vilain.
  The three main branches of the family were the Princes of Issenghien, the Counts of Aalst, and the Counts of Guines.
  One branch lived at the Chateau of Leuth from 1822 until 1922, when the last of 7 daughters of Viscount Charles Vilain XIIII died. The oldest mentions of "Villain XIIII" date back to the 16th century, but its origin is unknown. Politically, they were usually part of either the Catholic parties, or the Liberal parties. The first known generations were politicians in Geraardsbergen and Aalst; the family also owned the county of Wetteren until 1796, and the city coat of arms still bears the XIIII of the family.
context_section_description: Henri Vilain XIIII, Mayor of Aalst, died 21 December 1607, married Barbe Vander Sare
  Jean Vilain XIIII, Lord of Dumple, Lieutenant-Grand-Bailiff of the Land of Aalst; Married Ester della Faille
  Jean-François Vilain XIIII, lord of Dumple (or Dumpel), mayor of Aalst; married Catherine Houtman
  François-Ignace Vilain XIII (died 1740), Lord of Welle and Idderghem, receiver-general of the land of Aalst; married Barbe de Berlaere (1674-1704; daughter Anne-Pétronille Vilain de Welle, married François-Romain van 'tSestich, Lord of Ophem and Winksel, mayor of Mechelen) and then Isabelle-Josèphe Vandermeere
  Charles-Ignace (or Charles-François Joseph, )Vilain XIIII, eldest son of François-Ignace and Isabelle-Josèphe; Lord of Welle, Receiver-general of the Land of Aalst; married Isabelle du Bois (died 1753), daughter of Josse du Bois, Lord of Schoondorp
  Isabelle Marie Josèphe Vilain XIIII, married Charles Raymond Baillet, Baron of Geves and Viscount of Merlemont, in 1762; died in or shortly before 1832, when there is a sale of books from the heritage of the widow Countess de Baillet.
  Françoise Jeanne Josèphe Vilain XIIII, married Count Jean Baptiste Cyprien de Lauretan, of Bavikhove
  Marie Vilain XIIII, married Baron Dons, Lord of Lovendegem
  Viscount Jean-Jacques-Philippe Vilain XIIII (1 May 1712 – 15 August 1777); Born in Aalst as second son of François-Ignace; received his MA in Civil and Canonical Law from Leuven in 1733. Married Constance de Lunden d'Anvers (died 1748). Mayor of Aalst (city and Land of Aalst) until 1751, when he moved to Ghent; second marriage with Marie Dubois de Schoondorp; Premier echevin (first schepen, in those days equivalent to Mayor) of the Keure of Gand from 1755-1759, and from 1761-1774. First Member of the States of Flanders. In 1774 Grand Bailiff of Ghent and the castellany of Oudburg. In 1771 made a Knight in the Royal and Religious Order of Saint Etienne by the Austrian empress, who also made him a State Councillor. Organised the prison of Ghent in 1771. Died in his castle in Wetteren. Author of Réflexions sur les finances de la Flandre, 1755, of Verhael ende reflexien op de verbreydinge der besmettelyke siekte in het hoorn-vee (1769), and of Memoire sur les moyens de corriger les malfaiseurs et fainéants à leur propre avantage et de les rendre utiles à l'état (1775, reprinted 1841)
  Philippe-Mathieu Vilain XIIII, (3 December 1753 - 20 December 1810), Grand Bailiff of Ghent from 1778 on, son of Jean-Jacques-Philippe. Married in 1777 Anne Thérèse Colette de Ghellink de Poteghem, daughter of Louis Charles de Ghellinck, Lord of Poteghem, Coeyeghem, ... Through the Ghellinck family, he became Count of Rupelmonde
  Count Philippe-Louis Marie Ghislain Vilain XIIII (1778-1856), born in Ghent, married to Baroness Sophie de Felz in 1802; rich industrialist and property owner. He was the mayor of Bazel (from 1800 until 1856),  and mayor of Rupelmonde (between 1812 and 1836), but moved to Paris and became a chamberlain of Napoleon, who made him a Count in 1811. They had their portraits made by Edme Quenedey des Ricets, and Sophie was painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1816. After Belgium became a part of the Netherlands, Philippe-Louis became a chamberlain of King Willem I and a member of the Staten-Generaal and the Second Chamber. From 1828 on, he joined the Belgian opposition of rich Catholics against Willem I and the Dutch rule of Belgium; he was a member of the Nationaal Congres, and became a Senator for Kortrijk (1831-1847) and Sint-Niklaas (1847-1851). Sophie de Felz became a lady-in-waiting to the French empress and later to the first Belgian queen. The family lived at the Wissekerke Castle, in Basel.
  Viscount Charles Ghislain Guillaume Vilain XIIII (5 May 1803 – 1878), minister of State for Belgium, eldest son of Philippe-Louis. Born in Brussels. Studied at the Lyceum of Brussels, the Charlemagne college in Paris, and the Jesuit college in Saint-Acheul. Started studying Law in Liège in 1821, but dropped out of school and married Baroness Pauline de Billehé de Valensart in 1822. They had seven children, all 
caption: Portrait of countess Sophie Vilain XIIII and her daughter, by Jacques-Louis David, 1816
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