On April 15, 1281, the Count of Flanders, Gwijde van Dampierre, granted manorial rights to Nikolaas van Kets, making him Lord of Zwijndrecht. The seat of the Lords of Zwijndrecht was a manor house called the Kraaienhof (the ruins of which were demolished in the mid-20th century), which was located in what is now the village of Burcht. The van Kets held the manorial rights until 1445, when Wouter van Kets sold them to Jan Vilain. They passed by inheritance to the van Montmorency family. Due to financial pressures, the heir Filips II de Montmorency, Count of Horne (1524-1568) was forced to sell the title, property and rights to a conglomeration of four cities, Brugge, Gent, Ieper and the Brugse Vrije, known as the “Vier Leden” (four members). After rebelling against Spanish rule during the Eighty Years War, the Vier Leden were forced to forfeit the property to the Spanish crown in 1585, but it was later returned to them. The dikes and infrastructure were so badly damaged and neglected during the Eighty Years War, that the Vier Leden were forced to loan money for repairs and restoration from Jan van Hove. When the Vier Leden defaulted on the loan, the property, rights and title defaulted to Jan van Hove, making him the new Lord of Zwijndrecht-Burcht. Van Hove held the property until 1621, when the Staten van Vlaanderen (formerly the Vier Leden) was able to pay its debts and reacquire it. After regaining the property, the Staten van Vlaanderen promptly auctioned it off to the highest bidder, an Italian businessman named Jacomo Antonio Carenna, who then became Lord of Zwijndrecht and Burcht. In 1666, he divided the property between his two sons, Jan Francisco Carenna (Zwijndrecht) and Ignacius Carenna (Burcht). Burcht and Zwijndrecht became separate villages and remained so until they were reunited as the municipality of Zwijndrecht in 1977.