Christopher of East Frisia (1569–1636) was an East Frisian nobleman and

knight of the Golden Fleece This article contains a list of knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Knights of the Burgundian Golden Fleece 15th Century !Year of Induction!!Name!!Born!!Died!!Notes , - , rowspan=25, 1430, , Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, , 1396, , ...

who served as governor of the Duchy of Luxembourg in the

Habsburg Netherlands Habsburg Netherlands was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary, wife of Maximilian I of Austr ...

Early life

Born into the ruling

House of Cirksena The House of Cirksena () was the name of the ruling family of Ostfriesland. They descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel. East Frisia In 1439, in the wake of clashes between different lines of chieftains, the town of ...

, Christopher was the third son of

Edzard II, Count of East Frisia Edzard II (24 June 1532 – 1 March 1599) was Count of East Frisia from 1561 to 1599. He was the son of Enno II of East Frisia and Anna of Oldenburg. During his reign, Edzard came into conflict with the city of Emden. Edzard was a staunch ...

, and the Swedish princess

Katarina Vasa , birth_date = 6 June 1539 , death_date = , father = Gustav I of Sweden , mother = Margaret Leijonhufvud , spouse = Edzard II, Count of East Frisia , issue = Countess Margareta Anne, Electress PalatineEnno III, Count of OstfrieslandJohn II ...

Biography

Although raised a Lutheran, he later converted to Catholicism. In 1619 he was awarded the Golden Fleece by

Philip III of Spain Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...

, and acquired the barony of

Willebroek Willebroek (, old spelling: ''Willebroeck'') is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of , Heindonk, , Klein Willebroek, and Willebroek proper. In 2021, Willebroek had a total population ...

in the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Neth ...

. On 8 June 1619 he bought the lordship of Spontin in the

County of Namur Namur ( nl, Namen) was a county of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, a region in northwestern Europe. Its territories largely correspond with the present-day Belgian arrondissement Namur plus the northwestern par ...

, the transfer of which was confirmed on 12 January 1621. He was appointed governor of Luxembourg in April 1627, and made his solemn entry into the

City of Luxembourg Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

on 8 September the same year. He commanded the forces that carried out the pro-Habsburg coup in

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

on 26 March 1635. He died on 19 March 1636 and was buried in the

Lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as ...

of the parish church of Spontin. He had no heirs, and left everything to his widow.''Le Mausolée de la Toison d'or, ou Les tombeaux des chefs et des chevaliers du noble ordre de la Toison d'Or'' (Amsterdam and Brussels, 1689), pp. 238-239
On Google Books

Personal life

In 1613 he married Princess Lambertine de Ligne (1593–1651), daughter of Lamoral, Prince of Ligne. They didn't have children.

References

External links

* {{Europe-noble-stub 1569 births 1636 deaths Knights of the Golden Fleece