The Castle and the Stoutenburg Family

Almost every summer we get some visitors from Canada or the United States with 'Stoutenburg' in their familyname. Do they descend from great great grandfather of the castle of Stoutenburg? We were doubtfull and upon inquiry Lanaii Kline sent us the following information.

The Manor House "Stoutenburg" from 1888

As far as the Stoutenburg castle is concerned, there is a lot of misinformation floating around in the family. The "castle" that currently exists in Stoutenburg, Utrecht Province, Netherlands is not really a castle. It is a manor house that was built in 1888 by an Italian family. The house was damaged in WWII and abandoned. The order of Franciscan friars acquired the house in 1948 and did some restoration. In 1996 the house was sold to a nature organization but a Franciscan oriented community still runs their ecology project at the site.

The site was the location of a fortified castle built in the 13th century by Wouter van Amersfoort (Walter of Amersfoort) on behalf of the Holy Roman Empire. The property belonged to the Roman Catholic church until the late 1500s when Utrecht Province became a part of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, a protestant country. It was at this time that Johan van Oldenbarneveldt purchased the property and the title, Lord of Stoutenburg. He transferred the property to his son, Willem van Oldenbarneveldt who was then known as the Lord of Stoutenburg. The castle was built to house soldiers and not meant as an abode. When van Oldenbarneveldt purchase the property on which the castle stood, the castle was not fit as a residence. I doubt that anyone lived in the castle and that is why it decayed and was replaced with the manor house in 1888.

Johan van Oldenbarneveldt's son Willem had no children so there seems to be no connection with our family and the castle.

Lanaii Kline

Guy Dilweg; 21th March 2001; revised April 14th 2008.