Jan Baptist Christyn the Elder or Joannes Baptista Christyn the Elder (22 February 1630 – 25 October 1690), 1st baron of Meerbeek, was a jurist, a diplomat 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 ...

, and

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 ...

from 1687 to 1690.Paul F. State, Historical Dictionary of Brussels, Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. 107 He was regarded as the Flemish authority on all matters relating to the aristocracy.Catharina Lis, Hugo Soly, Worthy Efforts: Attitudes to Work and Workers in Pre-Industrial Europe, BRILL, 2012, p. 383

Early life

Christyn was born in Brussels in 1622, the son of Pieter Christyn and Maria van den Hove. He was educated at the Augustine college in Brussels and at the University of Douai, graduating as a Licentiate in both

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and church law in 1651.

Career

Christyn practiced as a lawyer before the

Council of Brabant The Council of Brabant was the highest law court in the historic Duchy of Brabant. It was presided over by the Chancellor of Brabant. One of its functions was to determine that new legislation was not contrary to the rights and liberties establis ...

. Between 1660 and 1667, he worked as

assessor An assessor may be: * ''Assessor'' (fish), a genus of fishes * Assessor (law), the assistant to a judge or magistrate * Assessor (Oxford), a senior officer of the University of Oxford * Assessor (property), an expert who calculates the value of pr ...

to the Drossard of Brabant. Christyn was appointed

master of requests Master of Requests, from the Latin Requestarum Magister, is an office that developed in several European systems of law and government in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Holders of the title had the responsibility of presenting pe ...

to the Great Council of Mechelen in 1667, and privy councillor in 1671. In 1675 he was called to Madrid to serve on the Royal and High Councils of the Netherlands and Burgundy. He was one of the envoys of King Charles II of Spain at the Congress of Nijmegen in 1678. Implementation of the treaties was very difficult and led to follow-up negotiations in

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...

in 1681. Against the expansionist claims of the French king

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, Christyn published ''La Flandre défendue des fausses prétentions de la France'' (Flanders defended against France's false claims) in 1684. He believed he had an ex officio seat on the Brussels Council of State, but the pro-French chief president Leo-Jan de Pape refused it in order to block all claims to priority from the Madrid body. In 1685 Christyn was appointed first intendant of the High Military Council. Two years later, the lordship of Meerbeek, which he had purchased and was elevated to a barony. In 1687, Christyn was appointed Chancellor of Brabant, the highest position in the civilian administration of 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 ...

. Christyn died in Brussels on 25 October 1690, and was buried in the Augustinian church.

Family

Christyn married Catharina de Pretere on 7 June 1652 in Brussels. They had a son called Johannes Baptista Clemens Christyn. Other well-known relatives were his brother Libertus Franciscus Christyn and his cousin and godson Jan Baptist Christyn the Younger.

Publications

Christyn wrote a number of works on jurisprudence, genealogy and heraldry. ''Les délices des Pays-Bas: ou Description géographique et historique des XVII. provinces belgiques'', a historical

chorography Chorography (from χῶρος ''khōros'', "place" and γράφειν ''graphein'', "to write") is the art of describing or mapping a region or district, and by extension such a description or map. This term derives from the writings of the anc ...

of the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

that was published after his death, has been attributed to him, but also to his nephew, Jan Baptist Christyn the Younger.

Selected publications

Christyn's works include: *Placcaeten ende Ordonnantien van de Hertoghen van Brabandt, vol. 3, 1664 en vermoedelijk ook vol. 4, 1677 (voortzetting van Antonius Anselmo) *Jvrisprvdentia heroica sive De jure Belgarum circa nobilitatem et insignia demonstrato in commentario ad edictum serenissimorum Belgii principum Alberti et Isabellæ emulgatum 14. decembris 1616, 1668 *Les tombeaux des hommes illustres qui ont paru au Conseil Privé du Roy Catholique, 1674 (attributed) *Observationes eugeniales et heroicae, 1678 (attributed) *La Flandre défendue des fausses prétentions de la France, ou le conseiller Dupuy, historien français, pris dans ses propres filets, 1684 *Les delices des Païs-Bas, contenant une Description générale des XVII provinces, 1711 (possibly)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christyn, Jan Baptiste 1630 births 1690 deaths Ambassadors of the Habsburg Netherlands Chancellors of Brabant Flemish nobility University of Douai alumni Old University of Leuven alumni