House of Croÿ
The House of Croÿ is an old European noble family of princely and historically sovereign rank, which held a seat in the Imperial Diet from 1486, and was elevated to the rank of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in 1594. In 1533 they became Dukes of Aarschot and in 1598 Dukes of Croy in France. As a former ruling and mediatized family, it belongs to the Hochadel. In 1913, the family had branches in Belgium, France, Austria and Prussia.
This dynastic house, which originally adopted its name from the Château de Crouy-Saint-Pierre in French Picardy, claimed descent from the Hungarian Prince Marc, who allegedly settled in France in 1147, where he married an heiress to the barony of Croÿ. The Croÿ family rose to prominence under the Dukes of Burgundy. Later, they became actively involved in the complex politics of France, Spain, Austria, and the Low Countries.
Among the more illustrious members of the House of Croÿ were two bishop-dukes of Cambrai, two cardinals, five bishops, one prime minister of Philip the Good, one finance minister, archchancellor, chief admiral, godfather and tutor of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, one Grand-Bouteiller, one Grand-Maitre and one Marshal of France; one Grand Equerry of the King of Spain, several imperial field marshals and twenty generals, four finance ministers of the Netherlands, two governors of the Netherlands and Belgium, one Russian field marshal; numerous ministers, ambassadors and senators in France, Austria, Belgium, and a record of thirty-two knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
The head of the house bears the title of duke, with all the other members titled as princes or princesses. All of them bear the predicate of Serene Highness.
The Croÿs of Burgundy
was responsible for the ascendancy of his family to a position of supreme power in medieval Burgundy. He served Philip the Bold and his son John the Fearless in the capacity of councillor and chamberlain. In 1384 he married a wealthy heiress, Marie de Craon, successfully suing her first husband's family upon her death. In 1397, Jean acquired the lordship of Chimay, which was to become a core dominion of the Croÿ family. Four years later, he was appointed governor of Artois and led the ducal armies against the rebellious citizens of Liège. He was recorded as the Grand Bouteiller of the king of France in 1412 when he laid siege to Bourges. The following year, Isabeau of Bavaria had him apprehended and incarcerated in the castle of Montlhéry, whence he escaped. Jean, together with two of his sons, were killed in the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415.Antoine I le Grand, Jean I's eldest surviving son and heir, was a key figure in 15th-century French politics. Securing for himself the post of governor general of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, he presided over the pro-French party at the court of Philip the Good and was one of the judges at the trial for treason in 1458 of Duke of Alençon. Like his father, he led French and Burgundian armies against Liège and distinguished himself at the Battle of Brouwershaven fighting against the English. While on a mission to the court of the Duke of Berry, he was implicated in the assassination of Louis de Valois, Duke of Orléans and as a consequence suffered torture in the Château de Blois.
File:Croyblazon.jpg|thumb|Arms of Philippe I de Croÿ, detail of Rogier's diptych
Having extricated himself from this predicament, Antoine used his power to expand his family's possessions: in 1429 he obtained the lordship of Le Rœulx; three years later he married a princess of Lorraine, who brought Aarschot to his family as her dowry; in 1446 he purchased the Château de Montcornet and completely rebuilt it. In 1438 he acquired the castle of Porcien and was made Count of Porcéan and Guînes by Charles VII in 1455. A year earlier, he had married his daughter to Count Palatine Louis I of Pfalz-Zweibrücken in order to increase his influence in the orbit of the Holy Roman Empire.
With Charles the Bold, the future Duke of Burgundy, he was at loggerheads, especially after they clashed over the inheritance of Jeanne d'Harcourt, Countess of Namur. Upon Charles's accession, Antoine was accused of plotting with astrologers to bring about the Duke's downfall and was compelled to flee to France. In France he took part in the coronation of Louis XI and was chosen as a godfather to the future Louis XII. It was not until the age of 83 that he reconciled himself with Charles and was allowed to reclaim his properties in Burgundy. He died either in 1475 or 1477 and was interred in Porcien.
Agnes de Croÿ was his sister and the mistress of Duke John the Fearless, by whom she had a natural son, the future bishop of Cambrai and archbishop of Trier. Several noble families of Belgium and the Netherlands descend from this prelate's eleven illegitimate children.
The lines of Croÿ-Arschot-Havré and Croÿ-Rœulx stem from Antoine's two sons, Philippe I and Jean III, while his younger brother, Jean II, was the progenitor of the only extant line of the family, that of Croÿ-Solre. All three lines engaged in a complex pattern of intermarriage, so that estates and titles would stay within the family as long as possible.
The line of Croÿ-Aerschot
Antoine was succeeded as count of Porcéan by his eldest son, Philippe I de Croÿ, governor of Luxembourg and Ligny. Philippe I de Croÿ was raised together with Charles the Bold, who arranged Philippe's marriage to Jacqueline of Luxembourg in 1455. The bride's father was extremely against the alliance and attempted to win his daughter back by force, but the Count of Porcéan closed the borders of Luxembourg and announced that the marriage had been consummated. In 1471 Philippe defected to the king of France with 600 knights but returned to Burgundy to fight for Charles during the Battle of Nancy. During the battle he was taken prisoner. Following Charles's death, Philippe de Croÿ helped arrange the betrothal of his heiress, Marie, with Emperor Maximilian I. Toward the end of his life, he was employed by the Emperor as governor of Valenciennes, lieutenant general of Liège, and captain general of Hainaut. Philippe commissioned a remarkable church in Château-Porcien, in which he was buried upon his death in 1511.Among Philippe's sons, Antoine, Bishop of Thérouanne, predeceased his father and lies buried in Cyprus. More notable was Guillaume de Croÿ . As a tutor to Carlos I of Spain, Guillaume became the power behind the Spanish throne during his pupil's minority, obtaining for himself the titles of Marquis of Aarschot and Duke of Soria and Archi. The Spanish aristocracy detested him as a foreigner, accusing him of pillaging the treasury and other irregularities, causing a wave of civil unrest to spread through Castile. Guillaume attended the Diet of Worms, where he was poisoned on 28 May 1521, apparently by German nobles afraid of his influence on imperial politics.
Guillaume's nephew and namesake, Guillaume III de Croÿ, was tutored by the Spanish humanist Juan Luís Vives. As it appeared unlikely he would succeed to the lands of his grandfather, Philippe I, he was steered toward the church. Family interests ensured his rapid promotion: he was elected bishop of Cambrai at the age of eighteen, and made a cardinal a few months later. Within a year, Charles V bestowed upon his young friend the archbishopric of Toledo, making him the primate of Spain. This unprecedented move brought Spain to the brink of a civil war. Guillaume accompanied his uncle and Charles to Worms, where on 6 January he died at the age of 23, following a fall from his horse. His tomb is in the Celestine monastery of Louvain, founded by his father.
Guillaume III's elder brother, Philippe II de Croÿ, succeeded to the County of Porcéan upon his father's death in 1514. Like his predecessors, he was Governor of Hainault and senior knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, but it is as Charles V's general that he is best remembered. In 1533 Charles V created Philippe Duke of Soria and Archi and grandee of Spain. Earlier, he had become marquis of Renty and exchanged the lordship of Longwy in Normandy for that of Havré, which his descendants would develop as the family seat. His first wife was a cousin, Anne de Croÿ, Princess of Chimay. She died in 1539, and nine years later Philippe married Anna of Lorraine, leaving offspring by both marriages.
Philippe II's eldest son, Charles I de Croÿ, inherited the principality of Chimay from his mother and succeeded to the duchy of Aarschot upon his father's death. He was assassinated in Quievrain two years later, leaving no children by his marriage to Louise of Lorraine-Guise. Thereupon Chimay and Aarschot passed to Philippe II's second son, Philippe III.
Philippe de Croÿ, Duke of Aerschot, was made 216th knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece by Philip II of Spain. In 1567 his cousin Antoine III de Croÿ, 1st Prince of Porcéan died without issue by his marriage to Catherine of Cleves, and the principality of Porcéan devolved upon Philippe. His devotion to the Roman Catholic Church, which he expressed by showing his delight at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, led Philip II to regard him with great favor. He was appointed governor of the citadel of Antwerp but defected to the other side before long. Jealous of William the Silent's influence, he was then the head of the party which induced Archduke Matthias to undertake the sovereignty of the Netherlands, and soon afterwards was appointed governor-general of Flanders by the state council. A strong party, including the burghers of Ghent, distrusted the new governor; Arschot, who was taken prisoner during a riot at Ghent, was only released on promising to resign office. He then sought to regain the favor of Philip of Spain, and having been pardoned by the king in 1580 again shared in the government of the Netherlands; but he refused to serve under the Count of Fuentes when he became governor-general in 1594, and retired to Venice, where he died in December 1595.
Philippe III was succeeded by his only son, Charles II de Croÿ, who was created Duke of Croÿ by Henry IV of France in 1598. As Charles was childless, the duchy of Arschot passed to his sister Anne de Croÿ, who had married Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg, thus bringing Aarschot to the House of Arenberg. Another sister, Marguerite, inherited the lordships of Halewyn and Comines, which passed to her husband, Wratislaw, Count of Fürstenberg.