Margarita de Lalen

Margarita de Lalen ( French Marguerite de Lalaing ; April 1574 - February 21, 1650) - 5th Countess de Lalen, Baroness d'Ecourne, Dame de Wavren.

Margarita de Lalen
fr. Marguerite de lalaing
Countess de Lalen 1590 - 1626
Predecessor	Francois de Lalen
Successor	Isabelle Claire de Burlemont
Birth	1574 ( 1574 )
Death	February 21, 1650 ( 1650-02-21 )
Burial place	Brussels
Kind	House de Lalen
Father	Philip II de Lalen
Mother	Margarita de Lin
Spouse

Daughter of Philip II de Lalen and Margarita de Lin.

In 1590, she succeeded her brother Francois de Lalen .

In September 1592, she married Count Florent de Berlemont (d. 1626), a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, governor of Namur and Luxembourg, who brought to the dowry the county of Lalen, Baronia Ecorne and Senoria Wavren, whose owner was also the hereditary Seneschal of Flanders.

Two sons born in this marriage died at a young age, and two daughters became heirs to the estates of Counts Berlemont and Lalen:

• Countess Maria Margarita de Berlemont (d. 03.17.1654, Brussels), Baroness d'Ecorne. Male 1) (1.01.1610): Antoine III de Lalen (c. 1588-1613), Count van Hoogstraten and de Rennesburg; 2) (1621): Count Louis d'Egmont , Prince of Le Havre (1600–1654)
• Isabelle-Claire de Burlemont (08/18/1602 - 08/9/1630), Countess de Lalen Husband (06/28/1620): Prince Philip Charles d'Arenberg (1587-1640), Duke van Aarschot

After the death of her husband, the countess divided the possessions between her daughters and surrendered herself to piety. In 1623, she made acquaintance with the very devout Maria de Duras (1587–1648), whom she met in Montagu, which became a place of pilgrimage after Archduces Albrecht VII and Isabella built the Notre Dame church there.

In 1625, Margarita received permission from the Infanta Isabella to establish the Augustinian in Brussels . For this purpose, a palace was bought from the Tserklas family for 100 thousand florins, rebuilt into a monastery by the architect of the Infanta Jacques Francar under the supervision of the Jesuit provincial Carlo Scribani. The monastery had a rent of 6,000 florins, from the possession of Montigny, previously owned by Florent de Montmorency , executed by Philip II in 1570. The institution was inaugurated on May 25, 1627 by Archbishop Mechelen in the presence of Infanta Isabella. In this monastery, the countess was buried after her death.

In the completely rebuilt former monastery building on the corner of the street de la Lua and Charles the Great Boulevard, called the , the residence of the European Commission is now located.