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De Lek was a '' heerlijkheid'' ( manor) and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province South Holland. It is named after the 
Lek River
The Lek () is a river in the western Netherlands of some in length. It is the continuation of the Nederrijn after the Kromme Rijn branches off at the town of Wijk bij Duurstede. The main westbound waterway is hereafter called the Lek River. The ...
.
Heerlijkheid
According to the 19th-century historian Van der Aa, the old ''Heerlijkheid van de Lek'' covered the villagesLekkerkerk
Lekkerkerk is a town and former municipality on the Lek River, now part of the municipality of Krimpenerwaard, South Holland province, the Netherlands. Since 1 January 1985 Lekkerkerk is no longer an independent municipality.
Lekkerkerk is mos ...
, Krimpen aan de Lek
Krimpen aan de Lek is a town on the Lek River in the municipality of Krimpenerwaard, province of South Holland, the Netherlands. It had 6,607 inhabitants in 2008.
The name ''Krimpen'' comes from the archaic word "''Krempener''", meaning "river ...
, Krimpen aan den IJssel, Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, Berkenwoude and Stormpolder, and possibly Nieuw-Lekkerland. This was a large area east of Rotterdam.
The first Lord of the Lek is reported to be a younger brother of Diederik II of Brederode. After his death around 1063, the ''heerlijkheid'' became first a property of the lords of Teilingen, and then of the lords of Polanen. When Engelbert I of Nassau
Engelbert I of Nassau (, in Dillenburg3 May 1442, in Breda) was a son of Count John I of Nassau-Siegen and Countess Margaret of the Mark, daughter of Count Adolph II of the Marck.
Early years
Engelbert of Nassau was a student in Cologne, Ge ...
married Johanna van Polanen van der Lekke in 1404, the possession went to the house of Nassau
The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the lordship associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The lords of Nassau were originally titled "Count ...
. After the death of Prince Maurice of Nassau
Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince o ...
, De Lek was inherited by his illegitimate son William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, who called himself Nassau-LaLecq after De Lek. After his death it went to his younger brother, Louis of Nassau, Lord of De Lek and Beverweerd. The last descendant of this family was Jan Floris van Nassau-Lalecq, who died in 1824.
Municipality
Around 1800, the manorial system in the Netherlands was abolished. The villages in the ''heerlijkheid'' De Lek became independent municipalities, but small part of the ''heerlijkheid'' was excluded and remained a separate municipality, "De Lek". It was only a municipality in name, having no mayor or other municipal services. The municipality covered the river Lek between Ammerstol and Krimpen aan den IJssel, and some islands and surrounding lands. Its area was 5.99 km2, of which 1.24 km2 was land, and it contained several small fisherman's huts and boathouses, but it had no inhabitants. In 1847, the territory of De Lek was divided among the surrounding municipalities.Links
* Heerlijkheid van de Lek(Dutch Wikipedia)References