Maurice de Parmelee

Citations

1. [S1267] The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume XVII: page 241 - Maurice
   … His family had its origin in a noble Belgian house; Maurice D. Parmelee was a prominent reformer of the sixteenth century, who about the year 1567 fled to Holland to escape the persecutions of the Duke of Alva, his estates having been confiscated . There he founded the house of Von Parmelee, his third son Johannes becoming the Baron of Batavia. About the year 1639 a band of Christians left Guilford, Eng., and crossing the ocean entered the harbor of Fairhaven, Conn., their ship being the first to enter that harbor. This band of people in September, 1639, purchased from the Indians what is now the central part of Guilford and there settled. On the journey over they entered into a covenant (which is now preserved in the Massachusetts Historical Society, at Worcester), and among the twenty-five who signed it was John Parmelie (son of Johannes, who was the third son of Maurice, above referred to). The spelling of the name was changed to Parmly, [Note: The change is likely to have come from the way John signed his will in 1659. – KLM] by some branches of the family. From John Parelie and his wife Hannah the line descends through their son John:… John:….
2. [S506] Note: Query Posted on GenForum by Claire Pimentel 11 April 2011 - Greetings! I'm a direct descendant of (Baron) Maurice de Parmele(e), and I am building my family tree. However I have no more information prior to him, of his ancestors, and can't go any further. Does anyone have information regarding this man? He is my 12th great-grandfather. He was born about 1537 in Belgium; lived in an area called Parmelie in Liege, Belgium; and died in 1570 in Holland/Netherlands. Apparently he might have been a French Protestant or Hugenot, was involved as a leader and reformist in rebellion against the Catholic Church, and was a supporter of WIlliam of Orange. (Baron) Maurice de Parmele(e) was then driven out by the Duke of Alva and fled to the Netherlands, where he passed in 1570.
   His son, John Parmelee, also known as Johannes Van Parmelee, was born in Gex, France (about 1550) and became Baron of Batavia, who looks like might have emigrated to Sussex,or Surrey, England. From there his son also named John Parmelee (would be Maurice de Parmelee's grandson), was born in Sussex England (about 1584) and emigrated to America in 1639, a few years after his own son also named John Parmelee (born about 1612, would be Maurice de Parmelee's great-grandson) emigrated (on 1635). That's where my American line comes from, then a few generations later we find it in the Philippines.
   Needless to say, we have an army of John Parmelees in our family, and I've traced it to my direct line, but again my trouble is not having the lineage prior to (Baron) Maurice de Parmele(e). The only clues of ancestors I have found was a thread in genealogy.com, as follows below:
   "As far back as 1080, the forefathers of the Parmley family were in the part of the world that is now called Belgium. The family of Parmalee originated in Belgium from a noble Belgian House named Parmelie from the province of Parmelie which is located about nine miles south of Liege. The names were de Parmele and von Parmele, using both the French and Flemish use of the name. The surname itself was not used until 1467, beginning with Francis de Parmele. The family is traced back to 836 A.D. through the Counts de Joigny, de Joinville and de Sens. At the time that Belgium was under control of Spain, Maurice de Parmele was a leader in the rebellion against the Catholic Church. His acts came to the attention of the Emperor of Spain who instructed the Duke of Alva to take care of the matter. The Duke ordered de Parmele to renounce his Protestant doctrines or prepare for trial under charges of seditious blasphemy, in openly condemning the Catholic faith."
   Please advise if anyone has info?
   Thank you!
   Claire Pimentel
   
   
   
   
   
   [Note: Have written & are hoping to receive her sources. - klm].
3. [S1269] Great Books, Volume I:
   History of the Duke of Alva
   IT was determined that the Netherland heresy should be conquered by force of arms, and an army of 10,000 picked and veteran troops was dispatched from Spain under the Duke of Alva. The Duchess Margaret made no secret of her indignation at being superseded when Alva produced his commission appointing him captain-general and begging the duchess to co-operate with him in ordering all the cities of the Netherlands to receive the garrisons which he would send them.
   In September 1567 the Duke of Alva established a new court for the trial of crimes committed 'during the recent period of troubles.' It was called the 'Council of Troubles,' but will be for ever known in history as the 'Blood Council.' It superseded all other institutions.
   So well did this new and terrible engine perform its work that in less than three months 1,800 of the highest, the noblest and the most virtuous men in the land, including Count Egmont and Admiral Horn, suffered death. Further than that, the whole country became a charnel-house; columns and stakes in every street, the doorposts of private houses, the fences in the fields were laden with human carcasses, strangled, burnt, beheaded. Within a few months after the arrival of Alva the spirit of the nation seemed hopelessly broken.
   The Duchess of Parma, who had demanded her release from the odious position of a cipher in a land where she had so lately been sovereign, at last obtained it and took her departure in December for Parma, thus finally closing her eventful career in the Netherlands. The Duke of Alva took up his position as governor-general, and amongst his first works was the erection of the celebrated citadel of Antwerp, not to protect, but to control the commercial capital of the provinces.
   Events marched swiftly. On February 16, 1568, a sentence of the Inquisition condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. From this universal doom only a few persons, especially named, were excepted; and a proclamation of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the Inquisition and ordered it to be carried into instant execution, without regard to age, sex or condition.
   This is probably the most concise death warrant ever framed. Three millions of people, men, women and children, were sentenced to the scaffold.
   THE Prince of Orange at last threw down the gauntlet and published a reply to the active condemnation which had been pronounced against him in default of appearance before the Blood Council. It would, he said, be both death and degradation to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the infamous 'Council of Blood,' and he scorned to plead before he knew not what base knaves, not fit to be the valets of his companions and himself.
   Preparations were at once made to levy troops and wage war against Philip's forces in the Netherlands. Then followed the long, ghastly struggle between the armies raised by the Prince of Orange and his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, who lost his life mysteriously at the battle of Mons, and those of Alva and the other governors-general who succeeded him--Don Louis de Requesens, the 'Grand Commander,' Don John of Austria, the hero of Lepanto, and Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.
   The records of butcheries and martyrdoms, including those during the sack and burning of Antwerp by the mutinous Spanish soldiery, are only relieved by the heroic exploits of the patriotic armies and burghers in the memorable defences of Haarlem, Leyden, Alkmaar and Mons.
   At one time it seemed that the Prince of Orange and his forces were about to secure a complete triumph; but the news of the massacre of St. Bartholomew in Paris brought depression to the patriotic army and corresponding spirit to the Spanish armies, and the gleam faded. The most extraordinary feature of Alva's civil administration were fiscal decrees, which imposed taxes that destroyed the trade and manufactures of the country.
   There were endless negotiations inspired by the States-General, the German Emperor and the Governments of France and England to secure a settlement of the Netherlands affairs, but these, owing to insincere diplomacy, were ineffective.