Jean-Baptiste de Brouchoven (1619 – 13 November 1681) was a holder of high office and 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 ...

Family

Jean-Baptiste was born in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

in 1619, the son of Gerard de Brouchoven and Catharina Maes. He married Rubens's widow,

Helena Fourment Helena Fourment or Hélène Fourment (11 April 1614 – 15 July 1673) was the second wife of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. She was the subject of a few portraits by Rubens, and also modeled for other religious and mythological paintings. Fam ...

, in 1643 or 1644, was widowed in 1673, and in 1674 married Marie Françoise d'Ennetières (died 1700).C. Poplimont, ''La Belgique héraldique''
vol. 4
(Paris, 1866), p. 107. With his first wife he had five children:

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

, Hyacinthe-Marie, Nicolas, Catherine, and Marie-Fernandine.

Career

Brouchoven served as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of Antwerp in 1643—44, and in 1648 as one of the two city treasurers. Thereafter he entered the service of the Crown. In May 1655 he was appointed a member of the Council of Finance, and in 1660 he became a knight in the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; es, Orden de Santiago ), is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgr ...

. In 1663 he travelled to Madrid to take up an appointment as a councillor of the

Supreme Council of Flanders The Supreme Council of Flanders and Burgundy (''Consejo Supremo de Flandes y Borgoña'' (i.e. Flanders and Burgundy), or simply ''Consejo de Flandes'') was a governing institution in the Spanish Empire responsible for advising the king of Spain ...

. He successfully appealed to be allowed to retain concurrent membership of the Council of Finance. In 1665 he returned to the Spanish Netherlands as a Councillor of State. He was created baron of Bergeyck in 1666 and count in 1676. In late 1667 he represented

Philip IV of Spain Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered f ...

in diplomatic negotiations with the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. From late 1674 to early 1675, and again in 1677, he served as the king's acting ambassador to England. In October 1677 he was reappointed to the Council of Flanders in Madrid. He died in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

on 13 November 1681, on his way back to the Low Countries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brouchoven, Jean-Baptiste 1619 births 1681 deaths People from 's-Hertogenbosch Belgian nobility Ambassadors of Spain to the Kingdom of England