Acquoy () is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

. It is a part of the municipality of

West Betuwe West Betuwe is a municipality in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Gelderland. West Betuwe had 51.948 inhabitants on 1 January 2022. The municipality was formed on January 1, 2019, by the merger of the municipalities Geldermalsen, Neerijnen, Li ...

, and lies about east of

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( or ), also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of Oc ...

. According to popular legend a "Jan van Arkel" was the first to have settled the village of Acquoy, when he returned from the crusades in 1133. However, this is highly unlikely, because there were no crusades in the period around 1133. The first

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

was from 1096–99 and the second one was from 1147-49. Some sources report that the Jan van Arkel mentioned was in fact Jan I van Arkel. However, he lived a century later and had the nickname "de Sterke", which means "the strong". In 1305 Acquoy is mentioned as part of the property of the lords of Voorne. In 1364 Catherina van Voornenburgh rented her house together with the stronghold of Acquoy to Otto van Arkel for a period of 10 years and later he bought it. From that moment on, Acquoy, like

Arkel Arkel is a town in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. A part of the municipality of Molenlanden, it lies about 3 km north of Gorinchem. Arkel is a former municipality; in 1986 it became part of Giessenlanden. In 2017, the village o ...

itself and Gellicum, belonged to the Lordship of Arkel. After Acquoy changed hands several times, it was bought by

Floris van Egmond Floris van Egmond (ca. 1470 – 25 October 1539) was count of Buren and Leerdam and Lord of IJsselstein and Sint Maartensdijk. He was stadtholder of Guelders (1507–1511) and Friesland (1515–1518) Floris was the son of Frederik van Egmond ...

, Count of Buren, in 1513. Through the marriage of Willem of Orange with the granddaughter of

, Anna van Egmond in 1551, Acquoy, together with

Leerdam Leerdam () is a city and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. The municipality was merged with the municipalities of Vianen and Zederik on 1 January 2019. The name of the new municipality is Vijfheerenlande ...

, became property of the

House of Orange The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current dynasty, reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the Politics and governm ...

and part of the

County of Holland The County of Holland was a State of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1433 part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic, of which it remained a part ...

. The

shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...

of Acquoy was made a

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

in that time. Acquoy remained property of the House of Orange until 1795, when it became part of

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

, together with

. At this time the title of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

of Acquoy disappeared. However, this did happen without protest of the local population. In 1820 it became part of the province

, because it became part of the municipality of

Beesd Beesd is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is a part of the municipality of West Betuwe, and lies about 16 km west of Tiel. It is situated near the river Linge and has a railway station on the railway from Dordrecht to Gelderma ...

. The shield of the Barony of Acquoy can nowadays still be viewed in the Nieuwe Kerk in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Acquoy is located at the old turn of the river the

Linge The Linge is a river in the Betuwe that is 99.8 km long, which makes it one of the longest rivers that flow entirely within the Netherlands. It starts near the village Doornenburg near the German border. A legend tells us that if there wi ...

, which was diverted, so it nowadays lies at a dead-end U-formed side arm of the river. The village got its typical long stretched form, parallel to the river, because people used to build their houses on, or directly behind, the Linge dike. The name Acquoy is mentioned in scripts dating back to 1311, but there is some uncertainty where the name arises from. Some say that the name is from the Germanic *''agaza'', "magpie," and ''ooi'', "low soggy land." "Ooi" is also found in other names; Wadenoijen, Poederoyen and Ammerzoden (= Ammerzoyen). According to the same theory the name "Rhenoy" is a combination of "Rhenus" (=Rijn,

Rhine river ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sourc ...

) followed again by "ooi". Others point out that "Acquoy" is mentioned in old scripts as Eckoy or Echoy and this would mean that it was the lowland of lord Akko or Ekko. This was supposed to be a Friesian, but this is very uncertain. Acquoy is famous as the birthplace of Cornelius Jansenius (Jansen),

bishop of Ypres The former Roman Catholic Diocese of Ypres, in present-day Belgium, existed from 1559 to 1801. Its seat was Saint Martin's Cathedral in Ypres. In 1969 it was reconstituted as a titular see. History The diocese was originally part of the Diocese ...

(Ieper), whose theological views brought forth the movement called

Jansenism Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...

Gallery

File:Acquoy GM Lingedijk 74.jpg, House in Acquoy File:Acquoy GM Lingedijk 116.jpg, House in Acquoy File:Acquoy aan de Linge.jpg, View from the Linge File:Acquoy. Vanuit het zuiden gezien..jpg, Acquoy from the south

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Gelderland West Betuwe