Lodewijk Steen

Lodewijk Steen (1386 in Wikistad - 7 October, 1456 in Grijzestad) was a Libertan-Brunanter Founding Father, merchant and soldier. Steen became famous as the "founder of Nieuw Helmond", together with Dutch merchant Pieter de Jong, in the 1450s.

Biography
Lodewijk Steen was a Libertan merchant but moved quickly to the Netherlands where he worked in the capital Amsterdam. Before going to Brunant, Steen met Maurits Verburcht in the Netherlands so they became friends and partners. Lodewijk Steen worked as merchant and moved to some German cities in the 1410s. Circa 1425 he came to Brunant for seeking luxury with the Venetians. Other Founding Fathers called him a traitor but when the War of Independence began, Steen had chosen de Brunanter side. At the Convention of Grijzestad in 1427, he signed the Declaration of Independence of Brunant from the Venetians.

Lodewijk Steen married Maria van Ghent who came to Grijzestad in 1425. They had one son; Marten (1428), who was named after Marten Sneijder, and one daughter; Alexandra (1430), who was not named after a person.

After signing the Declaration of Independence at the Convention of Grijzestad, Steen became an important role in the history of Grijzestad; he was Mayor of Grijzestad between1425 and 1434 so he became second Mayor of the city, after Founding Father Laurens van der Holdt. Steen was a christian so as Mayor he built up more than ten churches in the whole city. After 1434 he became tax collector in the area around the city but stopped with the work. In the 1430s and 1440s, Lodewijk Steen was a liberal and "free" person. Because he refused paying taxes in 1441, Steen was arrested and was put into jail; into the Zwartstoren which he built as Mayor between 1429 and 1434. When he was free from prison eight days later, Steen went to Libertas for one last time. The last time he was in his native country was when in 1399; at the age of thirteen. Probably he had an unknown child with an unknown woman. The same year he moved back to Brunant.

In the 1450s when Steen became very old, he founded a resting place where he built op some farms and later a church. The place's name became "Nieuw Libertas", named after his native country Libertas, but the other founders and settlers of the region, who where from Dutch origin, wanted a name with a Dutch place name. So it became "Nieuw Helmond".

Trivia

 * "Steen" is the English word meaning "stone".
 * Lodewijk Steen was the only Libertan Founding Father and also the only Founding Father coming from a current IWO-nation.
 * There is a street in Nieuw Helmond called the "Steenstraat".