Comments: The following is from Roel Struyve.
Jan was "Buitenpoorter of Kortrijk at Sint-Eloois-Vijve" from before 1530 until his death in 1557. His widow Elisabeth DeClercq succeeded his "buitenpoorterschap" in 1558.
BUITENPOORTERSCHAP: this is when, for an annual fee, you bought yourself a "citizenship" of a city although you didn't live in that city. (In this case the city being Kortrijk, and Jan living in Sint-Eloois-Vijve) Among the advantages of such citizenship was that all questions of inheritances (children were considered orphans when one of their parents died) were dealt with by the administration of Kortrijk, who were better educated and more experienced, instead of the local administration and another big advantage was that they were not subject to the rule of "het beste hoofd". In feudal times the whole country was divided into thousands of big and small pieces (heerlijkheden) which were almost like miniature states in which a "Lord" (heer) was the main authority. One of the rights of the lord was in case of death of one of his "subjects" to claim the best piece of the inheritance ("beste hoofd") being whatever it was: a horse, a cow, etc... So as soon as a familyman became wealthy enough to own something ( a house, a farm, cattle..) he would also want to become "poorter" in order to preserve his wealth for his offspring.
For genealogists this means that if you want to trace your ancestors before 1600 (when the priests started recording individual data concerning baptism, marriage and funeral) they had to be wealthy enough to become "poorter" so they were registered as such (with registers in some cases dating back to the 14th century) and if they owned something and they happened to die while any of the children were still minors the "state of possessions" was recorded to arrange the inheritance. In these 'Staat van Goed" we find information on the possessions themselves, but on the descendants of the person deceased.
So, getting back to our ancestors, there is a "Staat van Goed" made after the death of Cathelyne Van Braeye. There were still 5 children under age (people were considered adults at 25) (and two already married). Each child owned the right to 1/7 of farmhouses in Sint-Eloois-Vijve, Sint-Baafs-Vijve and Zulte and also to some shattered pieces of land.
From the data we can conclude that our oldest known ancestors were quite wealthy people. They didn't only own a house they owned a couple of them (! ) and some grounds in the region around Sint-Eloois-Vijve .
Spouse: Cathelijne VanBraeye (Married 1510)
Children: (unknown) VanderSchaeve, (unknown) VanderSchaeve, Jan VanderSchaeve, Lieven VanderSchaeve, Lievijne VanderSchaeve, Jacquemijne VanderSchaeve, Beatrijs VanderSchaeve
Spouse: Elisabeth DeClercq (Married 1540)
Children:
Jan's Heritage
Parents: Wouter VanderSchaeve, (unknown) (unknown)
Siblings: Lieven VanderSchaeve