Florent of Berlaymont (c. 1550 – 3 April 1626) was Count of Lalaing and Berlaymont, and
Stadtholder
In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
of Namur, Artois, Guelders-Zutphen and Luxembourg, in the service of the King of Spain.
He was the youngest son of
Charles de Berlaymont
Charles de Berlaymont (1510 in Berlaimont? – 1578 in Namur?) was a leading nobleman in the Low Countries in the 16th century. He was an important counselor of Margaret of Parma, Grand Huntsman of Brabant and generally sided with Spanish poli ...
and Adriana de Ligne Barbançon, and brother of
Gilles de Berlaymont
Gilles van Berlaymont (c. 1545 – 18 June 1579 in Maastricht) was stadtholder for the Spanish Crown of Drenthe, Friesland, Groningen and Overijssel (1572-1573), stadtholder of Guelders (1572–1577), substitute stadtholder of Holland, Zeelan ...
and
Claude de Berlaymont
Claude de Berlaymont (or Claudius van Barlaymont), lord of Haultpenne (ca. 1550 – 14 July 1587) was a Flemish military commander in Spain's Army of Flanders during the Eighty Years' War.
Family
He was the seventh and last son of count Charles d ...
. In 1576 Florent shortly joined the
Union of Brussels
There were two Unions of Brussels, both formed in the end of the 1570s, in the opening stages of the Eighty Years' War, the war of secession from Spanish control, which lasted from 1568 to 1648. Brussels was at that time the capital of the Spani ...
, but soon became loyal to the King of Spain again. In 1579 he succeeded his brother Gilles, who was killed at the
Siege of Maastricht (1579)
The siege of Maastricht was a battle of the Eighty Years' War which lasted from March 12 – July 1, 1579. The Spanish were victorious.
Prelude Political background
The Siege of Maastricht was undertaken in a moment in which the Royal authority ...
, as stadtholder of
Namur
Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.
Namu ...
and
Artois
Artois ( ; ; nl, Artesië; English adjective: ''Artesian'') is a region of northern France. Its territory covers an area of about 4,000 km2 and it has a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras (Dutch: ''Atrecht'') ...
.
Florent inherited the title of Count of Berlaymont from his father in 1578. By marrying Margaret of Lalaing, only daughter of
Philip de Lalaing (1537–1582)
Philip de Lalaing (Lallaing, 1537 – Mons, 24 May 1582) was 3rd Count of Lalaing and Lord of Escornaix and Wavrin.
He was the eldest son of Charles II de Lalaing and Margaret of Croÿ (died 1549).
In 1574, at the beginning of the Eighty Years' ...
and Margaret of Ligne, he also became Count of Lalaing in 1582. Florent and Margaret of Lalaing also had only one daughter, Margaret of Berlaymont, who married Louis of Egmont, prince of Gavere (died 1654).
When his other brother Claude was killed in 1587, Florent succeeded him as stadtholder of Guelders-Zutphen. In 1604, Florent also became stadtholder of Luxembourg, after the death of
Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort
Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort (20 July 1517 – 25 May 1604) was a Spanish Empire, Spanish Imperial army commander of Germans, German origin and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1592 to 1594.
Born in Heldrungen, Saxony, he was th ...
.
Florent also became a Knight in the
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...
in 1586.
{{Authority control
Knights of the Golden Fleece
1626 deaths
Dutch stadtholders
Belgian nobility
Year of birth unknown
Year of birth uncertain