Van Polanen Family


The Van Polanen family are a noble family that played an important role in the Netherlands during the Middle Ages. By inheriting the vast properties of the Polanen family, the House of Nassau in 1403 became a landowner in the Netherlands for the first time.

History

The van Polanen family were a side branch of the van Wassenaer family which owned Kasteel Duivenvoorde since 1226. The branch took its name from Kasteel Polanen, a castle situated in Monster which was destroyed in 1351 and finally demolished in 1394.
Philips III van Duivenvoorde received the fief of Polanen in 1295. Willem van Duvenvoorde purchased Oosterhout in 1324, together with vast properties around Breda and Bergen op Zoom, among them De Lek and Schoonenburg Castle. The ruins of Kasteel Strijen, his possible residence, are still preserved in Oosterhout. Philips' son Jan I van Polanen, received the fief of Breda in 1339, together with his son John II who built a new castle there.
All of these properties were inherited by Johanna van Polanen who married Engelbert I of Nassau. Through this marriage the House of Nassau first gained territories in the Netherlands. Much later this fact, among others, led to the House of Orange-Nassau's rise to the ruling dynasty of the country.

Family Tree