Jeanne van Sevenbergen, born around 1527 of unknown mother, married in 1545 Henri van Heymbeke. The Transylvanus Palace in Brussels Maximilianus Transylvanus had built a sumptuous Italian-style palace in Brussels opposite the Sablon church, which was celebrated in Latin verses by the poet Janus Secundus. His castle near Brussels He acquired in 1537 the Bouchout Castle in Meise, near Brussels. Legends about his origins and paternity Maximilianus Transylvanus' origins and paternity are a matter of dispute among historians. In spite of his surname, Transylvanus is said to have come from Flanders, not Transylvania, and to have been a natural or bastard son of Archbishop Lang von Wellenburg, which is impossible because when he was born in 1490, Mathäus Lang was a poor student in Tübingen, and the father of Transylvanus was then a wealthy goldsmith, living in Brussels. Lang von Wellenberg, born in 1469 to a burgher family, took holy orders much later in life (in 1519). Flemish origins Scholars point to a Flemish provenance due to the fact that: Transylvanus was married to Frances, who was a niece of Christopher de Haro, the Lisbon-based merchant who was a friend of Magellan's as well as his financial backer. She was the daughter of Jacob de Haro, the head of a commercial firm based in Antwerp. Transylvanus had many ties with Brussels. A piece of Latin poetry he wrote in Faria argues that Transylvanus received his surname from the fact that he was a member of one of the many diplomats sent to Transylvania, which was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Transylvanus died in Brussels around 1538. Sigismund von Herberstein (1486-1566), the diplomat, writer, historian mentions him as Maximilian von Sibenpergen , while Konrad Peutinger (1465-1547) the humanists knows him as Maximilian Sybenberger, both clearly referring to his real surname "van Sevenbergen" which may have also derived from the Dutch town of "Zevenbergen" which is also the German name for Transylvania : Siebenbürgen. Both were also contemporaries and probably personal friends of Maximilianus. The legend of a Transylvanian origin In an 1891 letter to Notes and Queries, a scholar (identified only as "L.L.K.") wrote: "I am anxious to trace the origin of the fable about the parentage of this writer. In several books and booksellers' catalogues, he is stated to be the natural son of Matthew Lang, Archbishop of Salzburg, (cf., e.g., The Life of Ferdinand Magellan, by Dr. Guillemard,