- Opsigter en byvoegings - Simon Jansen
Lijsbeth Sandersz van de Kaap SM PROG
28 April 1678 - 30 April 1678
Lijsbeth breaks into Louis van Bengale's house
Lijsbeth Sanders confessed that she had broken into his house and stolen a gold ring and 3 silver buttons for which she was ceded to Louis in compensation for his loss and her accomplices - two sailors - were banished to Robben Island.
Den slavin van den baes timmerman Adriaen van Brackel, in hegtenis sittende over gepleegde dieverijen en gesustendeerde huijs-braack ten huijse van den borger Louwijs van Bengale,Sien konfessie van 30 April 1678 van genoemde slavin in C. J.2954: Confess. & Interrog, 1677-1685, p. 90. is goet gevonden gem. slavinne den eijgenaer weder te laten toekomen, mits dat hij alvorens gehouden sal sijn met gemelte Louwijs van Bengaale over de gestoolen goederen te accordeeren en deselve te contenteeren.
Sittende insgelijcx noch in hegtenis twee matroosen alhier in guarnisoen bescheijden gent. Bartel Koop en Bastiaen Hendricx de welcqe van de bovengemelte slavin worden beschuldigt dat sij eenige gestoolen contanten van haer souden hebben genooten, 't welcq nochtans bij haer wort ontkent, Soo is mede goet gevonden de gemelte 2 persoonen voor eenigen tijt op 't Robbeneijlandt aen d' gemeene wercken te laten arbeijden, mits behoudenis van gagie.
In July 1678 Louis also acquired a female slave, the 18 year old Lijsbeth van de Kaap. She had belonged to a neighbour, the Company's master carpenter Adriaen van Brakel, who had bought her in 1671 from one Mathijs Coemans for /1 60 (53 rix dollars).98 Louis acquired her in a most unusual manner. In April 1678 she broke into his house in Bergstraat, opened a wooden cupboard in his room and stole a gold ring, three pairs of silver buttons and some money. When apprehended, she at first denied the theft, saying she had traded the items from a 'Hottento' named Corhaeij, but two days later she confessed (apparently under torture) and, presumably after receiving some form of corporal punishment, she was returned to her owner.99 The Council of Policy determined that Van Brakel should compensate Louis for the losses caused by his slave. When he failed to do so, Louis again approached the Council, which ordered that Lijsbeth be sold to raise the money.100 Instead, it seems, Van Brakel gave her directly to Louis.101 In this way Gerrit Coetzee's maternal grandmother became the slave and concubine of his grandfather, Louis of Bengal.
On 6 October 1680 the first child born to Lijsbeth and Louis was baptised in the church in Cape Town.Sodomy, Race and Respectability in Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, 1689 —1762.
Louis van Bengale frees Lijsbeth & her two children. Emancipated Lijsbeth Sanders“mijn meijt genaemt Lijsbeth van Cabo”; & his children: Elizabeth Louisz and Anna Louisz.J.L. (Leon) Hattingh, "Die Blanke nageslag."
In July 1683, the year that Louis and his family moved to Stellenbosch, Louis signed a document in which he set Lijsbeth and her two children free. 'lek Louis van bengale bekenne vrijgegeven te hebben mijn meijtgenaamt lijsbeth van Cabo' he declared, '... en meede vrijgeefi haer twee kinderen...'105 This document was tested in court six years later, and found wanting, but there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of Louis' intention at the time. Sodomy, Race and Respectability in Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, 1689 —1762.
Engagement of Louis van Bengale and Lijsbeth van deKaap. In March 1687 the couple made a trouw belofte (got engaged) before the College of Landdrost and Heemraden in Stellenbosch.
15 Maart 1688
Lijsbeth runs off with William Teerling. Sues Lijsbeth for being "absent"& demands that she must marry him. She protests his abuse. Later that year she runs off with William Teerling, who had worked with Louis. Louis sues them & demands that the court reinstate her in slavery, demanding custody of the youngest child & release from the promise to marry her which he says he had failed to do because she wasn't a Christian) The court says that he can get the child once he has paid Lijsbeth the full "kostegeld".
Exactly one year later, however, Louis appeared before the College again, this time to sue Lijsbeth for desertion and to demand that she marry him. Lijsbeth countered that her promise to marry Louis had been conditional upon an improvement in his behaviour towards her. The Landdrost had warned him, she reminded the court, that he should no longer treat her so tyrannically, 'met smijten, slaan en dreijgementen van dooden ... (with shoving, hitting and threatening to kill her ...)', but since that time things had got worse, not better, and she no longer wished to marry him, nor would she live with him.107 Lijsbeth was adamant, and she resisted all attempts of the assembled Heemraden to reconcile the couple. Finally she and Louis agreed to part: 'Lijsbeth could go where she would, but she should neither marry another nor live with him ... as long as Louis remained unmarried.' Louis got custody of the two children 'bij dito Lijsbeth in onecht geprockeert (procreated out of wedlock with the said Lijsbeth)', but the youngest child (Maria Louisz) was permitted to remain one more year with her mother, provided that Louis paid maintenance.
1689
Louis takes on & dismisses knegt Willem Teerlin. Louis had taken on a knegt named Willem Teerling (or Tarling), a 55 year-old Englishman who had been 16 years in the Company's service and now worked as a shepherd among the freeburghers.110 Louis now alleged that, while in his house, Teerling had seduced and 'debauched' Lijsbeth and won her away from him. Being unable to prove this, he said, he was obliged to dismiss Teerling, whereupon Lijsbeth left him too.
