Guillaume de Croy

The third son of Philip I de Croix , Count de Porsean, and Jacqueline de Luxemburg.

In 1485, he redeemed Senoria Beaumont and Chevre in Hainaut from his father. Most of his life was known as Señora de Chievre.

He began service in the troops of the Archduke Maximilian . After the coronation ceremony of Habsburg by the King of Rome in Aachen April 9, 1486 was promoted to knighthood.

In 1488 he was appointed captain of the city and Yui Castle, replacing Philip of Cleves in this post, who had raised a revolt. In the same year, Walcourt conquered from the French.

In 1491, in the capitulum in Mechelen, he was accepted as a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece . After becoming emperor, Maximilian appointed Guillaume as his adviser and chamberlain.

Wanting to gain more military experience, he took part in the Italian campaign of Charles VIII . Upon returning from Italy, he was appointed in 1497 by Philip the Beautiful, great bali Eno .

With the permission of the Archduke, he participated in the Lombard campaign of Louis XII in 1499, but the gap between France and the Hapsburgs soon forced him to return to the Netherlands, where Guillaume was headed by one of the four orderly detachments that existed at that time.

In 1501-1504 he was a member of the Regency Council of the Netherlands, who ruled the country in the absence of Philip the Fair. August 10, 1501 in Lyon, together with the Archbishop of Besançon France van Buslaiden signed a contract with the French on the marriage of Louis XII’s daughter Claude of France with Carl Habsburg.

In 1503 he replaced Jan van Bergen as governor of the county of Namur . Starting in 1504 in Spain, to accept the inheritance of Queen Isabella the Catholic , Philip appointed Guillaume de Croy as the governor-general of the Netherlands and the tutor of four of his children.

After the sudden death of Philip, there was a threat of a French and Geldern invasion of the Netherlands, and the governor immediately led the country into a state of defense, ordering the captains of fortresses and officers of cities and the plain country to gather troops. Since the treasury was extremely short of funds, Guillaume entered into negotiations with the allies, to provide assistance, and with opponents, in order to convince them to abide by the concluded treaties.

Peace policy failed when, in 1507, Margaret of Austria , who renewed the conflict with France, became the statesman of the Netherlands. Guillaume immediately retired from the courtyard to his Namur governorship, where he tried by all means to reduce the damage inflicted on the country by military actions. A meeting of the States General of the Netherlands on defense issues sent him an ambassador to Innsbruck to Emperor Maximilian asking for military assistance.

In 1509, by a joint decision of the emperor and the stadgalter, he replaced Prince de Chimet as tutor and the first chamberlain of the young Archduke Charles. He remained in this position until the prince reached the age of 15, having made considerable efforts to train him.

In 1515, Carl was emancipated, the next year he became king of Spain, and immediately appointed the lord de Chievre head of his council and finance chief ( contador-mayor ) of Spain. In this position, Guillaume de Croy has done significant work to replenish the treasury, devastated by military spending and the bad management of the previous administration.

In addition, the lord de Chèvre was appointed governor of fiefs in the area and duchy of Brabant (September 1515), the great admiral of the Kingdom of Naples (December 1515) and the captain-general of the naval armies of all kingdoms (December 1516). On December 5, 1516, Karl granted him the Duchy of Sor and Archie and Baron Rocca Guglielma in the Kingdom of Naples, on September 6, 1517 in Middelburg, he transferred the lands of Beaumont, Fume and Reven to full ownership, raising them to the rank of county in January 1518. In November of the same year, the lord Everle in Brabant was elevated to the rank of barony, which was then merged with the baronium of Aarschot and seniors of Bierbeke and Rotselaar, forming the marquis of Aarschot. In the corresponding bargaining letter issued in 1519 in Barcelona, ​​Carl calls Guillaume a cousin.

In 1516, Guillaume renewed the alliance with England, securing a promise of assistance in a possible conflict, and on August 13 of the same year he signed with the representative of Francis I Arthus Gufier the Treaty of Defensive Alliance.

In 1517, accompanied by Charles in Spain. Upon arrival in the country he was appointed head of the office of Castile, succeeding Cardinal Jimenez . He rendered his sovereign considerable help in overcoming the discontent of local nobility, who did not want to recognize Charles as king of Castile and Aragon.

Participated in the coronation of Charles in Aachen, then accompanied him to the Worms Reichstag , where they discussed measures to counter the spread of Lutheran heresy. During the work of the Reichstag, Guillaume died suddenly. Some historians have argued that he was poisoned by enemies, because the rapid rise that made Senor de Schiever one of the most powerful people in Europe would inevitably cause envy.

Others claimed that he died of sadness after learning of the union between the emperor and the pope, which inevitably should have led to a long and brutal war with France, which Guillaume was trying to avoid.

For the emperor, the death of Guillaume, nicknamed by his contemporaries "The Wise", was a considerable loss, and led to a change in the moderate foreign policy to a more aggressive one.

He was buried in the Celeste church in Heverle , near Louvain , in a marble tomb.

Guillaume de Croy's reputation as an outstanding statesman was greatly harmed by the insatiable greed, which is reported by contemporaries, and later authors, including Brant . According to the latter, Señor de Chévère assigned significant sums as the treasurer of Spain, and this caused complaints. They also said that when he was sent for negotiations to Verona to settle the conflict between the empire and the Venetians, he received 2,000 gold ducats as a gift from the latter.

Regarding these accusations, General Guillaume points out that the manners of the 16th century were not so severe on the issue of corruption as modern ones, and other dignitaries of the empire received bribes from Venetians in a thousand ducats, and the great chancellor also had several pieces of expensive cloth. The morals of the imperial court are described in a note addressed to Cardinal Jimenez by the bishop of Badajoz, which literally states

... that the passion that rules, especially between the people of this country (the Netherlands), is greed; for in all classes, however religious they may be, it is not regarded as either sin or evil.

- Quoted. by: Guillaume H. Croy (Guillaume de), col. 533.

Wife (1486): Mary Magdalene van Hamal-Trazeye , Mrs. Elderen, daughter of Willem van Hamal, Herrut van Elderen, and Margherita de Merode, widow of Adolph de La Marc. Marriage was childless, and the heir was the nephew of Guillaume Philip II de Croy , comte de Porcein.

• Bury Adels-Torn. Maison de Croy, étude heraldique, historique et critique. - Bruxelles: Société belge de librairie, 1894. [1]
• Francquen Ch. J. de. Croy, pp. 10-11 // Recueil historique, généalogique, chronologique et nobiliaire marsh et familles illustres et nobles du royaume, précédé de la généalogie historique de la maison royale des Pays-Bas, Nassau-Orange. TI - Bruxelles: Demanet, 1826
• Dansaert G. Guillaume de Croy-Chièvres, dit Le Sage (1458–1521), avec une étude iconographique par de Limburg-Stirum (le comte Th.). - Courtrai: Vermod, 1943 compte rendu
• Guillaume H. Croy (Guillaume de) // Biographie nationale de Belgique. T. iv. - Bruxelles: H. Thiri, 1873. , coll. 528-533
• Nobiliaire des Pays-Bas et du Comté de Bourgogne. - TI - Gand: F. et T. Gyselinck, 1865, pp. 571-572
• Poullet E. Les Gouverneurs de province dans les anciens Pays-Bas catholiques. - Bruxelles: F. Hayez, 1873. , p. 172
• Varillas A. la pratique de l'education des princes, contenant l'histoire de Guillaume de Croy, surnommé le sage, seigneur de Chiévres, gouverneur de Charles d'Autriche qui fut empereur cinquiéme du nom. - Amsterdam: H. Wetstein & H. Desbordes, 1684 [2]

• Armorial des Chevaliers de la Toison d'Or (Fr.) . Heraldique-europeenne.org. The appeal date is December 6, 2016.
• CHEVALIERS DE LA TOISON D'OR - MAISON DE HABSBOURG (HOUSE OF HABSBURG) (Fr.) . The appeal date is December 6, 2016.
• Chabod, Federico. CHIÈVRES, Guillaume de Croy, signore di (ital.) . Enciclopedia Italiana - I Appendice (1938). The appeal date is December 6, 2016.