The Flemish Willem Van der Hagen, who settled in the Azores in the second half of the 15th century, where he renamed as Guilherme da Silveira, is the patron of the Vila do Topo Basic Education School on São Jorge Island.
The decision is part of an order of the Regional Secretary for Education and Training, published in the Official Journal today, being approved by the Assembly of the Vila da Topo Basic Education School, by the Calheta Town Hall and by the Regional Directorate for Education and Training.
In this order, Lina Mendes recognizes that the patron in question is “a personality alluding to the History of the Azores, particularly to that of Vila do Topo, which indubitably meets the requirement” as by the no.1 of the Article 16 of the Legal Scheme of Creation, Autonomy and Management of Schools of the Education System, amended and republished by the Regional Legislative Decree no.35/2006/A of September 6.
A native of Flanders, where he was born around 1435, Willem Van der Hagen headed first to the Azores about 1469 at the invitation of the 1st Captain-major of Faial, Josse de Hurtere, bringing in two leased carracks his funds. He was also accompanied also by his family as well as by many working people, “of all trades”. Dissensions between the two Flemish nobles, perhaps arising from the distribution of land, led him to change Terceira for Faial, where he lived some years in Quatro Ribeiras, until he made an attempt to colonise the island of Flores.
With the people brought from Quatro Ribeiras, he settled then on Flores, in Ribeira da Cruz, where he lived from seven to 10 years in “well carved buildings and houses” which were hewn in tuff rock. According to the Azorean chroniclers, Gaspar Frutuoso and Diogo das Chagas, the wheat and woad plantations of Willem Van der Hagen did not succeed on Flores, because the land “was shallow and unsubstantial” and the island was very isolated.
Being unhappy, he returned to Terceira Island, moving then to São Jorge, the last stage of his eventful life in the Azores, where he finally manages to own “plenty of land, where he grown wheat and woad, and cattle, which covered the area of Topo. “When he died on Saint Thomas’ Day (December 21), circa 1510, he owned so many farms that he had to pay an annual tithe “of fifty and sometimes sixty “moios” of wheat.
The descendants of the Azorean families surnamed Silveira usually descend from Willem Van der Hagen, who married Margarida of Zabuya. The same surname, with a different origin, may be also found on Graciosa Island.