Rensselaerwyck
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Manor of Rensselaerswyck Rensselaerswijck |
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| Patroonship, Manor | ||
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 Map of Rensselaerswyck, c. 1632 |
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 Manor of Rensselaerswyck
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| Coordinates: 42°41′36.74″N 73°42′28.66″W / 42.6935389°N 73.7079611°WCoordinates: 42°41′36.74″N 73°42′28.66″W / 42.6935389°N 73.7079611°W | ||
| Country | Netherlands | |
| Colony | New Netherland | |
| Rensselaerswyck | 1630 | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Feudal patroonship, Proprietary colony | |
| Population (1839) | ||
| • Total | About 3,000 | |
The Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Manor Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply Rensselaerswyck (Dutch: Rensselaerswijck Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrɛnsəlaːrsˌʋɛik]), is the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a Dutch patroonship and later an English manor—owned by the van Rensselaer family that was located in what is now mainly the Capital District of New York in the United States.
The estate was originally deeded by the Dutch West India Company in 1630 to Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a Dutch merchant and one of the company's original directors. Rensselaerswyck extended for miles on each side of the Hudson River near present-day Albany. It included most of what are now the present New York counties of Albany and Rensselaer, as well as parts of Columbia and Greene counties.
Under the terms of the patroonship, the patroon had nearly total jurisdictional authority, establishing civil and criminal law, villages, a church (in part to record vital records, which were not done by the state until the late 19th century). Tenant farmers were allowed to work on the land, but had to pay rent to the owners, and had no rights to property. In addition, the Rensselaers harvested timber from the property.
The patroonship was maintained intact by Rensselaer descendants for more than two centuries. It was split up after the death of its last patroon, Stephen van Rensselaer III in 1839. At his death, van Rensselaer's land holdings made him the tenth-richest American in history to date. The manor was split between Stephen III's sons, Stephen IV and William. Tenant farmers began protesting the feudal system and their anti-rent movement was eventually successful. Stephen IV and William sold off most of their land, ending the patroonship in the 1840s. For length of operations, it was the most successful patroonship established under the West India Company system.
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