The States of Brabant were the representation of the three estates (nobility, clergy and commons) to the court of the

Duke of Brabant The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven (who was duke of Low ...

. The three estates were also called the States. Supported by the economic strength of the cities

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, the States always were an important power before the rulers of the country, as was reflected by the charter of the duchy. After 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 ...

and all

Seventeen Provinces The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the French departments of Nord (Fre ...

of the Netherlands came under the rule of the

dukes of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...

, the States of Brabant became the host of the

States-General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

, who used to assemble in

. In 1579 and 1580, during the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Refo ...

, most cities and States of Brabant joined Dutch independence declaration (

Union of Utrecht The Union of Utrecht ( nl, Unie van Utrecht) was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Netherlands, until then under the control of Habsburg Spain. History The Union of Utrecht is r ...

and

Act of Abjuration The Act of Abjuration ( nl, Plakkaat van Verlatinghe; es, Acta de Abjuración, lit=placard of abjuration) is the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from the allegiance to Philip II of Spain, during the Dut ...

), but

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

troops reconquered most of the territory of the duchy and restored Spanish Catholic rule (except for

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

. See also

Siege of Antwerp (1584-1585) The Fall of Antwerp on 17 August 1585 took place during the Eighty Years' War, after a siege lasting over a year from July 1584 until August 1585. The city of Antwerp was the focal point of the Protestant-dominated Dutch Revolt, but was for ...

). By the end of 1789, the States of Brabant again declared independence, this time from Austrian imperial rule, and, on January 11, 1790, they joined the

United States of Belgium The United Belgian States ( nl, Verenigde Nederlandse Staten or '; french: États-Belgiques-Unis; lat, Foederatum Belgium), also known as the United States of Belgium, was a short-lived confederal republic in the Southern Netherlands (modern-da ...

. All Southern Netherlands "States" disappeared four years later because of the

French revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

occupation.

Members of the First Estate

First Estate only Clergy members were allowed after imperial confirmation. They were the representative of the clerical members. * Laurentius Metsius: bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch. * De Nelis: Bishop of Antwerp. * Cardinal de Franckenbergh. * Lambert Hancart, OSB.: Abbot of Gembloux. * Gregorius Thiels, OPraem.: Abbot of Averbode. *

Benedict Neefs Dom Benedictus Neefs, O.Cist. (french: Benoit Neefs; 19 January 1741 – 7 November 1790) was the 46th abbot of Hemiksem Abbey. Corneel Neefs was born in Kontich and entered Hemiksem Abbey in 1762, taking the monastic name Benedictus. Abbot o ...

, OCist.: Abbot of Hemiksem in 1780. * Augustinus Wichmans, OPraem: Abbot of Tongerloo. * Joannes Chrysostomus Teniers, O. Praem.: Abbot of St Michaels. *

Matthæus Yrsselius Matthæus Yrsselius or Irsselius, the Latinized form of Mattheus van Iersel (1541–1629), was abbot of St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp, from 1614 until his death. He was remembered as a patron of the arts and sciences. Patronage In 1624 he commissi ...

, O. Praem.: Abbot of St Michaels. * Libertus de Pape, O. Praem.: Abbot of Park Abbey. * Norbert Evrard Couwerven, O. Praem. in 1653. *

Jan Druys Jan Druys, Latinized Drusius (1568-1634) was a Norbertine canon regular from the Low Countries who became the 30th Abbot of Park Abbey in Heverlee just outside Leuven. Life Druys was born at Kumtich, near Tienen, in 1568. Edouard Van Even, "Druys ...

(Drusius), O. Praem: Abbot of Park, since 1604. *

Joannes Maes Joannes or John ( la, Iohannes; died 425) was western Roman emperor from 423 to 425. On the death of the Emperor Honorius (emperor), Honorius (15 August 423), Theodosius II, the remaining ruler of the House of Theodosius, hesitated in announci ...

(Masius), O. Praem: Abbot of Park, since 1645. * Jean-Baptiste de Haeseleer, O. Praem: Abbot of van Dillegem. * Gerardus Rubens, O Cist.: Abbot of Hemiksem. * Antoine de Granvelle, OSB: Abbot of Affligem. * Goswin Herdinck, OSB: Abbot of Affligem. * Jan t'Serjacobs, OSB: Abbot of Affligem.

Members of the Second State

These members belonged to the high nobility of the country.Personele ende ghewillige contributie ende medegeldinghe byde drye Staten van Brabant, ..Michiel Hamont, 1577

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:States Of Brabant Duchy of Brabant Courts and councils in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands