Wein van Cotthem
Brusselian clerk and chaplain

Wein van Cotthem (c. 1390 – July 1457) (alternative spellings: Iwein, Iweijn or Weinken; French: Ywanus de Cotthem) was a Brussels clerk, chaplain and chronicler.
He has been identified as the man who wrote a continuation of the Brabantsche Yeesten in the years 1430-1432. He added two books to the first five by Jan van Boendale, with a total of 12,000 verses. His autograph, now in the Royal Library of Belgium, would provide fodder for many later chroniclers.
The ducal court accounts first mention him in 1402 as a chorister (a jonghen clercken, singers op die capelle). He was ordained a priest and from 1429 was given the responsibility of the chapel of Dry Borren in the Sonian Forest, where he said mass four times a week. Nevertheless, he had two daughters: one by a nun in Brussels and another, Hélin, by his maidservant. He lived there in a house built against the keep.
He was a student of Petrus de Thimo and Emond de Dynter.
The public source identifies “Wein van Cotthem” as brusselian clerk and chaplain. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Wein, Cotthem and Brusselian.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Wein van Cotthem”, the useful work is to connect “brusselian clerk and chaplain” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q18225052. VIAF identifies the subject as 289808723. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1390, 1457, 1430 and 1432.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wein van Cotthem”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wein van Cotthem primary sources, Wein van Cotthem archive and Wein research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wein van Cotthem”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wein van Cotthem” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.