HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Charles III de Croÿ (1 July 1560 – 12 January 1612) was Seigneur de Croÿ, 4th
Duke of Aarschot The Duke of Aarschot (or ''Aerschot'') was one of the most important aristocratic titles in the Low Countries, named after the Brabantian city of Aarschot. The title was held by the House of Croÿ and the House of Arenberg. The present Duke is Leo ...
, 5th
Prince of Chimay Prince of Chimay is a title of Belgian nobility, Belgian and Dutch nobility associated with the town of Chimay in what is now Belgium. The title is currently held by Philippe de Caraman-Chimay, 22nd Prince de Chimay (b. 1948). The main residence ...
and 5th Count of Beaumont. He played an important role on both sides of the
Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 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 Reformation, centralisation, exc ...
. He was an avid collector of art and coins. His favourite residences were the Château de Beaumont and
Heverlee Heverlee () is a sub-municipality of the city of Leuven located in the province of Flemish Brabant, Flemish Region, Belgium. It was a separate municipality until 1977. On 1 January 1977, it was merged into Leuven. According to the official websit ...
castle, where he housed his collections and created beautiful gardens.


Life

He was the eldest son of Philippe III de Croÿ, Prince of Chimay, Duke of Aarschot, and Jeanne of Halewijn. His military career began in 1577 as lieutenant of his father's regiment of Walloon infantry. He married Marie of Brimeu, widow of Lancelot of Berlaymont, on 3 September 1580. She came from a rich Calvinist family in
Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...
and was ten years older than her young husband. Her influence over Charles was so great that he abandoned his Catholic faith and his loyalty to the King of Spain.Collection : Albums de Croÿ, Région Nord-Pas de Calais et Crédit communal de Belgique
In 1583 he became
stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...
of Flanders for the Protestant insurgents. He was not able to stop the advance of Alexander Farnese and decided to reconcile with Spain in March 1584. In 1584 he separated from his wife Marie of Brimeu and in 1585 he returned to the Catholic faith and loyalty to the Spanish Crown. Later that year, he handed over
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
to the Spanish and in 1585 he did the same with
Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
. Over the next few years he fought alongside Farnese and was present at the Sieges of
Grave A grave is a location where a cadaver, dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is burial, buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of buria ...
,
Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...
,
Neuss Neuss (; written ''Neuß'' until 1968; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It is primarily known for its ...
and
Sluis Sluis (; ; ) is a city and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland. The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 January 2003. The former municipalities of Oostb ...
. His most important victory was the taking of
Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
on 13 September 1588. In 1590 he joined the Spanish troops that supported the Catholic League in the
French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...
. In 1599 he was rewarded with the
Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...
. In December 1605, eight months after the death of his first wife, he married his cousin Dorothea of Croÿ, daughter of Charles Philippe de Cröy, Marquis d’Havré (1549–1613). Both his marriages remained childless. After his death in 1612, all his titles and possessions went to his sister Anne of Croÿ and his brother-in-law Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg.


Collector

Charles was an avid collector of paintings, manuscripts, coins and medals.


The ''Albums''

He is famous for his ''Albums'', a collection of detailed, illustrated maps of all his domains. Already in 1590 he had ordered the production of a
cartulary A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll ('' rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...
of the census and rents of the lands of Comines and
Halluin Halluin (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. Geography It is located at the north of the Métropole Européenne de Lille, on the Belgium, Belgian border ...
, which he had received on the death of his mother. He had done the same at about the same period for the principality of Chimay, which he had received at the time of his marriage in 1580. These ''cartularies'' were in reality real atlases and contained numerous colored maps in the manner af a
cadastre A cadastre or cadaster ( ) is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in ...
. These collections also contained some bird's-eye views of the castles and villages. But they were primarily administrative documents. The idea then occurred to him to have these cadastral plans reproduced, not on paper, but on parchment, and to add, together with these plans, the view of each locality, painted in
gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...
in the manner of a small painting. The ensemble was realized in 1596–1598. It constitutes two large volumes still preserved today by the de Croÿ family: one covers property located in Hainaut, the other those lying in Brabant, Flanders, Namur, Artois and Picardy. The albums bring together nearly 2,500 gouaches delicately executed, representing as many villages. They cover a very extensive perimeter, encompassing many areas from the north of present-day France and Belgium, from the former principalities of
Artois Artois ( , ; ; Picard: ''Artoé;'' 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 include Arras (Dutch: ...
, Hainaut and Namur to the Duchy of Aarschot, the valleys of the rivers
Scheldt The Scheldt ( ; ; ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old Englis ...
, the Lys and the
Sambre The Sambre () is a river in northern France and in Wallonia, Belgium. It is a left-bank tributary of the Meuse, which it joins in the Wallonian capital Namur. The source of the Sambre is near Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache, in the Aisne department. ...
. The Albums offer one of the most important testimonies for the topographical knowledge of the towns and villages of the former Spanish Netherlands.


Numismatic collection

Around 1610 he appointed the Antwerp engraver and publisher Jacob de Bie as keeper of his extensive ancient coin collection. Jacob de Bie moved to Brussels where the Duke was living and began to work on an edition of the collection. Charles died in January 1612 before Jacob de Bie had finished the edition, which only appeared in 1615 in Antwerp under the title ''Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata Aurea a Julio Cæsare Ad Heraclium Continua Serie Collecta''.Olga Vassilieva-Codognet, ''À la recherche des généalogies effigionaires de princes: Series of Retrospective Dynastic Portraits and the Social Implications of True Likeness (Antwerp, ca. 1600)'', pp. 102–105 It contained 64 plates reproducing the Roman coin collection of Charles.Jacon de Bie, ''Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata Aurea a Julio Cæsare Ad Heraclium Continua Serie Collecta''
Et Ex Archetypis Expressa. Industria Et Manu J. de Bie. Accedit Breuis Et Historica Eorundem Explicatio at books.google


Sources


Arnold van Tiegem, ridder-bisschop by Arnold Smits
*


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croy, Charles III de 1560 births 1612 deaths People from Beaumont, Belgium
Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
Dukes of Aarschot Princes of Chimay Stadtholders of Artois Stadtholders of Hainaut Stadtholders of Flanders