Filip Willem van Steenhuys or Filips Willem van Steenhuys (27 September 1593 – 1 May 1668), 1st baron of Poederlee and lord of Flers, Heerle, Gierle, Moerbeke, etc., was an office-holder in the
Spanish Netherlands
Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the Ha ...
Council of Flanders
The Council of Flanders ( nl, Raad van Vlaanderen, french: Conseil de Flandres), primarily sitting in the Gravensteen in Ghent from 1407, was a court of law operating under the authority of the Count of Flanders and exercising jurisdiction thr ...
, and the
Privy Council of the Habsburg Netherlands
The Privy Council or Secret Council ( nl, Geheime Raad, french: Conseil Privé) was one of the three "collateral councils" (along with the Council of Finance and Council of State) that together formed the highest government institutions of the Habs ...
.
Family
Filip Willem van Steenhuys was born, in Mechelen on 27 September 1593, only son of
He studied law and was called to the bar at the Great Council of Mechelen. In 1620 and 1622, he accompanied his father on diplomatic journeys to Germany. On 22 May 1623, he was named to the Council of Guelders, and on 9 August 1627, exchanged this position for one on the Great Council of Mechelen.
On 8 July 1648, he was appointed president of the Council of Flanders, but not having been born in the
county of Flanders
The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries.
From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypr ...
his appointment was not legally secure. On 17 January 1650, he returned to Brussels as a privy councillor. On 24 March 1653, he became a baron, and Poederlee a barony. On 23 April 1657, he was also appointed to the Admiralty Council.
He was invested as assistant
chancellor of Brabant
The Chancellor of Brabant was the head of the civilian government of the late medieval and early-modern Duchy of Brabant as president of the Council of Brabant
The Council of Brabant was the highest law court in the historic Duchy of Brabant. It ...
with right of succession to Robert van Asseliers, but because he had not been born 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 ...
this appointment too proved controversial, with the
States of Brabant
The States of Brabant were the representation of the three estates (nobility, clergy and commons) to the court of the Duke of Brabant. The three estates were also called the States. Supported by the economic strength of the cities Antwerp, Bruss ...
refusing to accept his oath of office. After Asseliers' death in 1661, it was not until 1663, that he was able to succeed him.
Van Steenhuys died in Brussels on 1 May 1668 and was buried in the Dominican church there.