Van Tuyl

Van Tuyl is the surname of the Dutch family from which many North American Van Tuyls, Van Tuyles, Van Tyls and Van Tyles are descended. The family name derives from the ancient village of Tuil (Tuÿl), in the central Netherlands. The family's earliest proven ancestor is the 14th-century knight Heer Ghijsbrecht van Tuyl of Gelre. This family is distinct from the Van Tuyll van Serooskerken family.

Fourteenth century records document seven Van Tuyls—all vassals of the Duke of Gelre—living in manor houses near the River Linge and River Waal. Several lived at or near the village of Tuil, several others are associated with the villages of Enspijk, Deil, Tricht, and Est. One of this latter group, Heer Ghijsbrecht van Tuyl, was a knight in service to Edward, Duke of Gelre. Ghijsbrecht had at least six sons, but the only documented line of descent leading to today's Van Tuyls runs from Ghijsbrecht through his son Arnt, as shown:

As the feudal system started to unwind in the 15th century, the Van Tuyls gradually descended to the ranks of the common people. Sander van Tuyl moved south of the River Waal in mid-century, to the village of Brakel (Gelderland), where he and his descendants operated family farms and assumed positions of civic leadership for four generations. At the end of this period, in 1586, Jan Sandersz van Tuyl married and moved to the village of Gameren, where his nominal descendants today comprise a significant portion of the populace.

Philip II of Spain, the Catholic Emperor, took control of the Low Countries in 1555, just as the Protestant Reformation gained momentum. In the early years of the Eighty Years War, Zaltbommel, the strategic city near Gameren, was twice besieged by the Spanish. During this period of military and religious strife, the Van Tuyls converted from Catholicism to Calvinist Protestantism, the faith embraced by the House of Orange. In 1600, when Prince Maurits of Orange drove the Spanish from the area, the Van Tuyls and their Gameren neighbors had suffered the ravages of war and occupation for over 25 years.

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